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Rodrigo Martinezsastre - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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animal biodiversity in cider apple Orchards simultaneous environmental drivers and effects on insectivory and pollination
Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, 2020Co-Authors: Rodrigo Martinezsastre, Marcos Minarro, Daniel F. GarciaAbstract:Abstract Making agriculture more sustainable requires a greater understanding of animal-mediated ecosystem services. The beneficial effects of pest-control and pollination provided by, respectively, insectivorous birds and pollinator insects are essential for many crops. Improving these ecosystem services simultaneously in the same crop system means, first, identifying the drivers of animal biodiversity that operate in agricultural landscapes, and second, revealing the relationships between biodiversity and the two services. Here, for two years, we addressed how landscape and small-scale orchard features affected bird and insect biodiversity (abundance and species richness) in cider apple Orchards in northern Spain. We examined the effects of bird and insect biodiversity on the magnitude of, respectively, insectivory and pollination. Bird biodiversity was positively affected by the cover of apple canopy within Orchards, whereas that of pollinators responded positively to the cover of semi-natural woody habitats and eucalyptus plantations in the surrounding landscape, and also on the level of bloom at the orchard scale. Insectivory, estimated from sentinel model and exclusion experiments, was positively affected by increased abundance and richness of birds across Orchards. Similarly, fruit set responded positively to higher abundance and richness of wild bees, whereas seed set mostly depended on the abundance of wild pollinators. Our findings suggest simultaneous positive effects of animal biodiversity on pest-control and pollination in apple Orchards, with no sign of trade-offs between biodiversity groups or between ecosystem functions. A multi-scaled management of orchard-level features (apple canopies and surrounding hedgerows for birds, and apple bloom and ground cover for pollinators) and landscape-level ones (surrounding cover of semi-natural woody habitats, moderate for birds, high for pollinators) is encouraged for the simultaneous enhancement of pest-control and pollination. Biodiversity-farming win-win scenarios are possible in cider apple Orchards by simultaneously promoting multiple animal-mediated ecosystem services.
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birds as suppliers of pest control in cider apple Orchards avian biodiversity drivers and insectivory effect
Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, 2018Co-Authors: Daniel Garcia, Marcos Minarro, Rodrigo MartinezsastreAbstract:Abstract Making farming compatible with biodiversity conservation requires identifying the biodiversity drivers that operate in agricultural landscapes, while also addressing the role of biodiversity in ecosystem services. Such integrative information is, however, rare for specific biodiversity groups and services. Here, we focus on insectivorous birds in cider apple Orchards in northern Spain, ascertaining the relationships between landscape- and orchard-scale features and bird biodiversity. We conducted field observations and experiments to estimate the potential of birds for controlling arthropod abundance and pest outbreaks in apple trees. Twenty-nine tree-dwelling, insectivorous bird species were observed during one year, inside and around cider apple Orchards, with six abundant species representing a predictable core across sites and seasons. Bird abundance and richness increased with the availability of semi-natural woody habitats (hedgerows, remnant trees, and forest patches) both in the immediate neighborhood of the orchard and in the landscape within a 1-km radius of the orchard. Orchards with higher cover of apple tree canopy also harbored a greater abundance and richness of birds. Apple tree branches that were cage-excluded from birds and manually infested with aphids suffered increased shoot damage and aphid outbreak, compared to those that were aphid-infested but open to birds. Bird exclusion led to increased abundances of pest insects other than aphids, and also of other arthropods considered as natural enemies or mutualists of pests. Arthropod abundance was lower in those Orchards showing higher abundances of insectivorous birds during spring and summer. Multi-scaled farming management, involving both within-field practices and regional land use schemes, should be considered in order to promote win–win scenarios in cider apple Orchards, whereby species-rich assemblages of insectivorous birds provide effective pest control service.
