Capturing the true predatory interactions driving crop protection

Background:

Carabid beetles are predatory insects, extensively proven to contribute significantly to control of a range of agricultural pests. Land management impacts on carabids differs with species, in association with other beneficial biodiversity, and pest occurrence. These complex interactions are poorly understood, which hampers implementation of management strategies for sustainable pest control. 

Impacts of land management practices on pest controlling predators is currently assessed by measuring activity-density in pitfall traps, and by use of sentinel prey. Novel application of subterranean pitfall trapping1 and camera traps2 have revealed new insights into behaviours of carabids in field habitats. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an emerging method to assess biodiversity in crop systems and can be used to understand predator-prey interactions.

Objectives:

This project will build on our existing trapping protocols and elucidate further the full assemblage of carabids and associated predators and pests in various crop systems, and how they vary according to different management practices. Contrasting fields from the OCH network will used as a test bed for comparing trapping and detection technologies, with a focus on subterranean pitfall trapping, camera trapping and eDNA. The hypothesis that the different methods vary in their informativeness will be tested by direct comparison of samples in the same locations, in terms of species detection and relation to decision making. The comprehensive dataset on invertebrate occurance and activity will be utilised to inform on the ecological interactions driving crop health, both above and below ground.

Novel monitoring methods will be assessed in their capacity to support researchers and farmers in efficiently and accurately assessing impacts of management practices on biodiversity. This will include consideration of barriers and applicability, and recommendations will be developed for differing agents and agricultural contexts. 

Novelty and timeliness:

Subterranean trapping is proving efficient in indicating below ground activity, yet traps are not available commercially. eDNA is an emerging technique with promise to return biodiversity data with little collection effort. Camera trapping is providing new information and understanding to ecology, this project will develop cameras applicable to nocturnal monitoring in crop environments, and develop protocols for AI assessment of image data – building into cost effective and informative monitoring that is more widely applicable. This is particularly timely in respect to results-based greening of agri-environmental schemes.

References                                                                                                                                  

1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2024.109115

2 https://doi.org/10.1111/afe.12646