View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital Repository @ Iowa State University Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2013 Development of best-practices for conserving beneficial insects within Iowa's agricultural landscape Kelly Ann Gill Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Agriculture Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, and the Natural Resources and Conservation Commons Recommended Citation Gill, Kelly Ann, "Development of best-practices for conserving beneficial insects within Iowa's agricultural landscape" (2013). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 13048. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/13048 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Development of best-practices for conserving beneficial insects within Iowa’s agricultural landscape by Kelly Ann Gill A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Major: Entomology Program of Study Committee: Matthew O’Neal, Major Professor Lisa Schulte Moore Mary Harris Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2013 Copyright © Kelly Ann Gill, 2013. All rights reserved ii TABLE OF CONTENTS THESIS ABSTRACT v CHAPTER 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND 1 LITERATURE REVIEW Thesis Organization 1 Introduction and Literature Review 1 Ecosystem Services 1 Beneficial Insects and Their Value to Agriculture 2 Pollinators 3 Natural enemies 5 Resource Requirements for Beneficial Insects 6 Declining Biodiversity in Iowa 8 Where Can Biodiversity Exist in Iowa’s Agroecosystem? 9 Objectives and Hypotheses 12 Chapter Two 12 Chapter Three 12 References Cited 13 CHAPTER 2. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY: BUFFER STRIPS 18 CAN BE IMPROVED WITH SELECT NATIVE PLANT SPECIES Abstract 18 Introduction 19 Materials and Methods 23 Site Description 23 Experimental Design 23 Buffer Strips on Organic Farms 24 Simple Plant Communities 25 Diverse Plant Communities 25 The “CP-IA mixture” 26 The “MSU Best Bet mixture” 26 Forb-only Plant Communities 27 Plant Establishment 27 Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) 27 Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) 28 Willow (Salix matsudana Koidzumi) 28 Corn (Zea mays L.) 28 Native perennial plant plugs 28 Field and Plot Maintenance 29 Plant Measurements 30 Arthropod Collection 32 Arthropod Identification and Guild Assignment 33 Arthropod Community Composition 34 iii Statistical Analyses 36 Results 40 Plant Diversity 40 Flower Abundance 40 Arthropod Community Composition 41 Pollinator Diversity 42 Natural Enemy Diversity 44 Pollinator Abundance 46 Natural Enemy Abundance 47 Activity-density 48 Model Comparisons 48 Producer Perception of Existing Buffer Strips 49 Discussion 50 References Cited 58 Tables 64 Figure Legends 76 Figures 77 CHAPTER 3. DO BUFFER STRIPS CONTRIBUTE TO THE 80 BIODIVERSITY OF ORGANIC FARMS? Abstract 80 Introduction 81 Materials and Methods 85 Study Site Selection 85 Study Site Description 85 Arthropod Collection 89 Arthropod Identification and Guild Assignment 91 Arthropod Community Composition 92 Activity-density 93 Landscape Measurements 93 Statistical Analyses 94 Results 95 Arthropod Community Composition 95 Pollinator Community Composition 97 Natural Enemy Community Composition 99 Activity-density 102 Distance From Buffer Strip 103 Discussion 104 References Cited 112 Tables 117 Figure Legends 130 Figures 131 iv CHAPTER 4. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 134 Chapter Two 134 Chapter Three 136 Recommendations 137 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 138 APPENDIX 140 v THESIS ABSTRACT The annual value of crop pollination and biological control of plant pests provided by beneficial insects is estimated to exceed $20 billion to United States crop production alone. Beneficial insects that supply these services to agricultural lands are threatened by limited or suboptimal resources due to the loss of biodiversity in agroecosystems, which is a growing concern in agricultural states like Iowa. Conservation practices are recommended to address a multitude of conservation concerns related to Iowa’s declining natural resources; however, guidelines for best practices that conserve beneficial insects are not well defined. Due to the valuable relationship of beneficial insects and successful crop production, there is a need for developing best practices that conserve beneficial insects within Iowa’s agricultural landscape. The first objective was to design mixtures of native perennial plants that range in diversity and resource availability and evaluate these different plant communities as candidates for buffer strips that attract and provide resources for beneficial insects. The second objective was to evaluate the insect community in non-crop buffer strips already established on organic farms and in the adjacent organic crops and conventional row crops. This research seeks to identify mixtures of native perennial plants optimized with resources attractive to pollinators and natural enemies and to determine if these mixtures can enhance Iowa’s buffer strips to conserve beneficial insects and protect their services. Best-practices for conserving beneficial insects can be adapted for different regions, land uses, and habitat restoration scenarios beyond the study system used for this research. 1 CHAPTER 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW Thesis Organization The scope of this research encompasses the development of best-management practices that can provide resources to beneficial insects within Iowa’s agricultural landscape. This thesis is organized in four chapters. Chapter one contains a literature review and an introduction that will provide background information and addresses the significance of the research presented in subsequent chapters. Chapter two will report how plant communities in buffer strips can be improved for conserving beneficial insects with mixtures of select native plant species. Chapter three describes the beneficial insect community in non-crop buffer strips already existing on organic farms, as well as the adjacent organic crops and conventional row crops. Chapter four will provide a brief summary of the conclusions from the research presented in this thesis, followed by acknowledgements. The appendix includes a table of the beneficial insect taxa collected across the candidate buffer strips (pertains to chapter two). Introduction and Literature Review Ecosystem Services. Complex ecological processes through which ecosystems, and the species existing within, function to sustain and provision human life (Daily 1997, MEA 2005, Swinton et al. 2006, Zhang et al. 2007) are referred to as ecosystem services. These benefits to humans are realized through the maintenance of biodiversity and the production of 2 ecosystem goods and services (Daily 1997). The different types of goods and services ecosystems supply to humans are organized into four subcategories of services: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural (MEA 2005). This research focuses on provisioning and regulating services, in agroecoysytems. Although supporting and cultural services have a role in agricultural systems, they are beyond the framework of the research presented in subsequent chapters and are not discussed in depth (see Daily 1997 for chapters regarding ecosystem services not included within). Provisioning ecosystem services include the production of goods such as food, fuel, fiber, pharmaceuticals, and genetic resources. Ecosystems managed for agricultural production supply the majority of provisioning ecosystem services. However, managed landscapes depend on ecosystem services derived from natural ecosystems as inputs (e.g. regulating ecosystem services). These inputs determine the success and quality of provisioning ecosystem services and the goods obtained from agricultural production (MEA 2003, Müller et al 2005, Zhang et al. 2007). In this way, agricultural landscapes both supply and demand ecosystem services. Beneficial Insects and Their Value to Agriculture. Beneficial insects provide regulating ecosystem services to agriculture such as pollination and the natural regulation of plant pests. These insect-derived services are critical to the ecological balance and economical profitability of agricultural production, and in turn, food security. Provisioning services, such as the production of food, fuel, and fiber provide humans with direct benefits by means of tangible goods that are of marketable value; however, it is more difficult to assign a value to the regulating services 3 (pollination and natural regulation of pests) that enable the production of such ecosystem goods. It is noteworthy to mention that this research aims to enhance insect-derived ecosystem services from a conservation perspective (i.e. enhancing beneficial insects in agricultural landscapes that provide ecosystem services to crops), but aspects related to insect-derived services were not directly measured. Best-practices to conserve beneficial insects must be evaluated for their ability to attract beneficial insects, and be neutral to pests, before the impact on the level of services provided through this type of conservation can be assessed. Despite these challenges,