A global review of arthropod-mediated ecosystem-services in Vaccinium berry agroecosystems

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Jones ◽  
Henri Vanhanen ◽  
Rainer Peltola ◽  
Frank Drummond

Native beneficial arthropods, including bees, predators, and parasitoids, provide valuable ecosystem services, which help to maintain agricultural productivity and reduce the need for pesticide inputs.Vacciniumberry species are somewhat unique compared to many of the world’s fruit crops in that, up until recently, most of the harvesting and culture of species for food occurred in the geographic regions of their origin. This suggests that insects involved in many of the ecosystem services for these berries are native species that have a shared co-evolutionary history. Due to the shared phylogenetic origins of theVacciniumspp. agroecosystems, the shared need for efficient pollination, and a number of shared agricultural pests, the potential exists for research from these related systems to closely apply to agroecosystems within the same genus. This review brings together research regarding arthropod-mediated ecosystem services from a number of prominentVacciniumagroecosystems worldwide. In total, thirty-nine ecosystem service studies are discussed. These studies quantified arthropod-mediated ecosystem services being provisioned toVacciniumagroecosystems. Additionally, thirty-nine surveys of arthropods closely associated and/or providing ecosystem services toVacciniumsystems are also reviewed. Studies took place almost exclusively in temperate regions with a heavy emphasis on insect pest biological control and pollination services. It is our hope that by synthesizing this body of literature, researchers and growers might be able to utilize research methods, results, and conservation recommendations despite differences in production practices and local arthropod fauna.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leroy Walston ◽  
Heidi Hartmann

<p>Concomitant with the increase in solar photovoltaic (PV) energy development over the past decade has been the increasing emphasis on land sharing strategies that maximize the land use efficiency of solar energy developments.  Many of these strategies focus on improving the compatibility of solar energy development with other co-located land uses (e.g., agriculture) and by improving several ecosystem services that could have natural, societal, and industrial benefits. One such land opportunity is the restoration and management of native grassland vegetation beneath ground-mounted PV solar energy facilities, which has the potential to restore native habitat to conserve biodiversity and restore previously altered ecosystem services (e.g., natural pollination services). This presentation will discuss various assessment and modeling approaches to evaluate the scale and magnitude of the ecosystem services provided by different vegetation management strategies at solar PV energy development sites. This work demonstrates how multifunctional land uses in energy systems represents a win-win solution for energy and the environment by optimizing energy-food-ecology synergies. This work was conducted by Argonne National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.</p>


1955 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. C. Coppel ◽  
K. Leius

The larch sawfly, Pristiphora erichronii (Htg.), is currently considered a major forest insect pest in Canada. At the present time within Canada, the sawfly reacts to parasitism by Mesoleius tenthredinis Morley in two ways. In Manitoba and Saslratchewan the sawfly encapsulates approximately 100 per cent of the parasite eggs deposited, whereas in British Columbia encapsulation rarely exceeds four per cent (Muldrew, 1953). The reasons for the difference in degree of encapsulation are apparently unknown; however, since the origin of the sawfly itself is obscure, the possibility exists that a native species, an introduced species, Or a combination of both may he present, or that geographical or ecological units may have arisen. Studies now under way by officers of the Forest Biology and Entomology divisions are attacking the problem of identity and origin following the pattern established for the European spruce sawfly, Diprion hercyniae (Htg.). In this instance, as with the larch sawfly, parasites were introduced on the assumption that the pest had been introduced from Europe. Critical investigations by Reeks (1941) and Balch, Reeks, and Smith (1941), involving morphological, cytological, and other biological characters, showed that the species occurring in North America was one of two species common in Europe, and previously referred to there as Gilpinia polytoma (Htg.). Balch et al. (1941) showed that D. hercyniae had been introduced into North America.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eudald Pujol-Buxó ◽  
Gabriel M. Riaño ◽  
Gustavo A. Llorente

Abstract The choice of breeding sites by pond-breeding anurans has notable consequences for the fitness of larvae. Hence, beyond pond typology and phenology, adults can also discriminate according to several other features, for instance to favour allotopy with potential competitors. However, the lack of shared evolutionary history might impede proper ecological differentiation with alien species during the first stages of invasions. Here, we studied several possible sources of ecological segregation between the invasive Discoglossus pictus and the native Epidalea calamita in ephemeral ponds, where the native toad hardly had competition before the arrival of the invasive frog. During spring of 2016, we periodically surveyed 69 ephemeral ponds in three areas with different invasion histories to detect the presence/absence of eggs and tadpoles of these species. Invasive D. pictus started breeding earlier than E. calamita, but differences were not significant. Similarly, there were not clear differences among areas with different invasion histories. However, we found for both species a mutual tendency to directly avoid larval syntopy at the end of the reproductive season. We also found interspecific differences in the features that both species use for pond choice, preferring the native species shallower and less vegetated ephemeral ponds. Globally however, co-occurrence was high, pointing at other processes as key to the coexistence between both species in these habitats.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kleijn ◽  
Rachael Winfree ◽  
Ignasi Bartomeus ◽  
Luísa G Carvalheiro ◽  
Mickaël Henry ◽  
...  

Abstract There is compelling evidence that more diverse ecosystems deliver greater benefits to people, and these ecosystem services have become a key argument for biodiversity conservation. However, it is unclear how much biodiversity is needed to deliver ecosystem services in a cost-effective way. Here we show that, while the contribution of wild bees to crop production is significant, service delivery is restricted to a limited subset of all known bee species. Across crops, years and biogeographical regions, crop-visiting wild bee communities are dominated by a small number of common species, and threatened species are rarely observed on crops. Dominant crop pollinators persist under agricultural expansion and many are easily enhanced by simple conservation measures, suggesting that cost-effective management strategies to promote crop pollination should target a different set of species than management strategies to promote threatened bees. Conserving the biological diversity of bees therefore requires more than just ecosystem-service-based arguments.


