Open AccessOrganic farming expansion drives natural enemy abundance but not diversity in vineyard‐dominated landscapes
Author(s) -
Muneret Lucile,
Auriol Arthur,
Bonnard Olivier,
RichartCervera Sylvie,
Thiéry Denis,
Rusch Adrien
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.17
H-Index - 63
ISSN - 2045-7758
DOI - 10.1002/ece3.5810
Subject(s) - biodiversity , ecosystem services , organic farming , agriculture , agroforestry , agricultural biodiversity , ecological farming , ecology , agroecology , natural farming , extensive farming , vineyard , habitat , productivity , geography , integrated farming , mixed farming , ecosystem , environmental science , biology , macroeconomics , archaeology , economics
Organic farming is seen as a prototype of ecological intensification potentially able to conciliate crop productivity and biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. However, how natural enemies, an important functional group supporting pest control services, respond to organic farming at different scales and in different landscape contexts remain unclear. Using a hierarchical design within a vineyard‐dominated region located in southwestern France, we examine the independent effects of organic farming and semi‐natural habitats at the local and landscape scales on natural enemies. We show that the proportion of organic farming is a stronger driver of species abundance than the proportion of semi‐natural habitats and is an important facet of landscape heterogeneity shaping natural enemy assemblages. Although our study highlights a strong taxonomic group‐dependency about the effect of organic farming, organic farming benefits to dominant species while rare species occur at the same frequency in the two farming systems. Independently of farming systems, enhancing field age, reducing crop productivity, soil tillage intensity, and pesticide use are key management options to increase natural enemy biodiversity. Our study indicates that policies promoting the expansion of organic farming will benefit more to ecological intensification strategies seeking to enhance ecosystem services than to biodiversity conservation.