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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #417195
Research Project: Management and Biology of Arthropod Pests and Arthropod-borne Plant Pathogens

Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research

Title: Restoring functional farmland biodiversity for biological pest control

Author
item WYCKHUYS, KRIS - University Of Queensland
item Bushley, Kathryn
item GRATTON, CLAUDIO - University Of Wisconsin
item POZSGAI, GABOR - The University Of The Azores
item TSCHARNTKE, TEJA - Gottingen University
item LU, YANHUI - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item ELKAHKY, MAGED - Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations-European Commission For The Control Of Foot

Submitted to: Trends in Plant Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/21/2025
Publication Date: 4/29/2025
Citation: Wyckhuys, K.A., Bushley, K.E., Gratton, C., Pozsgai, G., Tscharntke, T., Lu, Y., Elkahky, M. 2025. Restoring functional farmland biodiversity for biological pest control. Trends in Plant Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2025.03.012.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2025.03.012

Interpretive Summary: Agricultural lands have transformed the ecological landscape. The drive to homogenize agricultural lands with simple monocultures has led to a loss of biodiversity as well as rise in pest species. The loss of biodiversity of natural predators, entomopathogenic fungi, or other biocontrol organisms in farmlands may contribute. We analyzed studies that have shown that agricultural lands can be better managed to promote biodiversity of organisms that can keep insect pests in check to provide a synthesis for developing better policy to protect biodiversity of biocontrol organisms in farmlands.

Technical Abstract: Roughly 40% of global agri-food production is lost to pests during an ara when productivity gains are essential to humanity. Restoring biological control in farmland offers potential to secure win-win outcomes for yield and the environment. However, achieving this is constrained by theoretical and applied gaps in understanding of the functional diversity and ecological processes that underpin biological control. Notably, a paucity of data on occurrence, identity and interactions of farm-dwelling biota, and unclear functional linkages compound a historically limited level of interdisciplinary research effort and weak policy frameworks. Greater knowledge of these aspects of ecology would also underpin plant breeding efforts that feature selection for traits that support biological control rather than the traditional focus on maximizing yield and assuming pesticidal control of pests. More comprehensive and longer-term data capture using protocols common across sites would address the need for a stronger evidence base on which to formulate policy recommendations and effect practice change able to meet immediate needs and provide resilience in the face of multiple global change challenges. This will involve ecologists moving from comfort zones to work with agronomists, social and economic domains to effect behavioral change and allow ecological intensification to become a reality.