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The potential of predators in natural control of aphids in wheat: Results of a ten-year field study in two German landscapes

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Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the natural control of aphids by predators in wheat fields in a low (L) and high-input cropping region (H) of Germany during a 10-year period. Data for the statistical analyses were obtained from weekly after the start of aphid emergence. The mean annual aphid indices, calculated as the sum of Sitobion avenae (Fabr.), Rhopalosiphum padi (L.), Metopolophium dirhodum (Walk.)(Homoptera: Aphididae), were 30.4 and 81.5 × 10³ aphid days per m², for L and H, respectively. Nine predator fractions were analysed: Coccinella septempunctata L., adults (1) and larvae (2), Propylea quatuordecimpunctata (L.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) adults (3) and larvae (4), syrphid larvae (mostly Episyrphus balteatus [De Geer] (Diptera: Syrphidae)) (5), Chrysoperla carnea Steph. (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) larvae (6), and adult carabids (7), staphylinids (8) and spiders (9). The two sites were comparable in terms of the mean size of the overall predator community, expressed in predator units (PU): 4.9 PU/m² (L) vs. 5.4 PU/m² (H). Most predator fractions responded numerically to increasing aphid densities. The numerical response was strongest in syrphid larvae, scarcely detectable in adult coccinellids, and virtually non-existent in epigeic arthropods. Multiple regression models revealed indirect relationships between the weekly overall predator community densities (PU/m²) and individual predator fractions (individuals/m²) and absolute rates of aphid density increase (individuals/m²) one or two weeks after baseline. A site-independent reduction of the aphid density increase to nil (y = 0) was observed at 3.9 to 4.2 PU/m². Consequently, the 2.7 times higher aphid density at H cannot be attributed to the presence of fewer predators or lower effects of the overall predator community or of any individual predator fraction.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education, Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry and the German Research Foundation for supporting this long-term study and the development of the GETLAUS model in research projects evaluating the efficiency of natural aphid control in cereal fields and its benefits for farmers. Also, special thanks to Suzyon O’Neal Wandrey (Berlin) for editing the English manuscript with enduring patience. We also thank Birgit Schlage (Institute for Integrated Plant Protection, Kleinmachnow) for her valuable assistance in on-site data collection and the statistical data analysis. Finally, we thank the reviewers and the editor for their valuable comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Integrated Plant Protection, Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Stahnsdorfer Damm 81, 14532, Kleinmachnow, Germany

    B. Freier, H. Triltsch & M. Möwes

  2. Data Processing Group, Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Stahnsdorfer Damm 81, 14532, Kleinmachnow, Germany

    E. Moll

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  1. B. Freier
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  4. E. Moll
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Correspondence to B. Freier.

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Freier, B., Triltsch, H., Möwes, M. et al. The potential of predators in natural control of aphids in wheat: Results of a ten-year field study in two German landscapes. BioControl 52, 775–788 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-007-9081-5

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