Location: Integrated Cropping Systems Research
Project Number: 3080-30400-009-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Nov 18, 2025
End Date: Nov 17, 2030
Objective:
Objective 1: Conduct research to determine how agricultural management practices impact invertebrate diversity and associated ecosystem services.
Objective 2: Conduct research to develop sustainable and ecologically safe methods for enhancing endemic biological control agents responsible for pest suppression in rotational cropping systems.
Subobjective 2.A: Assess EPN activation in response to different insect hosts.
Subobjective 2.B: Determine whether continuously rearing EPN isolates on different insect hosts influences pathogenicity towards target and non-target hosts.
Objective 3: Quantify invertebrate-mediated ecosystem services of predators and pollinators.
Subobjective 3.A: Quantify the benefits of clover cover crop to overwintering beneficial insects and their provision of predatory ecosystem services.
Subobjective 3.B: Impacts of nitrogen (N) fertilization on plant-pollinator interactions in sunflowers.
Objective 4: Assess effects of environmental stressors on beneficial invertebrates, identify adaptive traits that confer resilience, and determine impacts of agrochemical exposure on beneficial insects and provisioning of ecosystem services.
Sub-objective 4.A: Determine concentrations of agricultural pesticides in adult foraging bumble bees, nest materials, and passive samplers over the course of a growing season.
Subobjective 4.B: Understanding environmental stressors of managed and wild bees.
Objective 5: Improve methods for monitoring bees and increase knowledge of interactions among various bee species in agricultural landscapes.
Sub-objective 5.A: Document plant species used by wild bees for stem-nesting in the NGP.
Sub-objective 5.B: Determine effectiveness of trap components on captures of wild bees.
Approach:
Agriculture faces challenges to intensify production to meet rising demand for food and biofuels in ways that are agronomically and environmentally sustainable. It will need to rely increasingly on a variety of invertebrate-mediated agroecosystem services (IMAS) such as biological weed and pest control and pollination. However, knowledge gaps persist about the composition of beneficial invertebrate guilds in agroecosystems, what limits their value, and how various cropping practices impact their functionality. In response, this project will generate fundamental and applied knowledge about bees, ground beetles, and entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs). Our research will ascertain how tillage impacts pollinators and insect predators and granivores in cropland and further expand previous research to test mechanisms on how soil properties like nutrient availability affect sunflower-pollinator interactions. Pesticide exposure and environmental stressors of bees will also be measured in conjunction with improving methods and collection techniques for bee surveys. EPN pathogenicity and its effects on pest and non-target insects will be evaluated to enhance their efficacy and specificity in pest management. Finally, studies will assess cover crops and other perennial plants as overwintering and nesting habitats for beneficial insects that enhance IMAS within agroecosystems.
The research is expected to produce an array of positive impacts. For instance, it will facilitate the generation of hypotheses about factors driving bee diversity and pollination services and, along with improved pesticide exposure assessments for native bees, aid in developing conservation strategies. An improved understanding of how ground beetles respond to cropping practices will lead to recommendations that more effectively support their suppression of weeds and agricultural pests. Identification and characterization of locally adapted, efficacious EPN will give producers a long-term, non-chemical management strategy to suppress pests. Ultimately, the research will enhance the potential of ecosystem services from bees, ground beetles, and EPN to increase agricultural sustainability.