Crop damage increases with pest species diversity: Evidence from potato tuber moths in the tropical Andes

Abstract

Insect pests in agricultural systems are one of the major causes of damage to crop production and storage worldwide. However, the study of the effect of multiple pests on agricultural productivity has remained largely disconnected from the ongoing debate on how species diversity affects the productivity of ecosystems. The aim of our study is to use information from crop studies to inform the debate on species diversity and ecosystem productivity. We present the results of an experimental study that manipulated the species richness of three tuber feeding moth species (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) at constant larval density. We measured the influence of this manipulation on (1) damage to the economically most important crop in the Andean region, the potato Solanum tuberosum and (2) the performance of the moths as a consequence of feeding rates. Our results showed that the three pest species together cause more damage to the crop than is predicted from the effects of each pest alone. This resulted in significant increases in pupal biomass and fecundity. Potential mechanisms to explain our results are (1) more complete resource utilization and thus greater crop damage (feeding complementarity) and (2) negative interactions, where intra-specific interactions are greater than inter-specific interactions. Synthesis and applications. Our findings may have important consequences for integrated pest management in poor tropical countries. Biodiversity in many tropical countries is decreasing rapidly, leading to reductions in ecosystem services such as biocontrol and pollination. At the same time an increasing number of species, many of them agricultural pests, are being introduced by humans. Our results show that the potential complementarity effects among pest species may increase damage to field crops to a larger extent than previously expected. Control strategies to limit the introduction of new pest species are therefore urgently needed in these countries where the daily management of biological resources is largely in the hands of poor rural people and local government staff with limited funding. © 2009 British Ecological Society.