Open Collections

Ahmed, Hafsa Tayyiba

University of British Columbia

Agriculture intensification, characterized by increased pesticide use and ecological simplification, has raised concerns due to its adverse effects on non-target organisms and biodiversity. Biodiversity loss compromises essential ecosystem services, including pollination and biological pest control, which are crucial for agricultural productivity. To mitigate the consequences of agricultural intensification, there is a growing interest in adopting ecological intensification approaches that reduce reliance on synthetic chemicals and promote ecosystem services. This study investigated whether floral strips, a form of habitat enhancement within crops, supported biological pest control and pollination services in a replicated field pepper cropping experiment. The research took place across multiple sites on UBC’s Point Grey Campus in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The results revealed that floral strips were associated with higher ground beetle activity density, lower foliar herbivory, and lower pepper damage, evidencing biological pest control was supported. The floral strips also successfully attracted more pollinators, but with no associated increases in pepper weight, width, or length detected, nor a difference in the total number of peppers per plant was observed. The findings highlight the role floral strips can play in positively impacting agricultural ecosystems by promoting beneficial insect activity, and thereby potentially supporting ecosystem services. Future studies should incorporate factors that impact pollination services to assess how to achieve the greatest performance for their distinct floral strip.

Text

2024-01-02

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/87026

Plant Science

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/