Invertebrate community structure predicts natural pest control resilience to insecticide exposure

Biological pest control has become one of the central principles of ecological intensification in agriculture. However, invertebrate natural enemies within agricultural ecosystems are exposed to a myriad of different pesticides at both lethal and sub-lethal doses, that may limit their capacity to carry out pest control. An important question is how underlying diversity in invertebrate predator species, linked to their unique susceptibility to insecticides, can act to increase the resilience of natural pest control.

We explore this issue by assessing the effects of sub-lethal insecticide exposure on the predation rates of 12 generalist predators feeding on the aphid Sitobion avenae (Aphididae).  Predation rates within a 24 hr period were assessed (predation assessment) for each species after receiving one of the following treatments: 1) no prior deltamethrin exposure before the predation assessment (control); 2) deltamethrin exposure immediately before the predation assessment (resist...

生物害虫防治已成为农业生态集约化的核心原则之一。然而，农业生态系统中的无脊椎动物天敌会暴露于多种不同的农药中，且接触剂量涵盖致死与亚致死水平，这可能会削弱其开展害虫防治的能力。当前亟待解答的一个关键科学问题是：无脊椎动物捕食者物种的固有多样性，及其独特的杀虫剂敏感性，如何能够提升自然害虫防治系统的恢复能力。

本研究通过评估亚致死剂量杀虫剂暴露对12种取食麦长管蚜（Sitobion avenae，蚜科）的广食性捕食者捕食速率的影响，探讨这一科学问题。研究针对各捕食者物种，在接受以下任一处理后，测定其24小时内的捕食速率（捕食效能评估）：1）捕食测定前无溴氰菊酯暴露史（对照组）；2）捕食测定前即刻暴露于溴氰菊酯（抗性……