Sylvaine Simon - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Environmental impact of intensive versus semi-extensive apple Orchards: use of a specific methodological framework for life cycle assessments (LCA) in perennial crops
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016Co-Authors: Aude Alaphilippe, Sylvaine Simon, Joachim Boissy, Caroline GodardAbstract:While the management of apple Orchards is intensifying through high tree density, heavy input use and short lifespan, growers in some traditional production areas keep on planting semi-extensive Orchards. We assessed the environmental impacts of those two contrasted production systems using the last methodological recommendations for Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) in perennial crops. The use of such framework permitted to assess the weight of the unproductive stages in the orchard lifespan impacts, and the contribution of fertiliser direct field emissions to the total impacts. Mainly due to fertilisation, the intensive orchard displayed the higher environmental impacts over the orchard lifespan for all calculated impact categories except energy demand. Fertilisation, including fertiliser production and application, represented half or more of the calculated impact categories in the intensive orchard, attesting to the importance of taking these field emissions into account and to include the N-tree requirements in the calculation. Methodological considerations are discussed and the necessity to explicit the approach used to account for the duration of perennial cropping systems is also outlined. Unproductive stages weighted from 9 to 21% of the studied impact categories in the semiextensive orchard and from 13 to 28% in the intensive orchard, with little contribution of the nursery stage (from 0.2 to 2.6%). This study outlines that orchard strategies (management and design) perform differently according to the context that constrains tree water need and pest and disease control.
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Management strategies in apple Orchards influence earwig community
Chemosphere, 2015Co-Authors: Laure Malagnoux, Sylvaine Simon, Gaëlle Marliac, Magali Rault, Yvan CapowiezAbstract:Our aim was to assess whether different apple orchard management strategies (low-input, organic, Integrated Pest Management (IPM)) would have an effect on earwigs, which are important natural enemies of apple pests. These commercial Orchards were as well compared to abandoned Orchards. The density of Forficula auricularia and Forficula pubescens was studied for three years in 74 Orchards around Avignon. The pesticide usage, some orchard characteristics and two small-scale landscape parameters were characterized. Pesticide use was significantly different between low-input, organic and IPM Orchards with particularly significant differences in the number of insecticide applications (2.2, 4.9 and 9.2 respectively). Pesticide use had a much stronger impact on earwig community than other characteristics. F. auricularia density was significantly lower in IPM Orchards (0.47 individuals per tree) compared to organic, low-input and abandoned Orchards (3.1, 4.5 and 1.6 individuals per tree, respectively). F. pubescens was almost absent from IPM Orchards and its abundance was higher in abandoned or low-input Orchards compared to organic Orchards (1.5 and 2.8 vs 0.8 individuals per tree). The percentage of F. pubescens in the earwig community decreased from abandoned (52%) to low-input (40%), organic (15%) and IPM Orchards (0.5%). These results were confirmed by LD50 assays showing that for the two pesticides causing mortality close to normal application rates (chlorpyrifos-ethyl and acetamiprid), F. pubescens was significantly more sensitive than F. auricularia. Since earwigs are also easy to capture and identify, they may be useful to estimate the effects of management strategies and their modification in pome fruit Orchards.
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genetic inferences about the population dynamics of codling moth females at a local scale
Genetica, 2011Co-Authors: Pierre Franck, Benoit Ricci, Sylvaine Simon, Jérôme Olivares, Jean-marie Cornuet, Etienne K Klein, Claire LavigneAbstract:Estimation of demographic parameters is important for understanding the functioning of natural populations and the underlying ecological and evolutionary processes that may impact their dynamics. Here, we used sibship assignment methods to shed light on the local dynamics of codling moth females in eight Orchards in a 90-ha domain near Valence, France. Based on full-sib inference among 1,063 genotyped moths, we estimated (1) the effective number of females that had offspring, (2) their fertility and (3) the distribution of their oviposition sites within and among Orchards. The average number of females in all the Orchards increased between the first (~130) and the second (~235) annual generations. The average fertilities of the females were similar at each generation according to the host plant considered (apple, pear, or walnut), but differed between commercial (~10) and non-treated (~25) apple Orchards. Females mainly clustered their eggs on contiguous trees along orchard borders, but they also occasionally dispersed their eggs among different Orchards independently of the cultivated host plants or the inter-orchard distances (up to 698 m) during the second annual generation. The mean distance between two oviposition sites was 30 m. Sibship estimates of both the effective number of females and the inter-orchard migration rates (~5%) were in agreement with the observed genetic differentiation among the eight Orchards (0.006 < F st < 0.013). These results confirm and extend previous field and laboratory observations in Cydia pomonella, and they demonstrate that sibship assignments based on genetic data are an interesting alternative to mark-release-recapture methods for inferring insect population dynamics.
