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Intercropping with aromatic plants decreases herbivore abundance, species richness, and shifts arthropod community trophic structure
Citation
Beizhou, S and Jie, Z and Wiggins, NL and Yuncong, Y and Guangbo, T and Xusheng, S, Intercropping with aromatic plants decreases herbivore abundance, species richness, and shifts arthropod community trophic structure, Environmental Entomology, 41, (4) pp. 872-879. ISSN 0046-225X (2012) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2012 Entomological Society of America
DOI: doi:10.1603/EN12053
Abstract
Habitat management is important for the regulation of arthropod community structures
to reduce pest populations in orchard ecosystems, but there is limited information on how intercropping
with aromatic plants regulates arthropod community structure at trophic levels.Weselected
four aromatic plants, Mentha canadensis L., Agerarum houstonianum Mill., Tagetes patula L., and
Ocimum basilicum L., as intercrops in apple orchard to analyze the effects of intercropping on
herbivore and predator abundance, species richness, and to measure the changes of trophic levels of
the associated arthropod community. We found that intercropping with aromatic plants, compared
with intercropping with natural herb vegetation, signiÞcantly reduced herbivore abundance and
species richness by 25.62 and 11.6%, respectively. Intercropping signiÞcantly increased predator
abundance and species richness by 18.78 and 15.6%, respectively, with predator abundance most
notably affected during the ßowering period of aromatic plants. Furthermore, herbivore abundance
and species richness were strongly negatively correlated with predator species richness. Intercropping
affected herbivoreÐpredator dynamics, with an observed increase in the ratios of predator abundance
and richness to herbivore abundance and richness. Our results indicate that intercropping with
aromatic plants in apple orchards may play a role in the observed shift from a herbivore-dominated
to a predator-dominated trophic structure, which is likely to have important ßow-on effects on
arthropod community structure.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | orchard, essential oils, herbivore, pest managment, intercropping |
| Research Division: | Environmental Sciences |
| Research Group: | Environmental management |
| Research Field: | Natural resource management |
| Objective Division: | Plant Production and Plant Primary Products |
| Objective Group: | Horticultural crops |
| Objective Field: | Horticultural crops not elsewhere classified |
| UTAS Author: | Wiggins, NL (Dr Natasha Wiggins) |
| ID Code: | 80587 |
| Year Published: | 2012 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 18 |
| Deposited By: | Plant Science |
| Deposited On: | 2012-11-05 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-10-31 |
| Downloads: | 3 View Download Statistics |
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