Natural vegetation benefits synergistic control of the three main insect and pathogen pests of fruit crop in southern Africa

1. Most studies of the potential for natural habitat to improve agricultural productivity have been conducted in transformed, temperate regions, but little is known of the importance of agroecosystem services in biodiverse developing countries. 2. Natural vegetation may promote the density and/or diversity of natural enemies of crop pests, but the strength of the effect varies, and few studies directly measure concurrent impacts on pest density. Considering multiple pest species within the same agroecosystem may help explain why some pests are more affected than others by landscape complexity. Here, we investigated multiple pest species (three species of Tephritidae fruit fly, leaf galling flies and pathogenic fungi Fusarium spp.) and their enemies in cultivated mango Mangifera indica, in north-eastern South Africa. 3. The density of generalist Tephritidae fruit flies increased with distance from natural vegetation during harvesting months, and predation rate of pupae sharply decreased ...