Ecological Engineering for Pest Management Advances in Habitat Manipulation for Arthropods to Our Partners: Donna Read, Claire Wratten and Clara I

Ecological Engineering for Pest Management Advances in Habitat Manipulation for Arthropods To our partners: Donna Read, Claire Wratten and Clara I. Nicholls. Ecological Engineering for Pest Management Advances in Habitat Manipulation for Arthropods Editors Geoff M. Gurr University of Sydney, Australia Steve D. Wratten National Centre for Advanced Bio-Protection Technologies, PO Box 84, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand Miguel A. Altieri University of California, Berkeley, USA © CSIRO 2004 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact CSIRO PUBLISHING for all permission requests. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Ecological engineering for pest management: advances in habitat manipulation for arthropods. Includes index. ISBN 0 643 09022 3. 1. Ecological engineering. 2. Arthropod pests – Control. 3. Agricultural ecology. I. Gurr, G. M. (Geoff M.). II. Wratten, Stephen D. III. Altieri, Miguel A. 628.96 Available from CSIRO PUBLISHING 150 Oxford Street (PO Box 1139) Collingwood VIC 3066 Australia Telephone: +61 3 9662 7666 Local call: 1300 788 000 (Australia only) Fax: +61 3 9662 7555 Email: [email protected] Website: www.publish.csiro.au Front cover Caption and acknowledgement Back cover Caption and acknowledgement Set in Minion 10/12 Cover and text design by James Kelly Typeset by James Kelly Printed in Australia by xxx Foreword Professors Geoff Gurr, Steve Wratten and Miguel Altieri and colleagues present readers with a thoughtful outlook and perspective in Ecological Engineering for Pest Management: Advances in Habitat Manipulation for Arthropods. The stimulating chapters provide timely strategies concerning pest control in crops worldwide. There is currently a critical need for food production, as the world population is rapidly growing. At present, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that more than 3 billion humans are malnourished. People are dying from shortages of calories, protein, vitamins A, B, C, D and E, plus iron and iodine. Half of the world population is malnourished, the largest number recorded in history. People who are malnourished are also more susceptible to a wide array of diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, flu, AIDS and numerous other diseases. The WHO reports that human diseases worldwide are increasing. In part, the number of malnourished is increasing because the world population is increasing faster than the growth in the food supply. The world population now numbers more than 6.3 billion. More than a quarter-million people who need to be fed are added to the world population each day. Unfortunately, more than 40% of all world food production is being lost to insect pests, plant pathogens and weeds, despite the application of more than 3 billion kilograms of pesticides to crops. Insect pests destroy an estimated 15%, plant pathogens 13% and weeds 12%. These estimated losses vary based on the ‘cosmetic’ standards that exist in each nation. For example, many fruits and vegetables sold on the Guatemalan or Indian markets would not be saleable in the USA or Australia. Large quantities of pesticides are applied in the USA, Australia and other developed nations to achieve the ‘perfect-looking’ apple or cabbage. An excessive amount of pesticide is being recommended to replace the sound habitat manipulations previously employed in crop production. For example, since 1945 the amount of insecticide applied to US crops has increased more than 10-fold, yet crop losses to insects nearly doubled from 7% in 1945 to about 13% today. The reasons for the doubling of crop losses to insects, despite the 10-fold increase in insecticide use, include the reduction of crop rotations, the planting of some crop varieties that are more susceptible to insects, the destruction of natural enemies, the elimination of hedgerow and shelterbelts, an increase in monocultures, reduced crop diversity, reduction in sanitation, the practice of leaving crop residues on the surface of the land and the use of herbicides that increase crop susceptibility to insect attack. The authors and editors are not opposed to the judicious use of pesticides; their concern is the neglect of various environmentally sound pest controls. The wide array of habitat manipulations currently include agroforestry, biological control, crop rotations, crop diversity, flower strips, natural enemy refuges, trap crops and other technologies. Each of these technologies, and combinations of these pest suppression technologies, offers opportunities to reduce crop