2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Asbjornsen ◽  
V. Hernandez-Santana ◽  
M. Liebman ◽  
J. Bayala ◽  
J. Chen ◽  
...  

AbstractOver the past century, agricultural landscapes worldwide have increasingly been managed for the primary purpose of producing food, while other diverse ecosystem services potentially available from these landscapes have often been undervalued and diminished. The incorporation of relatively small amounts of perennial vegetation in strategic locations within agricultural landscapes dominated by annual crops—or perennialization—creates an opportunity for enhancing the provision of a wide range of goods and services to society, such as water purification, hydrologic regulation, pollination services, control of pest and pathogen populations, diverse food and fuel products, and greater resilience to climate change and extreme disturbances, while at the same time improving the sustainability of food production. This paper synthesizes the current scientific theory and evidence for the role of perennial plants in balancing conservation with agricultural production, focusing on the Midwestern USA as a model system, while also drawing comparisons with other climatically diverse regions of the world. Particular emphasis is given to identifying promising opportunities for advancement and critical gaps in our knowledge related to purposefully integrating perennial vegetation into agroecosystems as a management tool for maximizing multiple benefits to society.


2017 ◽  
Vol 149 (6) ◽  
pp. 702-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.D. Floate ◽  
J.D. Shorthouse ◽  
D.J. Giberson ◽  
H.A. Cárcamo

AbstractThe Biological Survey of Canada initiated a project in 1979 to collect and synthesise information on the native arthropod fauna of the vanishing grassland habitats of Canada. At that time, it was thought that the Canadian arthropod fauna might comprise about 66 000 species. Recent studies suggest that the fauna may exceed 100 000 species, of which >25% may occur in the Prairies Ecozone. Results of this near 40-year project have been published in four volumes of the Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands monograph series of the Biological Survey of Canada. Here, the editors of this series review the grasslands project of the Biological Survey of Canada, summarise the contents of the volumes, and discuss current knowledge on the diversity of the grasslands arthropods of Canada. Whereas information on the species richness of some groups in the Prairies Ecozone is largely complete, information on the diversity of many other groups remains sparse. Reviewing the steps between initiation and publication of the Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands series may aid development of similar projects elsewhere. Identifying knowledge gaps will direct future research efforts. Identifying the diversity of grassland arthropods, their distribution and abundance, and the ecosystem services that they provide will facilitate efforts to conserve the remaining grassland habitats in Canada.


Rodriguésia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 1137-1144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Dudeque Zenni

Abstract Human-mediated species introductions are one of the defining factors of the Anthropocene. Non-native species can form invasive populations that affect biodiversity, ecosystem services, or farming. Here I summarized data on naturalized vascular species from the Brazilian list of seed plants and tested the hypotheses that more populated regions and biomes with less remaining natural vegetation harbor more naturalized species. The Atlantic Forest had the largest number of naturalized species, whereas the Pampa had the highest proportion of naturalized species in relation to the biome's total richness. The number of naturalized species was affected both by human population size and proportion of remaining natural vegetation. Family Poaceae had the highest numbers of naturalized species in all biomes, and, together with Asteraceae and Fabaceae, forms the top three families in number of naturalized species in five of the biomes. There were no records of species naturalized in all six biomes. However, of the 46 species naturalized in five out of six biomes, half were Poaceae. The results indicate that the Brazilian flora is currently composed both by native and naturalized species. Assessments of invasion risks and of impacts by naturalized species could help set management priorities and resource allocation towards control.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-228
Author(s):  
P V Rami Reddy

Decline in honey bee populations has become a matter of concern and their conservation is very essential to sustain essential ecosystem services. They provide making available continuous supply of floral resources is of immense value in conserving honey bees. The effectiveness of an ornamental creeper, Antigonon leptopus Hook. & Arn as a sustainable bee forage plant was evaluated. It attracts four major native species of honey bees viz., Apis cerana, A. florea, A. dorsata and Tetragonula iridipennis. The wild little bee, A. florea was the most dominant forager followed by the Indian bee, A. cerana. The plant is amenable for easy multiplication through seeds as well as cuttings and meets both aesthetic and ecological needs. Using Antigonon, different studies related to honey bees like assessing species diversity, foraging behaviour, temperature driven shifts etc. can be carried out. Popularising perennial bee flora like Antigonon would help in conserving honey bees in both natural and urban habitats. Since Antigonon attracts all species of honey bees throughout the year, it could be utilized as a potential bioindicator of honey bee populations in a given environment.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1345
Author(s):  
Diane Pearson

Intensive agriculture and urbanization are putting pressure on natural capital in Aotearoa–New Zealand (NZ), with native ecosystems and water quality suffering degradation. As the population has increased, so development has pushed into the rural–urban fringe. Over the last 30 years, the number of lifestyle properties in NZ has increased dramatically. Many of these properties have been developed on some of NZ’s most productive soils, meaning a loss of provisioning services from this land. However, given their location, these developments present new opportunities for the enhancement and protection of other ecosystem services. This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study conducted on lifestyle block residents in peri-urban Palmerston North. The results showed that these residents have a good sense of environmental stewardship and a desire to plant native species, improve connectivity, and protect their land from the invasion of pests and weeds. These residents are also quite community-focused and protective of their special place. This creates an excellent basis from which to encourage greater collaborative action towards protecting and enhancing biodiversity and to put in place land management strategies that can enhance natural capital and assist in other ecosystem service protection serving to improve the landscape ecology of peri-urban environments.


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