Browsing by Author "Zhao, Z.H."
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- ItemApproaches and mechanisms for ecologically based pest management across multiple scales(Elsevier B.V., 2016) Zhao, Z.H.; Reddy, G.V.P.; Hui, C.; Li, B.L.The past 50 years have seen substantial change of agroecosystems in the world, including an intensified use of agrochemicals and expansion of cropland, resulting in a rapid loss of biodiversity and a reduction of ecosystem services. The effects of these changes, at both the field and landscape scale, on ecologically based pest management (EBPM) in agroecosystems have become increasingly important. Here, we review the theories, important approaches and mechanisms of habitat management practices (at multiple spatial scales) that can be applied to facilitate EBPM in crop fields and even over larger landscapes. In particular, we discuss links between pest outbreaks and rapid changes of habitat composition at local and regional scales. We also summarize recent progress of habitat management and their application to pest management, which is an activity that we believe must be implemented at multiple spatial scales to successfully conserve ecosystem services and address environmental issues related to crop pest control.
- ItemEffects of inter-annual landscape change on interactions between cereal aphids and their natural enemies(Elsevier, 2013) Zhao, Z.H.; Hui, C.; Ouyang, F.; Liu, J.H.; Guan, X.Q.; He, D.H.; Ge, F.The agricultural intensification and the subsequent habitat changes in agroecosystem can strongly affect biological control services. We here examine the influence of inter-annual landscape change in wheat field area on interactions of cereal aphids and their natural enemies, as well as the efficacy of biological control using data collected from a 4-year experiment in Northwest China. Two hypotheses were tested. (i) Population densities decline following an inter-annual expansion of wheat crop proportion cover due to dilution and crowding effects. (ii) Species that are specialists or at higher trophic levels are more sensitive to bottom-up disturbance by inter-annual change in percent cover of wheat crop. Results showed the population densities of one cereal aphid (Macrosiphum avenae), one parasitic wasp (Aphidius avenae), two specialist predators (ladybirds: Hippodamia variegata and H. tredecimpunctata) and one hyperparasitic wasp (Pachyneuron aphidis) declined following the expansion of wheat crop areas, supporting the predictions of inter-annual dilution and crowding effects. In contrast, the populations of one cereal aphid (Schizaphis graminum), one parasitic wasp (A. gifuensis), two generalist predators (spiders: Pardosa astrigera; carabid beetles: Chlaenius pallipes), and two hyperparasitic wasps (Asaphes suspensus, and Alloxysta sp.) did not respond to inter-annual landscape change. The two hypotheses were partially supported but with noticeable exceptions, and the bio-control efficiency declined with the increase of the proportion cover of wheat field in agricultural landscape. Overall, different responses of cereal aphids and their natural enemies make it difficult but still possible to optimize inter-annual landscape change for enhancing the parasitism rate and predator-prey ratio.
- ItemEffects of position within wheat field and adjacent habitats on the density and diversity of cereal aphids and their natural enemies(2013) Zhao, Z.H.; Hui, C.; He, D.H.; Ge, F.The spatial structure of agricultural land- scapes can have a strong impact on the distribution and diversity of insects. Here we studied the effects of within-field position (edge or center) as well as adjacent habitats on the community structure of the natural enemies of cereal aphids. Twelve agricultural sites were included in the study, with two spring wheat fields selected for each site (one adjacent to an alfalfa field, the other adjacent to a corn field). We sampled two rows per field (1 and 20 m from the edge) using pitfall trapping for ground-dwelling predators, sweep netting for leaf- dwelling predators and hand collecting of aphid mummies for parasitoids. Adjacent alfalfa areas, as opposed to corn fields, can significantly increase the abundance and diversity of leaf-dwelling predators and parasitoids near the field edges. Abundance and diver- sity were found significantly higher near the edges than in the centers of fields adjacent to alfalfa areas. In contrast, no significant differences were found between edges and centers of fields adjacent to corn fields. Of the fifteen most abundant species, Aphidius avenae (Hali- day), A. gifuensis (Ashmead), Hippodamia variegata (Goeze) and Chrysopa sinica (Tjeder) were significantly more abundant near the edge than in the center. Being adjacent to alfalfa habitats could enhance parasitism and predator/prey ratios of leaf-dwelling predators at the edges, but has no effects on ground-dwelling predators. In conclusion, the effect of within-field position and adjacent habitats on natural enemies of agricultural pests was species specific. This should be considered for designing efficient plans of biological control.
