Landscape Effects on the Abundance of <i>Apolygus lucorum</i> in Cotton Fields

• Main Authors: Minlong Li, Long Yang, Yunfei Pan, Qian Zhang, Haibin Yuan, Yanhui Lu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-03-01
• Series: Insects
• Subjects: miridae; polyphagous pests; agricultural landscape; resources continuity; population outbreak; regional pest management
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/11/3/185

Resource-continuity over spatial and temporal scales plays a central role in the population abundance of polyphagous pests in an agricultural landscape. Shifts in the agricultural land use in a region may alter the configuration of key resource habitats, resulting in drastic changes in pest abundance. <i>Apolygus lucorum</i> (Meyer-D&#252;r) (Hemiptera: Miridae) is a pest of cotton in northern China that has become more serious in recent years following changes in the region&#8217;s cropping systems. However, no evidence from the landscape perspective has yet been gathered to account for the increasing population of <i>A. lucorum</i> in China. In this study, we investigated the effects of landscape composition on the population abundance of <i>A. lucorum</i> in cotton fields in July and August of 2016, respectively. We found that increased acreage planted to cotton actually had a negative effect on the abundance of <i>A. lucorum</i>, while planting of other crops (e.g., vegetables, soybean, and peanut) was positively associated with the mirid&#8217;s population abundance in cotton fields. Maize production only displayed a positive effect on population abundance in August. Our results suggested that the decreasing of cotton area may weaken the trap-kill effect on <i>A. lucorum</i>, and the extension of other crops and maize potentially enhance the continuity of resources needed by <i>A. lucorum</i>. Combined effects of these two aspects may promote an increased population density of <i>A. lucorum</i> in the agriculture district. In the future, when possible, management strategies in key regional crops should be coordinated to reduce resource continuity at the landscape or area-wide scale to lower <i>A. lucorum</i> populations across multiple crops.