Landscape structure and natural pest-suppression services in bioenergy landscapes: implications for regional food and fuel production

Rapid changes in Policies, economics, and societal demand are altering the composition and configuration of agricultural landscapes. Theoretical and empirical research suggests that changes in the structure and spatial configuration of agricultural landscapes will affect crop yields through indirect effects on crop pests and their natural enemies. Despite the importance of this hypothesis to both conventional food and bioenergy-based agriculture, this hypothesis remains to be rigorously tested.

In this study, we are conducting greenhouse, field and model-based research on a valuable biofuel crop (soybean), its principle pest (soybean aphid), and its natural enemies (generalist predators such as ladybeetles) across a 19-county region of southern Wisconsin. We will utilize empirical and biophysical crop modeling tools to evaluate the role of landscape structure on biofuel yield through the indirect effects on pests and natural enemies. By merging interdisciplinary approaches, we will generate forecasting tools that can help us evaluate how multiple ecosystem services, including biocontrol and bioenergy crop production, trade off at landscape and regional scales, thereby making the outcomes of this research relevant to land managers and policy makers.

Contact: Aditya Singh

Collaborators:

• Claudio Gratton, UW-Entomology;
• Chris Kucharik, UW-Agronomy/SAGE.