Third and fourth trophic level composition shift in an aphid-parasitoid-hyperparasitoid food web limits aphid control in an intercropping system

1. Understanding how resource diversification affects ecological interactions, food web structure and ecosystem functioning is essential in both fundamental and applied ecology. While plant diversification strategies (either in- or around-field) are often proposed in agricultural landscapes as practices to improve the biological control of herbivores by natural enemies, results remain variable and unsure.

2. Here, we studied the effect of an in-field diversification practice (the intercropping of leguminous crops within cereal fields, an increasingly common practice but with inconsistent results on biological control) on cereal aphid control and the structure of a cereal-aphid-parasitoid-hyperparasitoid food web for two years.

3. We report that aphid control was not increased in mixed fields, nor was cereal parasitoid diversity and food web complexity. Nevertheless, the provision of alternative hosts in mixed fields led to a functional community composition shift, favouring genera...