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Biodiversity and pest management in orchard systems. A review
Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 2010Co-Authors: Sylvaine Simon, Jeancharles Bouvier, Jean Francois Debras, Benoît SauphanorAbstract:Conventional agriculture is based on a high level of chemical inputs such as pesticides and fertilisers, leading to serious environmental impacts, health risks and loss of biodiversity in agrosystems. The reduction of pesticide use is a priority for intensively sprayed agricultural systems such as Orchards. The preservation and promotion of biodiversity within Orchards and their boundaries is therefore an issue to explore. Indeed, orchard systems contain high plant diversity and perennial multi-strata designs that provide wealthy resources and habitats to living communities such as beneficial organisms. Orchards thus offer favourable areas to maintain food-webs within the agrosystem, provided that favourable situations are not altered by cultural practices such as applying an excess of pesticides. Here, we analysed literature on the effects of the manipulation of plant diversity and habitats on the control of pests by arthropod and bird communities in apple, pear and peach Orchards. Many investigations focus on the role of plant management to enhance biodiversity in Orchards but only 22 research reports presenting 30 case studies were dedicated to the study of the ecosystem service provided by plant diversity for orchard pest control. The underlying mechanisms were seldom demonstrated, and the tested grass covers and tree assemblages aimed at favouring either the beneficial complex or only some beneficial species to control one or a few pests. The effect of plant management on pest control was mostly positive (16 cases) or null (9), but also negative in some cases (5). This finding reveals the difficulties of identifying selected plants or plant assemblages for the control of key pests. We conclude that further research is needed to identify the processes involved on different scales for biological control. Orchard systems should be re-designed to optimise ecosystem services provided by biodiversity.
Magali Rault - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Metabolic mechanisms and acetylcholinesterase sensitivity involved in tolerance to chlorpyrifos-ethyl in the earwig Forficula auricularia.
Chemosphere, 2019Co-Authors: Adrien Le Navenant, Yvan Capowiez, Myriam Siegwart, Sandrine Maugin, Magali RaultAbstract:Apple Orchards are highly treated crops, in which organophosphorus (OP) are among the most heavily sprayed insecticides. These pesticides are toxic to non-target arthropods and their repeated use increases the risk of resistance. We studied mechanisms involved in tolerance and resistance to OP insecticides in the earwig Forficula auricularia, an effective generalist predator in pomefruit Orchards. Adult earwigs were sampled in three apple Orchards managed under contrasting strategies: conventional, Integrated Pest Management, and organic. The threshold activities of enzyme families involved in pesticides tolerance: Glutathione-S-transferases (GSTs) and Carboxylesterases (CbEs) were measured in earwig extracts. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was monitored as a toxicological endpoint. Variations in these activities were assessed prior to and after exposure to chlorpyrifos-ethyl at the normal application rate. We observed that the mortality of earwigs exposed to chlorpyrifos-ethyl depended on the management strategy of Orchards. Significantly lower mortality was seen in individuals sampled from conventional orchard. The basal activities of CbEs and GSTs of collected organisms were higher in conventional orchard. After in vivo exposure, AChE activity appeared to be inhibited in surviving males with no difference between Orchards. However an in vitro inhibition trial with chlorpyrifos-oxon showed that AChE from earwigs collected in organic and IPM Orchards were more sensitive than from conventional ones. These observations support the hypothesis of a molecular target modification in AChE and highlight the possible role of CbEs in effective protection of AChE. Our findings suggest that the earwigs with a high historic level of insecticide exposure could acquire resistance to chlorpyrifos-ethyl.