- ItemThe failure of success: cyclic recurrences of a globally invasive pest(2019) Zhao, Z.H.; Hui, C.; Plant, R.E.; Su, M.; Papadopoulos, N.T.; Carpenter, T.E.; Li, Z.H.; Carey, J.R.In the six decades since 1960, the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), has been announced successfully eradicated in California by the U.S. Department of Agriculture a total of 564 times. This includes eradication declarations in one city a total of 25 different years, in 12 cities 8-19 different years, and in 101 cities 2-7 different years. We here show that the false negatives in declaring elimination success hinge on the easily achieved regulatory criteria, which have virtually guaranteed the failure of complete extirpation of this pest. Analyses of the time series of fly detection over California placed on a grid of 100-km(2) cells revealed (1) partial success of the eradication program in controlling the invasion of the oriental fruit fly; (2) low prevalence of the initial detection in these cells is often followed by high prevalence of recurrences; (3) progressively shorter intervals between years of consecutive detections; and (4) high likelihood of early-infested cells also experiencing the most frequent outbreaks. Facing the risk of recurrent invasions, such short-term eradication programs have only succeeded annually according to the current regulatory criteria but have failed to achieve the larger goal of complete extirpation of the oriental fruit fly. Based on the components and running costs of the current programs, we further estimated the efficiency of eradication programs with different combinations of eradication radius, duration, and edge impermeability in reducing invasion recurrences and slowing the spread of the oriental fruit fly. We end with policy implications including the need for agricultural agencies worldwide to revisit eradication protocols in which monitoring and treatments are terminated when the regulatory criteria for declaring eradication are met. Our results also have direct implications to invasion biologists and agriculture policy makers regarding long-term risks of short-term expediency.
- ItemLife table invasion models: spatial progression and species-specific partitioning(2019) Zhao, Z.H.; Hui, C.; Plant, R.E.; Su, M.; Carpenter, T.; Papdopoulos, N.; Li, Z.H.; Carey, J.R.Biological invasions are increasingly being considered important spatial processes that drive global changes, threatening biodiversity, regional economies, and ecosystem functions. A unifying conceptual model of the invasion dynamics could serve as a useful tool for comparison and classification of invasion processes involving different species across large geographic ranges. By dividing these geographic ranges that are subject to invasions into discrete spatial units, we here conceptualize the invasion process as the transition from pristine to invaded spatial units. We use California cities as the spatial units and a long-term database of invasive tropical tephritids to characterize the invasion patterns. A new life-table method based on insect demography, including the progression model of invasion stage transition and the species-specific partitioning model of multispecies invasions, was developed to analyze the invasion patterns. The progression model allows us to estimate the probability and rate of transition for individual cities from pristine to infested stages and subsequently differentiate the first year of detection from detection recurrences. Importantly, we show that the interval of invasive tephritid recurrence in a city declines with increasing invasion stages of the city. The species-specific partitioning model revealed profound differences in invasion outcome depending on which tephritid species was first detected (and then locally eradicated) in the early stage of invasion. Taken together, we discuss how these two life-table invasion models can cast new light on existing invasion concepts; in particular, on formulating invasion dynamics as the state transition of cities and partitioning species-specific roles during multispecies invasions. These models provide a new set of tools for predicting the spatiotemporal progression of invasion and providing early warnings of recurrent invasions for efficient management.