scholarly journals Climate-induced phenological shift of apple trees has diverse effects on pollinators, herbivores and natural enemies

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ádám Kőrösi ◽  
Viktor Markó ◽  
Anikó Kovács-Hostyánszki ◽  
László Somay ◽  
Ákos Varga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Enemies ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Apple Trees ◽  
Phenological Mismatch ◽  
Insurance Effect ◽  
Cold Store ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Generalist And Specialist Herbivores ◽  
Phenological Shift

Climate change is altering the phenology of trophically linked organisms, leading to increased asynchrony between species with unknown consequences for ecosystem services. Although phenological mismatches are reported from several ecosystems, experimental evidence for altering multiple ecosystem services is hardly available. We examined how the phenological shift of apple trees affected the abundance and diversity of pollinators, generalist and specialist herbivores and predatory arthropods. We stored potted apple trees in the greenhouse or cold store in early spring before transferring them into orchards to cause mismatches and sampled arthropods on the trees repeatedly. Assemblages of pollinators on the manipulated and control trees differed markedly, but their overall abundance was similar indicating a potential insurance effect of wild bee diversity to ensure fruit set in flower-pollinator mismatch conditions. Specialized herbivores were almost absent from manipulated trees, while less-specialized ones showed diverse responses, confirming the expectation that more specialized interactions are more vulnerable to phenological mismatch. Natural enemies also responded to shifted apple tree phenology and the abundance of their prey. While arthropod abundances either declined or increased, species diversity tended to be lower on apple trees with shifted phenology. Our study indicates novel results on the role of biodiversity and specialization in plant-insect mismatch situations.

scholarly journals Abundance and diversity of soil arthropods and fungi in shelterbelts integrated with pastures in the central tablelands of New South Wales, Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (No. 12) ◽  
pp. 560-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.W. Mbuthia ◽  
J.H. Shariff ◽  
A. Raman ◽  
D.S. Hodgkins ◽  
H.I. Nicol ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Soil Arthropods ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
The Relationship

Shelterbelts are important for the sustainability of agriculture because they provide a variety of benefits to farmers and the society. Several published papers demonstrate that integration of shelterbelts with agroecosystems offers positive outcomes, such as better yield, more congenial microclimate, and greater organic matter levels. Nonetheless, soil biological diversity, the driver of greater organic matter levels, has not been convincingly tested and verified yet. In addressing this gap, we measured abundance and diversity of populations of arthropods and fungi in three<br />11-year old shelterbelts integrated with pasture to determine whether a correlation exists between the abundance of and diversity in populations of arthropods and fungi in two seasons: late autumn-early winter (May&ndash;June 2011) and late winter-early spring (August&ndash;September 2011). Litter from the soil surface and soil from two depths were sampled at increasing distance from the midpoint of shelterbelts for the extraction of arthropods and isolation culturing of fungi. The relationship among distance, depth and biodiversity of different groups of arthropods and fungi was analysed using linear regression. We found that over both seasons arthropod abundance in the litter and soil declined with increasing distance from the midpoint of the shelterbelts, and with soil depth. However, fungi abundance in either season was not affected by proximity to the shelterbelt but increased with greater soil depth. Distance from the shelterbelt midpoints did not bear an impact on the diversity richness of both arthropods and fungi.

scholarly journals Temporal asynchrony, spatial segregation and seasonal abundance of aphids on apple trees

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Perdikis ◽  
D. Lykouressis ◽  
G. Mitropoulou ◽  
P. Tsiantis
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Natural Enemies ◽  
Aphid Species ◽  
Apple Orchard ◽  
Spatial Segregation ◽  
Seasonal Abundance ◽  
Eriosoma Lanigerum ◽  
Apple Trees ◽  
Aphis Pomi ◽  
Dysaphis Plantaginea

