Abstract
Abstract Industrialized agriculture needs sustainable alternatives to pesticides to avoid negative impacts on the environment and human health. Crop diversification is known to decrease pest pressure in agricultural crops. Up till now, the effects of insect herbivores on crop yield are often assumed to be equal among cropping systems. We sampled the insect community and yield of cabbages in five distinct cropping systems characterized by increasing crop diversity. Using structural equation modelling, we assessed how herbivorous insects influence cabbage yield through direct consumptive effects and indirect effects via changes in the insect community. The most diverse cropping system synergistically increased cabbage yield and herbivorous insect abundance and richness, whereas the other cropping systems did not differ consistently from each other. Cropping systems alter the effect that herbivores have on cabbage crop yield, where more herbivores do not necessarily lead to reduced yields. Specific insects had cropping system‐specific effects on yield, which reflect differences in the potential for distinct cropping systems to contribute to biological control of distinct herbivorous insects. In one of the cropping systems with cultivar mixtures, we observed negative impacts of herbivores on cabbage yield. This may result from a companioning cultivar drawing natural enemies away from the main cultivar, which would result in reduced biological control of herbivores on the main cultivar. Synthesis and applications. Our study shows that the design and characteristics of cropping systems should be considered when assessing insect herbivory effects on crop yield. As herbivorous insects have a smaller impact on yield in diverse cropping systems, crop diversification may synergize biodiversity conservation and food production.
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Claims 6
Claim · model-written summary
The most diverse cropping system increased cabbage yield compared with the other cropping systems.
- Taxon
- cabbage
Brassica oleracea var. capitatae1 - Treatment
- most diverse cropping systeme1
- Outcome
- cabbage yielde1
- Direction
- increasede1
- Comparator
- other cropping systemse1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The most diverse cropping system synergistically increased cabbage yield and herbivorous insect abundance and richness, whereas the other cropping systems did not differ consistently from each other”
Claim · model-written summary
The most diverse cropping system increased herbivorous insect abundance and richness compared with the other cropping systems.
- Taxon
- cabbageBrassica oleracea var. capitatae1
- Treatment
- most diverse cropping systeme1
- Interactor
- herbivorous insecte1herbivore
- Outcome
- herbivorous insect abundance and richnesse1
- Direction
- increasede1
- Comparator
- other cropping systemse1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The most diverse cropping system synergistically increased cabbage yield and herbivorous insect abundance and richness, whereas the other cropping systems did not differ consistently from each other”
Claim · model-written summary
More herbivores do not necessarily lead to reduced cabbage yield, as the effect depends on cropping system.
- Taxon
- cabbageBrassica oleracea var. capitatae1
- Treatment
- Cropping systemse1
- Interactor
- herbivorese1herbivore
- Outcome
- crop yielde1
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Cropping systems alter the effect that herbivores have on cabbage crop yield, where more herbivores do not necessarily lead to reduced yields”
Claim · model-written summary
Specific insects had cropping system-specific effects on cabbage yield.
- Taxon
- cabbageBrassica oleracea var. capitatae1
- Treatment
- cropping systeme2
- Outcome
- yielde2
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The most diverse cropping system synergistically increased cabbage yield”
e2“Specific insects had cropping system‐specific effects on yield”
Claim · model-written summary
In the cropping system with cultivar mixtures, herbivores had negative impacts on cabbage yield.
- Taxon
- cabbageBrassica oleracea var. capitatae1
- Treatment
- cultivar mixturese1
- Interactor
- herbivorese1herbivore
- Outcome
- cabbage yielde1
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“In one of the cropping systems with cultivar mixtures, we observed negative impacts of herbivores on cabbage yield”
Claim · model-written summary
The design and characteristics of cropping systems should be considered when assessing insect herbivory effects on crop yield.
- Taxon
- cabbageBrassica oleracea var. capitatae1
- Outcome
- assessing insect herbivory effects on crop yielde2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The most diverse cropping system synergistically increased cabbage yield”
e2“Our study shows that the design and characteristics of cropping systems should be considered when assessing insect herbivory effects on crop yield”
The same questions in other papers
cultivation system · pest · Brassica oleracea (wild cabbage)Positive and negative results
1 in the opposite direction
- positive
cultivation system · yield · Brassica oleracea (wild cabbage)Positive and negative results
7 papers in the same direction as this paper · 6 in the opposite direction
- no effect
- no effect
- negative
10 papers more in this group
See all 14 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.