Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Field boundaries as barriers to movement of hover flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) in cultivated land

  • Conservation Ecology
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Field boundaries play an important role as refuges, food sources and corridors for invertebrates and vertebrates, and increasing farmland fragmentation impacts on these functions. However, hedgerows and other structures can also impede dispersal by flying insects. The current work uses the pollen of Phacelia tanacetifolia in hover fly guts as a marker to assess hover fly movement in farm landscapes. In the United Kingdom and New Zealand, Phacelia pollen was found in the guts of Ephisyrphus balteatus and Metasyrphus corollae (United Kingdom) and Melanostoma fasciatum (New Zealand) at distances up to 200 m from the source, when there were no barriers between the flowers and the traps used to catch the flies. The rate of decline over distance in the proportion of flies containing pollen was similar for the two countries. The extent to which four replicated field boundary types impeded hover fly movement was tested using post-and-wire fences, lines of poplars (Populus spp.) with gaps, dense poplars and controls (no potential barriers). Phacelia was planted on one side of each boundary, and along the centre of the control plots. The relative presence of the pollen in flies on both sides of the barriers showed that both types of poplar boundary restricted the movement of the flies, but the fence had no effect. In a separate experiment, gravid females of M. fasciatum were captured at a greater height on a shade-cloth fence than were non-gravid females and males. The implications of this work include the functioning and persistence of metapopulations and the influence of field boundaries on population recovery of beneficial invertebrates following pesticide-induced mortality. If field boundaries contribute to a temporal asynchrony between pest and natural enemy populations, this needs to be considered along with the well-established roles of boundaries as refugia for, and sources of, beneficial arthropods.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bugg RL (1993) Habitat manipulation to enhance the effectiveness of aphidophagous hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae). Sust Agric 5:12–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambers RJ, Adams THL (1986) Quantification of the impact of hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) on cereal aphids in winter wheat: analysis of field populations. J Appl Ecol 23:895–904

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambers RJ, Sunderland KD, Stacey DL, Wyatt I (1985) Control of aphids in winter wheat by natural enemies: aphid specific predators, parasitoids and pathogenic fungi. Ann Appl Biol 108:219–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowgill SE, Wratten SD, Sotherton NW (1993) The selective use of floral resources by the hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus (Diptera: Syrphidae) on farmland. Ann Appl Biol 122:223–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixon AFG, Kindlmann P (1998) Generation time ratio and the effectiveness of ladybirds as classical biological control agents. In: Zalucki MP, Drew RAI, White GG (eds) Pest management-future challenges vol 1. Proceedings of the Australian Applied Entomology Research Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29 September–2 October 1998. pp 314–320

  • Dover JW, Fry GLA (2001) Experimental simulation of some visual and physical components of a hedge and the effects on butterfly behaviour in an agricultural landscape. Entomol Exp Appl 100:221–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffield SJ, Aebischer NJ (1994) The effect of spatial scale of treatment with dimethoate on invertebrate population recovery in winter wheat. J Appl Ecol 31:263–281

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Duffield SJ, Jepson PC, Wratten SD, Sotherton NW (1996) Spatial changes in invertebrate predation rate in winter wheat following treatment with dimethoate. Entomol Exp Appl 78:9–17

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Entwistle JC, Dixon AFG (1989) The effect of augmenting grain aphid numbers in a field of winter wheat in spring on the aphid's abundance in summer and its relevance to the forecasting of outbreaks. Ann Appl Biol 114:397–408

    Google Scholar 

  • Finch S (1992) Improving the selectivity of water traps for monitoring populations of the cabbage root fly. Ann Appl Biol 120:1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Frampton GK, Cilgi T, Fry GLA, Wratten SD (1995) Effects of grassy banks on the dispersal of some carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) on farmland. Biol Conserv 71:347–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fry GLA (1995) Landscape ecology of insect movement in arable ecosystems. In: Glen DA, Greaves MP, Anderson HM (eds) Ecology and integrated farming systems. Wiley, Chichester, pp 177–202

  • Fry GLA, Main AR (1993) Restoring seemingly natural communities on agricultural land. In: Saunders, DA, Hobbs RJ, Erlich PR (eds) Nature conservation 3: reconstruction of fragmented ecosystems, local and global perspectives. Surrey Beatty, Chipping Norton, UK, pp 224–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Fry GLA, Robson WG (1994) Effects of field margins on butterfly movement. In: Boatman ND (ed) Field margins: integrating agriculture and conservation. British Crop Protection Council monograph, no. 58. BCPC, Thornton Heath, Surrey, pp 111–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner RH, Milne BT, Turner MG, O'Neill RV (1987) Neutral models for the analysis of broad-scale landscape pattern. Landscape Ecol 1:19–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Gates S, Donald PE (2000) Local extinction of British farmland birds and the prediction of further loss. J Appl Ecol 37:806–820