The species composition and seasonal abundance of aphids and their natural enemies were investigated in an apple orchard located in central Peloponnese. For that purpose shoots were collected at weekly intervals. The aphid species Aphis pomi De Geer (Hemiptera: Aphididae), Dysaphis plantaginea (Passerini) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann) (Hemiptera: Eriosomatidae) were recorded. In both years of the study, A. pomi developed higher populations than the other two species. The population of A. pomi was high in June and July. D. plantaginea was present in April and May, with high numbers mainly in May, whilst E. lanigerum was recorded in low numbers from May to July. The number of aphids was not found to differ significantly between samples collected from the northern and southern part of the trees. The species composition of aphid population on each sampled shoot, documented spatial segregation between A. pomi and D. plantaginea. It was proved that the eggs were more commonly laid near the buds of the central part of the twigs. The natural enemies found were predators belonging to the families of Coccinellidae, Chrysopidae, Syrphidae and Anthocoridae. Generally, their numbers were low.

scholarly journals Relationship of Spatial Phytoplankton Variability during Spring with Eutrophic Inshore and Oligotrophic Offshore Waters in the East Sea, Including Dokdo, Korea

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1455
Author(s):  
Minji Lee ◽  
Hyejoo Ro ◽  
Yun-Bae Kim ◽  
Chan-Hong Park ◽  
Seung-Ho Baek
Keyword(s):  
Water Column ◽  
Vertical Mixing ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Late Spring ◽  
East Sea ◽  
Water Column Stability ◽  
Open Sea ◽  
Phytoplankton Variability ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Relationship Of

The area near the subpolar front of the East Sea has high primary productivity during the spring season. We conducted two surveys, one in early spring and another in late spring, to assess environmental factors that influence phytoplankton community structure during these times. During early spring, vertical mixing supplied abundant nutrients to the surface. Due to the well-mixed water column, there were high nutrient levels, but total phytoplankton abundances and diversity were relatively low and were dominated by the diatom Chaetoceros spp. During late spring, the water column gradually stratified, with relatively high levels of nutrients in the surface layers near the coastal areas. Phytoplankton abundance and diversity at that time were higher, and there were diatoms (Pseudo-nitzschia spp. and Chaetoceros spp.), cryptophytes, and small flagellates. Pseudo-nitzschia spp. were especially abundant in re-sampled areas. The presence of a stratified and stable water mass and sufficient nitrate led to high phytoplankton growth, even in the open sea during late spring. These findings provide a better understanding of how phytoplankton population dynamics in the East Sea depend on water column stability during both early and late spring seasons.

scholarly journals Ecological dynamics of the almond floral microbiome in relation to crop management and pollination

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert N. Schaeffer ◽  
David W. Crowder ◽  
Javier Gutiérrez Illán ◽  
John J. Beck ◽  
Tadashi Fukami ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
List Type ◽  
Floral Tissue ◽  
Fungal Abundance ◽  
Orchard Management ◽  
Abundance And Diversity

AbstractCrop tissues harbor microbiomes that can affect host health and yield. However, processes driving microbiome assembly, and resulting effects on ecosystem services, remain poorly understood. This is particularly true of flowering crops that rely on pollinators for yield.We assessed effects of orchard management tactics and landscape context on the flower microbiome in almond, Prunus dulcis. Fourteen orchards (5 conventional, 4 organic, 5 habitat augmentation) were sampled at two bloom stages to characterize bacterial and fungal communities associated with floral tissues. The surveys were complemented by in vitro experiments to assess effects of arrival order and fungicides on nectar microbial communities, and effects of fungicides and microbes on honey bee foraging. Finally, a field trial was conducted to test effects of fungicides and microbes on pollination.As bloom progressed, bacterial and fungal abundance and diversity increased, across all floral tissue types and management strategies. The magnitude by which microbial abundance and diversity were affected varied, with host proximity to apiaries and orchard management having notable effects on bacteria and fungi, respectively.Experiments showed immigration history and fungicides affected the composition of nectar microbial communities, but only fungicides affected pollinator foraging through reduced nectar removal. Neither treatment affected pollination services.Synthesis and applications. Our results shed light on routes through which management practices can shape microbiota associated with flowers of a pollinator-dependent crop. With growing appreciation for the role of floral-associated microbes in affecting biotic interactions at the floral interface, understanding such drivers can potentially inform microbial-derived ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, including pollination and biocontrol.