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Management strategies in apple Orchards influence earwig community
Chemosphere, 2015Co-Authors: Laure Malagnoux, Sylvaine Simon, Gaëlle Marliac, Magali Rault, Yvan CapowiezAbstract:Our aim was to assess whether different apple orchard management strategies (low-input, organic, Integrated Pest Management (IPM)) would have an effect on earwigs, which are important natural enemies of apple pests. These commercial Orchards were as well compared to abandoned Orchards. The density of Forficula auricularia and Forficula pubescens was studied for three years in 74 Orchards around Avignon. The pesticide usage, some orchard characteristics and two small-scale landscape parameters were characterized. Pesticide use was significantly different between low-input, organic and IPM Orchards with particularly significant differences in the number of insecticide applications (2.2, 4.9 and 9.2 respectively). Pesticide use had a much stronger impact on earwig community than other characteristics. F. auricularia density was significantly lower in IPM Orchards (0.47 individuals per tree) compared to organic, low-input and abandoned Orchards (3.1, 4.5 and 1.6 individuals per tree, respectively). F. pubescens was almost absent from IPM Orchards and its abundance was higher in abandoned or low-input Orchards compared to organic Orchards (1.5 and 2.8 vs 0.8 individuals per tree). The percentage of F. pubescens in the earwig community decreased from abandoned (52%) to low-input (40%), organic (15%) and IPM Orchards (0.5%). These results were confirmed by LD50 assays showing that for the two pesticides causing mortality close to normal application rates (chlorpyrifos-ethyl and acetamiprid), F. pubescens was significantly more sensitive than F. auricularia. Since earwigs are also easy to capture and identify, they may be useful to estimate the effects of management strategies and their modification in pome fruit Orchards.
Louise A Malone - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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effect of orchard management neighbouring land use and shelterbelt tree composition on the parasitism of pest leafroller lepidoptera tortricidae larvae in kiwifruit orchard shelterbelts
Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, 2018Co-Authors: Jacqui H Todd, Joanne Poulton, Kate Richards, Louise A MaloneAbstract:Abstract The parasitoid communities in organic and integrated pest management (IPM) kiwifruit Orchards have previously been found to differ significantly, but we do not know if this affects the quality or quantity of biocontrol services. We compared parasitism of two leafroller (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) pest species, Ctenopseustis obliquana (Walker) and Cnephasia jactatana (Walker), in the two types of orchard. Within each orchard, we focussed on a large shelterbelt between the kiwifruit vines and an alternative land-use to also investigate whether the shelterbelts and neighbouring habitat were a source of pests or beneficial insects for these Orchards. Sentinel larvae were used to determine both parasitoid identity and parasitism rate each month during the kiwifruit growing seasons in 2013/14 (16 Orchards) and 2014/15 (12 Orchards). The numbers of Tortricidae and parasitoids in the shelterbelt on each orchard in each month was also assessed in 2014/15. Four parasitoid species emerged from the sentinel larvae, although average parasitism rates were very low (1–3%). There were no detectable effects of orchard management, shelterbelt type or neighbouring land-use on parasitism rates. Parasitoid numbers were low in all Orchards in 2014/15, although more parasitoids were collected from the IPM Orchards than the organic ones. This may have been in response to the increasing numbers of Tortricidae in the shelterbelts on the IPM Orchards during the season, a trend that was not observed in the organic Orchards. Both shelterbelt composition and neighbouring land-use were found to affect total combined counts of Tortricidae and parasitoids, with higher counts in shelterbelts composed of Cryptomeria japonica and where adjacent land contained native bush or tree-based scrub. Each may therefore be a source of both taxa for the Orchards. Modifications to the shelterbelts that increase parastoids but not Tortricidae are needed.
Yousry A Elkassaby - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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genetic diversity of norway spruce picea abies l karst seed orchard crops effects of number of parents seed year and pollen contamination
Forest Ecology and Management, 2018Co-Authors: Jorn Henrik Sonstebo, Mari Mette Tollefsrud, Tor Myking, Arne Steffenrem, A E Nilsen, O M Edvardsen, O R Johnskas, Yousry A ElkassabyAbstract:Abstract Seed from Orchards, established from breeding programs, often dominate the planting stock in economically important tree species, such as Norway spruce. The genetic diversity in seed Orchards’ crops depends on effective population size which in turn is affected by many factors such as: number of parents in the orchard, seed Orchards’ design, fecundity, and pollen contamination. Even though seed Orchards’ seed is extensively used over large regions, very few studies have addressed how well their crops reflect the genetic diversity present in the regions where they are planted. Here we have investigated the genetic diversity (by means of 11 microsatellites) of two Norway spruce seed orchard populations with different number of parents (60 and 25) and compared this with seed crops collected in the semi natural forest and natural unmanaged populations. We found that the ratio between the effective population size (Ne) and actual number of parents (N) varied between 0.60 and 0.76 in the Orchards’ seedlots. A reduction in genetic diversity (mainly allelic richness) was detected in a few seedlots, mainly where the number of parents was low. Our results also show that pollen contamination play an important role in maintaining the genetic diversity in Orchards’ seedlots, particularly when the number of parents is low. The population genetic structure among seed orhcards and natural populations is shallow suggesting that regeneration with seed from current seed Orchards will have limited effect on the overall genetic diversity.
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estimates of pollen contamination and selfing in a coastal douglas fir seed orchard
Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, 2015Co-Authors: Tony Kess, Yousry A ElkassabyAbstract:Seed Orchards are the link from tree breeding to reforestation programs and are theoretically expected to function as closed, perfect populations, ensuring gain and diversity are consistently and predictively delivered as improved seed and seedlings. Seed orchard populations often deviate from panmixia due to fertility variation, reproductive asynchrony, and gene flow, leading to reduced seed crops genetic quality. Here, as a part of multiyear monitoring study, we used DNA fingerprinting (simple sequence repeat markers) to assess a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) seed orchard's seed crop genetic quality (2009 seed crop). The studied seed crop was produced under ambient temperature (i.e. no reproductive phenology manipulation) and pollination was augmented by pollen from within orchard's pollen donors. DNA fingerprinting of the parental population (66 parents) along with 207 gametophyte (1n) – embryo (2n) pairs of random bulk sample of seed allowed parentage (maternal and paternal) assignment and the d...
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clonal row vs random seed orchard designs mating pattern and seed yield of western hemlock tsuga heterophylla raf sarg
2003Co-Authors: Yousry A ElkassabyAbstract:Comparisons of the mating pattern (selfing rate and level of correlated matings) and seed yield between clonalrow and the traditional random design in a western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) seed orchard were conducted. The study included: (1) a reproductive phenology survey to determine the duration of pollination season, (2) controlled selfing trial to determine clonal propensity to selfing, (3) seed yield comparison between seed Orchards designs and among clones within seed Orchards, and (4) determination of selfing and correlated matings rates using allozyme markers. Results indicated that the orchard has an extended, 22-day, pollination period and clones were characterized based on their reproductive activity as early, medium, and late. The majority of the 25 self-pollinated clones yielded very low seed set, however, few clones showed higher selfing propensity with percent of filled seed ranging from 8 to 29 %. Seed orchard design had no significant effect on seed yield @ = 0.27). Outcrossing rate estimates were significantly different between the clonal-row (t = 0.899) and random (t = 0.970) seed Orchards, and both estimates significantly departed from complete outcrossing (i.e., t = 1.0), indicating that selfing is higher in the clonal-row design. Estimates of correlated mating substantially varied between the two seed orchard designs with 35 and 8 % for the clonal-row and random seed Orchards, respectively, demonstrating genetic quality differences of seed produced from the two seed orchard designs. It was concluded that if clonal-row design is considered for advanced generation seed Orchards, then a slight modification involving staggering the clonal-rows will allow each clone to be flanked by four other clones. Together with the use of effective pollen management such as carefully timed, clone-specific, multiple supplemental-mass-pollination applications may reduce selfing and correlated matings.