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Genstat 5 Committee (1993) Genstat 5 release 3 reference manual. Clarendon Press, Oxford

  • Gilbert F (1986) Ecomorphology of Syrphidae. In: Hodek I (ed.) Ecology of Aphidophaga. Junk, The Netherlands, pp 23–28

  • Gillespie MK, Howard DC, Barr CJ, Culling ASC, Cooper A (1997) Using GIS with "Countryside survey 1990" data to study connectivity in the British landscape. In: Power J (ed) Species dispersal and land use processes. Proceedings of the Sixth Annual IALE (UK) Conference, Ulster, UK. IALE, Aberdeen, pp 185–192

  • Gurr GM, Wratten SD, Barbosa P (2000) Success in conservation biological control of arthropods. In: Gurr GM, Wratten SD (eds) Biological control: measures of success. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 105–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurr GM, Wratten SD, Tylianakis J, Kean J, Keller M (in press) Providing plant foods for insect natural enemies in farming systems: balancing practicalities and theory. In: Wackers FL, van Rijn PCJ, Bruin J (eds) Plant-derived food and plant-carnivore mutualism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

  • Hagler JR, Jackson CG (2001) Methods for marking insects: current techniques and future prospects. Annu Rev Entomol 46:511–544

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harwood RJW, Hickman JM, Macleod A, Sherratt T, Wratten SD (1994) Managing field margins for hover flies. In: Boatman N (ed) Margins: integrating agriculture and conservation. British Crop Protection Monograph no. 58. BCPC, Thornton Heath, Surrey, pp 147–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Herlin ILS, Fry GLA, Brandt J (2000) Dispersal of woody plants in forest edges and hedgerows in a southern Swedish agricultural area: the role of site and landscape structure. Landscape Ecol 15:229–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hickman JM, Wratten SD (1996) Use of Phacelia tanacetifolia strips to enhance biological control of aphids by hover flies in cereal fields. J Econ Entomol 89:832–840

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickman JM, Wratten SD, Jepson PC, Frampton CM (2001) Effect of hunger on yellow water trap catches of hover fly (Diptera: Syrphidae) adults. Agric For Entomol 3:35–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kruess A, Tscharntke T (1994) Habitat fragmentation, species loss, and biological control. Science 264:1581–1584

    Google Scholar 

  • Landis DA, Wratten SD, Gurr GM (2000) Habitat management to conserve natural enemies of arthropod pests in agriculture. Annu Rev Entomol 45:175–201

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laurance WF, Gascon C (1997) How to creatively fragment a landscape. Conserv Biol 11:577–579

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levins R (1979) Coexistence in a variable environment. Am Nat 114:765–783

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis T (1965) The effects of an artificial windbreak on the aerial distribution of flying insects. Ann Appl Biol 55:503–512

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis T (1967) The horizontal and vertical distribution of flying insects near artificial windbreaks. Ann Appl Biol 60:23–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Lövei GL, Hickman JM, McDougall D, Wratten SD (1993) Field penetration of beneficial insects from habitat islands: hoverfly dispersal from flowering crop strips. Proc NZ Plant Prot Conf 46:325–328

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauremootoo JR, Wratten SD, Worner SP, Fry GLA (1995) Permeability of hedgerows to predatory carabid beetles. Agric Ecosyst Environ 52:141–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMullagh P, Nelder JA (1989) Genralised linear models, 2nd edn. Chapman and Hall

  • Ormerod SJ, Watkinson AR (2000) Editors' introduction: birds and agriculture. J Appl Ecol 37:699–705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker WE, Turner STD (1996) Application of GIS modelling to pest forecasting and pest distribution studies at different spatial scales. Aspects Appl Biol 46: 223–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierson EA, Mack RN (1990) The population biology of Bromus tectorum in forests: distinguishing the opportunity for dispersal from environmental restriction. Oecologia 84:519–525

    Google Scholar 

  • Poehling HM (1989) Selective application strategies for insecticides in agricultural crops. In: Jepson (ed) Pesticides and non-target invertebrates. Intercept, UK, pp 151–175