scholarly journals Uptake and Translocation of Fall- and Spring-applied Zinc in Bearing Apple Trees

HortScience ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 519F-520
Author(s):  
Enrique Sanchez ◽  
Tim Righetti
Keyword(s):  
Zinc Chloride ◽  
Shoot Growth ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Flower Buds ◽  
Apple Trees ◽  
Fallen Leaves ◽  
Almost All

A zinc timing study was carried out in `Jonagold'/EM26 trees using labeled zinc chloride (98.8 atom% Zn-68). In the fall, five spurs with strong flower buds on each of five trees were labeled with a micropipet with a solution of 1000 ppm Zn at the rate of 240 μg of Zn per leaf. Almost all the Zn-68 applied was recovered in the fallen leaves. Next spring, leaves and flowers clusters sampled from the treated spurs showed that only 3% of their total Zn was fertilizer-derived. A spring application was performed on five spurs and young terminal shoots of each of five trees. The developing leaves were labeled with 500 ppm Zn-68 solution at petal fall. Two weeks later, the entire spurs and the treated shoots were sampled. Zinc remained in the treated areas and it was not transported below or above the application zone. The study supports the contention that Zn is highly immobile in the tree and, if needed, it should be applied in early spring in order to promote rapid leaf and shoot growth. Fall applications of Zn-68 were absorbed but not transported from the treated leaves to the surrounding tissues. Therefore, Zn was not recycled for the next year's growth.

Managing ecosystem services in broadacre landscapes: what are the appropriate spatial scales?

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (12) ◽  
pp. 1549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy A. Schellhorn ◽  
Sarina Macfadyen ◽  
Felix J. J. A. Bianchi ◽  
David G. Williams ◽  
Myron P. Zalucki
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Enemies ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Critical Knowledge ◽  
Reasonable Evidence ◽  
Farm Scale ◽  
Similar Area

Over the past 200 years agriculture has expanded throughout Australia. The culmination of clearing and cultivating land at the farm scale has resulted in highly modified landscapes and a perceived loss of ecosystem services from pest control and pollination. We examine the literature: (i) to identify the appropriate spatial scale for managing pests, natural enemies and pollinators; and (ii) for evidence that farm-scale changes (due to agricultural intensification) across a landscape have resulted in a tipping point favouring pests and hindering pollinators. Although there is limited information to draw firm conclusions, the evidence suggests that actions undertaken on individual farms have an impact both on their neighbours and regionally, and that the culmination of these actions can lead to changes in population dynamics of pests, natural enemies and pollinators. For major pest species, there is reasonable evidence that grain growers may benefit from improved management and higher yields by implementing area-wide pest management strategies on a landscape scale in collaboration with growers of other crops that also share these pests. As yet, for natural enemies and pollinators there is little direct evidence that similar area-wide initiatives will have a greater effect than management strategies aimed at the field and farm level. Managing pests, natural enemies and pollinators beyond the scale of the field or farm is technically and socially challenging and will required a well defined research agenda, as well as compromise, balance and trading among stakeholders. We highlight critical knowledge gaps and suggest approaches for designing and managing landscapes for ecosystem services.

POPULATIONS OF SOME MAJOR PESTS AND THEIR NATURAL ENEMIES ON YOUNG AND SEMIDWARF APPLE TREES IN NOVA SCOTIA

1977 ◽  
Vol 109 (6) ◽  
pp. 797-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. MacLellan
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Natural Enemies ◽  
Integrated Control ◽  
Control Program ◽  
Insect Damage ◽  
Natural Mortality ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Population Densities ◽  
Apple Trees ◽  
Standard Size

AbstractThe population densities of several major apple pests and their natural enemies were studied in an insecticide-free young bearing orchard and in an older orchard of semidwarf trees on an integrated control program. In mature orchards of standard size trees, greater natural mortality occurs than that reported in this study. Over a 5-year period most pests, with notable exceptions, increased rapidly under insecticide-free conditions whereas occasional numerical surges of certain pest species occurred under the mild insecticide program. Insect damage on fruit at harvest averaged 24% in the insecticide-free orchard and 8% in the integrated control orchard which had 2.4 times more harvested fruit.

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