title: Landscape crop composition effects on cotton yield, Lygus hesperus densities and pesticide use.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Landscape crop composition surrounding agricultural fields is known to affect the density of crop pests, but quantifying these effects, as well as measuring how they translate to changes in yield, is difficult. Using a large dataset consisting of 1498 records of commercial cotton production in California between 1997 and 2008, we explored the relationship between landscape composition and cotton yield, the density of Lygus hesperus (a key cotton pest) at field-level and within-field spatial scales and pesticide use.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that the crop composition immediately adjacent to a cotton field was associated with substantial differences in cotton yield, L. hesperus density and pesticide use. Furthermore, crops that tended to be associated with increased L. hesperus density also tended to be associated with increased pesticide use and decreased cotton yield.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest a possible mechanism by which landscape composition can affect cotton yield: by increasing the density of pests which in turn damage cotton plants. Our quantification of how surrounding crops affect pest densities, and in turn yield, in cotton fields has significant impacts for cotton farmers, who can use this information to help optimize crop selection and ranch layout. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics and Center for Population Biology, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Meisner
authors.affiliation: Facultad De Agronomia E Ingenieria Forestal, Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zaviezo
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jay A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rosenheim
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D003368:Gossypium / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D020062:Heteroptera / Q000502:physiology*; D007300:Insect Control / Q000379:methods; D010575:Pesticides; D011156:Population Density
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides
keywords: Lygus hesperus; agricultural informatics; applied pest management; cotton; landscape composition; pest control; pesticide use