Despite widespread pesticide use, agricultural pests can cause substantial crop losses for farmers. The use of chemical pesticides is increasingly discouraged due to negative effects on human health and toxicity for non-target organisms.
In this study, researchers explored the ecosystem service potential of natural pest control by arthropods in agricultural landscapes as an alternative to pesticides in a study area in northern Germany.
Using GBIF-mediated occurrences of two known pests—Oat-birdcherry aphid (Rhopalosiphum padi) and English grain aphid (Sitobion avena)—and their natural arthropod enemies coupled with data on climate and land use, the authors built species distribution models fitted at the regional scale.
To account for landscape complexity and biotic interactions, they also created a seperate set of models assessing species co-occurrences in order to refine the potential distributions and predict pest control potential at the local scale.
While the aphid pests had a overall low suitability in the whole study area, pest control potential depended on the landscape complexity of the agricultural areas. As such, large crop fields presented low natural pest control potential, while smaller fields featuring a higher level of semi-natural habitats had higher potential for natural pest control.
The framework presented in the study can easily be adapted to study other pests, agroecosystems and their potential for natural pest control.