Abstract:
The aim of this work is to analyse the most important components that involve habitat management considerations to understand how it could be an alternative to reduce pest pressure in crops to avoid the use of pesticides in agricultural ecosystems. To accomplish this objective, a literature review of several research papers related to the topic was done. It was found that a high percentage of studies showed favourable results for natural enemy populations and pest pressure. However, these practices show more positive results for natural enemy populations than for pest suppression. The success of habitat management practices to reduce pest pressure depends mainly on the selection of non-crop plant species at crop field scale, landscape complexity and the targeted natural enemy species. Nevertheless, among these factors, the landscape complexity in the surrounding semi natural habitat is the most important aspect, since it could determine the abundance of natural enemies in the crop. Understanding the complexity of semi natural habitats could help farmers to take better coordinated decisions to manage semi natural areas and improve the biological control service in their farms. Finally, the adoption of habitat management measures is not broadly accepted by farmers and more research is needed to show them the benefits of these practices. |
