Management intensity affects insect pests and natural pest control on Arabica coffee in its native range

Agroforestry systems provide opportunities to reduce the trade-off between agricultural production and biodiversity, for example by enhancing a diverse community of species potentially acting as natural pest control agents. While management of agroforestry systems is intensifying across the globe, we lack insights into the impact of management intensity on pest levels and natural pest control, especially along broad management gradients and as compared with natural forests.
We assessed the impact of management intensity on major insect pests (the coffee blotch miner, the serpentine leaf miner, the coffee leaf skeletonizer, and damage by other free-feeding herbivores) and natural pest control by parasitoid wasps across sixty sites in the center of origin of Arabica coffee in southwestern Ethiopia. Within this region, coffee is growing along a broad management gradient ranging from little or no management in the natural forest to intensively managed commercial plantations.
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