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The Impact of Prairie Strips on Aphidophagous Predator Abundance and Soybean Aphid Predation in Agricultural Catchments
Environmental Entomology
  • Rachael Cox, Iowa State University
  • Matthew E. O'Neal, Iowa State University
  • Rene Hessel, Iowa State University
  • Lisa A. Schulte, Iowa State University
  • Matthew J. Helmers, Iowa State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-1-2014
DOI
10.1603/EN13129
Abstract

Reconstructing prairie vegetation in row crop-dominated agricultural landscapes may contribute to several ecosystem services, including the biological control of insect pests, such as the soybean aphid Aphis glycines Matsumura. The influence of the amount and configuration of reconstructed prairie vegetation on the delivery of ecosystem services was investigated in several small catchments at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa. Treatments include catchments entirely in row crops under a no-till, corn—soybean (Zea maysL.—Glycine max [L.] Merrill) rotation, catchments with 10% of the land in prairie located at the base, and catchments with 10 or 20% of the land in multiple contour strips of prairie. During 2009 and 2011 growing seasons, we measured abundance and diversity of aphidophagous insect predators in response to treatment and habitat type (i.e., soybean, prairie). In 2011, we further studied the biological control of soybean aphids by artificially infesting uncaged and caged plants to prevent exposure from predators. While aphidophagous predators were more abundant in prairie, populations of key aphid predators did not significantly differ among treatments. Biological control of the soybean aphid did not differ among treatments or with distance from prairie. Our results suggest that prairie strips, in addition to providing soil and water quality benefits, may increase the populations of beneficial insects, but may not directly impact biocontrol. We propose several hypotheses to explain why we did not observe more soybean aphid predation with the increased abundance of aphidophagous predators in catchments containing prairie.

Comments

This article is from Environmental Entomology 43 (2014): 1185, doi:10.1603/EN13129.

Rights
This article is the copyright property of the Entomological Society of America and may not be used for any commercial or other private purpose without specific permission of the Entomological Society of America.
Copyright Owner
Entomological Society of America
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Rachael Cox, Matthew E. O'Neal, Rene Hessel, Lisa A. Schulte, et al.. "The Impact of Prairie Strips on Aphidophagous Predator Abundance and Soybean Aphid Predation in Agricultural Catchments" Environmental Entomology Vol. 43 Iss. 5 (2014) p. 1185 - 1197
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/matthew_helmers/97/