title: Response of pest control by generalist predators to local-scale plant diversity: a meta-analysis.
abstract: Disentangling the effects of plant diversity on the control of herbivores is important for understanding agricultural sustainability. Recent studies have investigated the relationships between plant diversity and arthropod communities at the landscape scale, but few have done so at the local scale. We conducted a meta-analysis of 32 papers containing 175 independent measures of the relationship between plant diversity and arthropod communities. We found that generalist predators had a strong positive response to plant diversity, that is, their abundance increased as plant diversity increased. Herbivores, in contrast, had an overall weak and negative response to plant diversity. However, specialist and generalist herbivores differed in their response to plant diversity, that is, the response was negative for specialists and not significant for generalists. While the effects of scale remain unclear, the response to plant diversity tended to increase for specialist herbivores, but decrease for generalist herbivores as the scale increased. There was no clear effect of scale on the response of generalist predators to plant diversity. Our results suggest that the response of herbivores to plant diversity at the local scale is a balance between habitat and trophic effects that vary according to arthropod specialization and habitat type. Synthesis and applications. Positive effects of plant diversity on generalist predators confirm that, at the local scale, plant diversification of agroecosystems is a credible and promising option for increasing pest regulation. Results from our meta-analysis suggest that natural control in plant-diversified systems is more likely to occur for specialist than for generalist herbivores. In terms of pest management, our results indicate that small-scale plant diversification (via the planting of cover crops or intercrops and reduced weed management) is likely to increase the control of specialist herbivores by generalist predators.
authors.affiliation: CIRAD Persyst UPR 26TA B-26/PS4, Boulevard de la Lironde 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5 France; CARBAP African Research Centre on Bananas and Plantains BP 832 Douala Cameroon; Laboratory of Biotechnology, Genetic Resources and Plant and Animal Breeding (BIORAVE) Faculty of Sciences and Technology of Dassa Polytechnic University of Abomey 01 BP 14 Dassa-Zoumè Benin.
authors.forename: Anicet Gbèblonoudo
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Dassou
authors.affiliation: CIRAD Persyst UPR 26TA B-26/PS4, Boulevard de la Lironde 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5 France; Departamento de Agricultura y Agroforesteria CATIE 7170 Cartago Turrialba 30501 Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tixier
keywords: Biological control; effect size; herbivores; local scale; pest regulation service; plant diversity; predation; specialization
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2006 Jul 22;273(1595):1715-27
references.pmid: 16790403
references.citation: Ecol Appl. 2011 Jan;21(1):9-21
references.pmid: 21516884
references.citation: Annu Rev Entomol. 2014;59:559-81
references.pmid: 24397523
references.citation: Am Nat. 2001 Mar;157(3):262-81
references.pmid: 18707289
references.citation: Theor Popul Biol. 1977 Oct;12(2):197-29
references.pmid: 929457
references.citation: Am Nat. 2000 Feb;155(2):200-218
references.pmid: 10686161
references.citation: Oecologia. 1993 Dec;96(3):439-449
references.pmid: 28313662
references.citation: J Econ Entomol. 2012 Feb;105(1):113-9
references.pmid: 22420262
references.citation: Ecol Lett. 2009 Oct;12(10):1029-39
references.pmid: 19702636
references.citation: J Insect Sci. 2012;12:14
references.pmid: 22934569
references.citation: Am Nat. 1998 Nov;152(5):738-50
references.pmid: 18811348
references.citation: J Anim Ecol. 2010 Mar;79(2):491-500
references.pmid: 20015213
references.citation: Science. 1999 Nov 5;286(5442):1123-7
references.pmid: 10550043
references.citation: Science. 1999 Aug 6;285(5429):893-5
references.pmid: 10436158
references.citation: Oecologia. 1997 Dec;113(1):126-132
references.pmid: 28307287
references.citation: Am Nat. 2003 Jan;161(1):40-9
references.pmid: 12650461
references.citation: PLoS One. 2015 Feb 03;10(2):e0117265
references.pmid: 25646778
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997 Nov 11;94(23):12243-8
references.pmid: 9356432
references.citation: Ecol Lett. 2011 Sep;14(9):922-32
references.pmid: 21707902
references.citation: Am J Bot. 2011 Mar;98(3):572-92
references.pmid: 21613148
references.citation: Annu Rev Entomol. 2004;49:405-30
references.pmid: 14651470
references.citation: Ecol Lett. 2011 Feb;14(2):101-12
references.pmid: 21087380
references.citation: Oecologia. 2013 Oct;173(2):579-89
references.pmid: 23494286
references.citation: Exp Appl Acarol. 2013 Aug;60(4):509-19
references.pmid: 23417700
references.citation: Nature. 2010 Nov 25;468(7323):553-6
references.pmid: 20981010
references.citation: Annu Rev Psychol. 2001;52:59-82
references.pmid: 11148299
references.citation: Oecologia. 2006 Aug;149(2):265-75
references.pmid: 16708227
references.citation: Ecol Lett. 2011 Jan;14(1):42-6
references.pmid: 21070559
references.citation: Nat Plants. 2015 Mar 30;1(4):15041
references.pmid: 27247041
references.citation: Environ Entomol. 2012 Jun;41(3):612-20
references.pmid: 22732620
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2005 Jan 22;272(1559):203-10
references.pmid: 15695212
references.citation: Oecologia. 2003 May;135(3):407-13
references.pmid: 12721831
references.citation: Ecol Appl. 2013 Jul;23(5):1135-45
references.pmid: 23967581
references.citation: Environ Entomol. 2012 Feb;41(1):72-80
references.pmid: 22525061