Biodiversity and Biological Control in Olive Agroecosystems

Olive agroecosystems are complex networks in which cultivated trees, wild flora, soil communities and fauna interact to regulate pest populations and maintain ecosystem balance. Biodiversity within and around olive groves supports a wide array of natural enemies – predators, parasitoids and pathogens – that suppress key pests such as the olive fruit fly, olive moth and scale insects. Diverse plant cover, non-crop refuges and heterogeneous landscape mosaics enhance these biocontrol services by providing alternative food sources, shelter and breeding sites. Integrating biodiversity conservation into olive farming reduces reliance on chemical inputs, bolsters resilience to environmental change and aligns production with sustainability goals across the Mediterranean and beyond.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have employed food-web and spatially explicit approaches to assess biocontrol potential by vertebrates in olive landscapes. One investigation mapped trophic interactions between insect pests and flying vertebrates (birds and bats) across a broad regional grid. Results revealed that both groups consume many key pests, indicating their important role in suppressing olive fruit fly and other herbivores. Furthermore, the strength of these services scaled positively with the amount of natural habitat and declined as the proportion of olive groves grew. These findings underline the need to maintain or restore semi-natural areas at landscape extent to safeguard vertebrate-mediated pest control in commercial olive systems.

Biodiversity and Biological Control in Olive Agroecosystems publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in biodiversity and biological control in olive agroecosystems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Biodiversity: The variety and variability of living organisms, including plants, animals and microorganisms, within an ecosystem.

Biological control: The suppression of pest organisms through the action of natural enemies, such as predators, parasitoids or pathogens.

Natural enemy: A species (predator, parasitoid or pathogen) that attacks or consumes a pest species, helping to regulate its population.

Landscape complexity: The composition and arrangement of different habitat types and land uses across a region, influencing ecological interactions.

Conservation biological control: Management practices aimed at enhancing the abundance and effectiveness of natural enemies through habitat manipulation or landscape-scale planning.

References

1. Habitat Diversity Increases Chrysoperla carnea s.l. (Stephens, 1836) (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae) Abundance in Olive Landscapes. Agriculture (2024).
2. Olive Landscape Affects Bactrocera oleae Abundance, Movement and Infestation. Agronomy (2021).
3. Land-Use Effect on Olive Groves Pest Prays oleae and on Its Potential Biocontrol Agent Chrysoperla carnea. Insects (2021).
4. A food web approach reveals the vulnerability of biocontrol services by birds and bats to landscape modification at regional scale. Scientific Reports (2021).