losses to pests while at the same time reducing the use of pesticides. The authors of this book are leaders in the development of such approaches. The various chapters present valuable, up-to- date information on how ecological engineering approaches to pest management can be developed and applied, as well as pointing out technical and practical frontiers for future research. The editors and authors are to be commended for producing an outstanding book that provides many opportunities to help reduce the 40% food-crop losses to pests and increase the food supply to the malnourished billions of the world. We in pest management owe a debt of gratitude to the authors for this timely book on habitat manipulations for pest suppression. David Pimentel Cornell University, Ithaca, USA Contents Preface ix Contributors x Chapter 1 Ecological engineering, habitat manipulation and pest management 1 G.M. Gurr, S.L. Scarratt, S.D. Wratten, L. Berndt & N. Irvin Chapter 2 Genetic engineering and ecological engineering: a clash of paradigms or scope for synergy? 13 M.A. Altieri, G.M. Gurr & S.D. Wratten Chapter 3. The agroecological bases of ecological engineering for pest management 33 C.I. Nicholls & M.A. Altieri Chapter 4 The landscape context of arthropod biological control 55 M.H. Schmidt, C. Thies & T. Tscharntke Chapter 5 Use of behavioural and life-history studies to understand the effects of habitat manipulation 65 M.A. Jervis, J.C. Lee & G.E. Heimpel Chapter 6 Molecular techniques and habitat manipulation approaches for parasitoid conservation in annual cropping systems 101 F.D. Menalled, J.M. Alvarez & D.A. Landis Chapter 7 Marking and tracking techniques for insect predators and parasitoids in ecological engineering 117 B. Lavandero, S.D. Wratten, J. Hagler & J. Tylianakis Chapter 8 Precision agriculture approaches in support of ecological engineering for pest management 133 M. Coll Chapter 9 Effects of agroforestry systems on the ecology and management of insect pest populations 143 M.A. Altieri & C.I. Nicholls Chapter 10 The ‘push–pull’ strategy for stemborer management: a case study in exploiting biodiversity and chemical ecology 155 Z.R. Khan & J.A. Pickett Chapter 11 Use of sown wildflower strips to enhance natural enemies of agricultural pests 165 L. Pfiffner & E. Wyss Chapter 12 Habitat manipulation for insect pest management in cotton cropping systems 187 R.K. Mensah & R.V. Sequeira Chapter 13 Pest management and wildlife conservation: compatible goals for ecological engineering? 199 C. Kinross, S.D. Wratten & G.M. Gurr Chapter 14 Ecological engineering for enhanced pest management: towards a rigorous science 219 G.M. Gurr, S.D. Wratten & M.A. Altieri Index 227 Preface The future for pest management The ecological engineering discussed in this book involves manipulating farm habitats, making them less favourable for pests and more attractive to beneficial insects. Although they have received far less research attention and funding, ecological approaches may be safer and more sustainable than genetic engineering of crops. This book brings together contributions from international workers at the forefront of the fast-moving field of habitat manipulation. Chapters explore methodological frontiers of ecological engineering ranging from molecular approaches to high-tech marking methods and remote sensing, as well as reviewing theoretical aspects and how ecological engineering may interact with its controversial cousin, genetic engineering. Examples from recent and current research, combined with liberal use of figures and tables, illustrate the elegance and utility of ecological engineering for pest management, showing that it is much more than so-called ‘chocolate-box ecology’,where the practices are aesthetically pleas- ing but lacking in rigour and efficacy. With contributions from Australia, Germany, Israel, Kenya, New Zealand, Switzerland, the USA and the UK, this book provides comprehensive coverage of international progress towards sustainable pest management. We are grateful to many of the contributing authors who have acted as referees for other chapters, but are especially indebted to the following people for also acting as referees: Pedro Barbosa (University of Maryland, USA), Robert Bugg (University of California, USA), Paul De Barro (CSIRO Entomology, Australia), Martin Dillon (CSIRO Entomology, Australia), Les Firbank (Lancaster Environment Centre, UK), Shelby J. Fleischer (Penn State University, USA), David Goldney (University of Sydney, Australia), Matt Greenstone (USDA-ARA,USA), Dieter Hochuli (University of Sydney, Australia), Robert Holt (University of Kansas, USA), Wolfgang

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