Agriculture and Food, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia;
Horticulture and Forestry Science, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Brisbane, QLD 4102, Australia.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Mar 23;118(12). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2018100118.
Agricultural systems have been continuously intensified to meet rising demand for agricultural products. However, there are increasing concerns that larger, more connected crop fields and loss of seminatural areas exacerbate pest pressure, but findings to date have been inconclusive. Even less is known about whether increased pest pressure results in measurable effects for farmers, such as increased insecticide use and decreased crop yield. Using extensive spatiotemporal data sampled every 2 to 3 d throughout five growing seasons in 373 cotton fields, we show that pests immigrated earlier and were more likely to occur in larger cotton fields embedded in landscapes with little seminatural area (<10%). Earlier pest immigration resulted in earlier spraying that was further linked to more sprays per season. Importantly, crop yield was the lowest in these intensified landscapes. Our results demonstrate that both environmental conservation and production objectives can be achieved in conventional agriculture by decreasing field sizes and maintaining seminatural vegetation in the surrounding landscapes.
农业系统一直在不断加强，以满足对农产品不断增长的需求。然而，人们越来越担心更大、更连通的作物田和半自然区域的丧失会加剧虫害压力，但迄今为止的研究结果尚无定论。对于增加的虫害压力是否会对农民造成可衡量的影响，例如增加杀虫剂的使用和减少作物产量，人们知之甚少。本研究利用广泛的时空数据，在 373 个棉花田中每 2-3 天采样一次，共采集了五个生长季节的数据，结果表明，害虫更早地迁入，并且更有可能出现在较小半自然区域（<10%）的较大棉花田中。更早的虫害迁入导致更早地进行喷雾处理，这进一步与每个季节更多的喷雾次数相关。重要的是，在这些强化的景观中，作物产量最低。我们的研究结果表明，通过减少田间面积和保持周围景观的半自然植被，可以在传统农业中同时实现环境保护和生产目标。
