Ecosystem Dynamics and Pest Management in Agricultural Landscapes
Summary
Agricultural landscapes are dynamic mosaics in which crops, seminatural habitats and management practices interact to influence pest populations, their natural enemies and the delivery of ecosystem services. Intensification and simplification of these landscapes can disrupt trophic interactions, leading to higher pest pressure and greater reliance on chemical control. Conversely, increased diversity at field and landscape scales can bolster populations of predators, parasitoids and pollinators, enhancing natural regulation of crop pests. Contemporary research emphasises the need to understand spatial and temporal dynamics, from gene flow and genetic diversity in pest species to the movement of natural enemies across habitat boundaries. Integrating insights from ecology, agronomy and landscape science underpins the development of more resilient production systems that balance yield goals with environmental sustainability. Practical applications include optimising field size and crop rotation, conserving remnant habitats, and deploying biocontrol agents in a manner tailored to landscape context.
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Ecosystem Dynamics and Pest Management in Agricultural Landscapes publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in ecosystem dynamics and pest management in agricultural landscapes across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Landscape heterogeneity: Variation in crop types, field sizes and non-crop habitats within an agricultural region that influences the movement and interactions of organisms.
Landscape simplification: The replacement of diverse habitat elements with uniform crop monocultures, often leading to reduced natural enemy abundance and higher pest pressure.
Biological pest control: The regulation of pest species by their natural predators, parasitoids or pathogens, reducing dependence on chemical insecticides.
Ecosystem services: Benefits provided by ecosystems to humanity, including pollination, nutrient cycling and natural regulation of pest populations.
Haplotype diversity: A measure of genetic variation within a population, based on the frequency of distinct genetic lineages or haplotypes.
References
- Effect of agricultural intensification on the genetic diversity of Helicoverpa armigera. Food and Energy Security (2024).
- Cropland heterogeneity drives frequency and intensity of pesticide use. Environmental Research Letters (2021).
- Increasing crop field size does not consistently exacerbate insect pest problems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2022).
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