  • Schneider F (1948) Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Generationsverhältnisse und Diapause räuberischer Schwebfliegen. Mitt Schweiz Entomol Ges 13:1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Schöps K, Emberson RM, Wratten SD (1998) Does host-plant exploitation influence the population dynamics of a rare weevil? In: Baumgärtner J, Brandlmayr F, Manly BJF (eds) Population and community ecology for insect management and conservation. Twentieth European Congress of Entomology, Florence, August 1996. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 119–123

  • Sherratt TN, Jepson PC (1993) A metapopulation approach to modelling the long-term impact of pesticides on invertebrates. 1. A single-species model. J Appl Ecol 30:696–705

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherratt TN, Macdougal AD, Wratten SD, Forbes AB (1998) Models to assist the evaluation of the impact of avermectins on dung insect populations. Ecol Modell 110:165–173

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor PD, Fahrig L, Henein K, Merriam G (1993) Connectivity is a vital element of landscape structure. Oikos 68:571–573

    Google Scholar 

  • Topping CJ (1999) An individual-based model for dispersive spiders in agroecosystems: simulations of the effects of landscape structure. J Arachnol 27:378–386

    Google Scholar 

  • Varley MJ, Copeland MJW, Wratten SD, Bowie MH (1994) Parasites and predators. In: Wratten SD (ed) Video techniques in animal ecology and behaviour. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 33–63

  • Verboom J, Lankester K (1991) Linking local and regional dynamics in stochastic metapopulation models. Biol J Linn Soc 42:39–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Villard MA, Freemark KE, Merriam G (1992) Metapopulation dynamics as a conceptual model for neotropical migrant birds: an empirical investigation. In: Hagan JM, Johnston DW (eds) Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington, D.C.

  • White AJ, Wratten SD, Berry NA, Weigmann U (1995) Habitat manipulation to enhance biological control of Brassica pests by hover flies (Diptera: Syrphidae). J Econ Entomol 88:1171–1176

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiens JA, Schooley RL, Weeks RD Jr (1997) Patchy landscapes and animal movements: do beetles percolate? Oikos 78:257–264

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson HB, Verkerk RHJ, Wright FJ (in press) The effects of stochastic dynamics in an excitable aphid-natural enemy system. Ecology

  • Winder L, Hirst DJ, Carter N, Wratten SD, Sopp PI (1994) Estimating predation of the grain aphid Sitobion avenae by polyphagous predators. J Appl Ecol 31:1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • With KA, Crist TO (1995) Critical thresholds in species' responses to landscape structure. Ecology 76:2446–2459

    Google Scholar 

  • Wratten SD, Thomas MB (1990) Farm-scale spatial dynamics of predators and parasitoids in agricultural landscapes. In: Bunce RGH, Howard DC (eds) Species dispersal in agricultural habitats. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Natural Environment Research Council, Belhaven, London, pp 219–237

  • Wratten SD, White AJ, Bowie MH, Berry NA, Weighman U (1995) Phenology and ecology of hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) in New Zealand. Environ Entomol 24:595–600

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the following for help in the field and laboratory: Nadine Berry, Simon Causer, Dr Barry Donovan, Alan Leckie, Keith McIntosh, Rachel McMillan, Dr Neville Moar, Bill Pickering, Marie Schaffer, Andrew Simeonidis, Dr Wiyajaratnam Sivasubramaniam, Lisa Street and Nicolette Was. The work was funded via a Lincoln University grant from a Japanese Benefactor Fund. The United Kingdom work was funded by the Science and Engineering Research Council. We also thank Dr Chris Frampton, Applied Computing, Mathematics and Statistics Group, Lincoln University, for statistical assistance and Prof. Gary Fry, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research for comments on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecology and Entomology Group, Division of Soi, Plant and Ecological Sciences l, P.O. Box 84, Lincoln University, New Zealand

    Steve D. Wratten, Mike H. Bowie, Alison M. Evans & Jason M. Tylianakis

  2. Department of Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Southampton University, SO16 7PX, United Kingdom

    Janice M. Hickman

  3. Applied Computing, Mathematics and Statistics Group, Division of Applied Management and Computing, P.O. Box 84, Lincoln University, New Zealand

    J. Richard Sedcole

Authors
  1. Steve D. Wratten
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mike H. Bowie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Janice M. Hickman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Alison M. Evans
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. J. Richard Sedcole
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jason M. Tylianakis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steve D. Wratten.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wratten, S.D., Bowie, M.H., Hickman, J.M. et al. Field boundaries as barriers to movement of hover flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) in cultivated land. Oecologia 134, 605–611 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-002-1128-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-002-1128-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation