Natural Herbivore Regulation in Tropical Agroecosystems: Importance of Farming Practices and Landscape Structure

Abstract

This chapter examines the importance of landscape and farming practices in agroecosystems and herbivore regulation in the tropics. It revises their relevance as centers of origin and diversification of agriculture and the threats they experience due to land use change. Here we analyze the patterns that have been observed in terms of management practices that conserve or threat biodiversity and the ones that promote agroecosystem self-regulation, in particular the patterns related to pest regulation and its effects on crop yield. Finally, we discuss the relevance of agroecological studies in the tropics and suggest the use of structural equation models to study, with observational data, the effects of interactions within agroecosystems, the last based on a case study of the effect of management and landscape on the arthropod community in papaya plantations and its cascading effect on plant damage and yield.