Data from: Crop-dominated landscapes have higher vector-borne plant virus prevalence

Landscape composition affects local arthropod biodiversity, including herbivorous insects and their predators, yet to date landscape effects on insect-vectored plant diseases have received little attention. Here, we examine how landscape composition affects the prevalence of a viral pathogen in host plants, and the role the arthropod vector assemblage plays in mediating landscape effects.
We measured the effect of landscape composition (measured as percentage of cropland and unmanaged land) on the plant virus Potato virus Y (PVY), its aphid vectors, and their coccinellid predators during the 2012 and 2013 field seasons at 19–21 farms.
In both years, we found a positive relationship between final virus prevalence and percentage of cropland within 500, 1000 and 1500 m surrounding study sites. Percentage of cropland also had a significant negative effect on aphid species richness, and the aphid community composition in turn affected PVY prevalence. By contrast, landscape composition had no measurable effect on coccinellid abundance or species richness in this study.
Synthesis and applications. Our work demonstrates that landscape composition plays an important role in vector-borne pathogen spread, and that pathogen spread appears to be mediated by the effects of the landscape on the insect vector community. The small spatial scale (≤1500 m) of the effects seen in our study indicates that on-farm management practices have the potential to reduce virus prevalence on small-scale farms. Farmers may be able to reduce Potato virus Y prevalence by on-farm diversification, by isolating potato fields from other agricultural crops, and by not using saved potato seed.

景观格局（landscape composition）会影响本地节肢动物（arthropod）的生物多样性，包括植食性昆虫及其天敌，但截至目前，学界对景观格局如何作用于虫媒植物病害的关注仍较为匮乏。本研究旨在探究景观格局如何影响寄主植物中的病毒病原流行率，以及节肢动物传毒介体类群在介导景观格局效应中所扮演的角色。
本研究于2012与2013年的田间试验季，在19至21个农场中，以农田与非管理用地占比作为景观格局的量化指标，探究其对马铃薯Y病毒（Potato virus Y, PVY）、其蚜虫（aphid）传毒介体以及该介体的瓢虫科（coccinellid）捕食者的影响。
在两年的试验中，研究团队均发现，研究样地周边500、1000与1500米范围内的农田占比与最终病毒流行率呈正相关关系。农田占比同时对蚜虫物种丰富度存在显著负向影响，而蚜虫群落组成又会进一步影响PVY的流行率。与之相对，本研究中景观格局对瓢虫科捕食者的种群数量或物种丰富度均无可检测到的影响。
综合与应用。本研究证实，景观格局在虫媒病原的传播过程中发挥着重要作用，而病原传播似乎可通过景观格局对昆虫传介群落的作用得以介导。本研究观测到的效应空间尺度较小（≤1500米），表明小型农场可通过田间管理措施降低病毒流行率。农户可通过以下方式降低马铃薯Y病毒的流行率：开展农田生境多样化改造、将马铃薯田与其他农作物隔离，以及避免使用自留马铃薯种薯。