Integrated pest management in fruit farms of semi-arid Brazil: the role of semi-natural habitat

病虫害综合治理（IPM）是在作物生产过程中对病虫害进行可持续管理的一种方法。在IPM中，合成农药是在生境管理策略、有害生物监测和预测以及生物防治措施无效后使用的最后手段。本博士课程侧重于IPM的第一级，即利用一般生境和生态系统管理措施来支持自然害虫控制，有时也称为保护性生物控制。最近的证据表明，就有害生物管理而言，保护农场周围的栖息地有时（但并不总是）符合农民的利益。在某些情况下，非作物生境增加了害虫密度。在将生境保护推荐为一种防治虫害的战略之前，需要有关当地农业环境的农业生态信息。工作将在巴西伯南布哥省和巴伊亚州的一系列实验性葡萄和芒果农场进行，在与BBSRC-Newton资助的CAatinga可持续水果种植项目（SUFICA）相关的研究人员、供应商和农民之间建立了合作伙伴关系。科学问题是：1)自然生境的面积和布局如何影响果区天敌和害虫的群落？2)在caatinga水果农场，与自然栖息地的距离是否会对害虫控制服务产生影响，正如在其他系统中所显示的那样？3)就作物产量和质量结果而言，SUFICA农场自然有害生物治理的经济价值是什么？重点将放在一类或两类拟寄生物或害虫捕食者（节肢动物、鸟类或蝙蝠）上，这取决于它们的兴趣。

Integrated pest management (IPM) is an approach to managing pests and pest damage sustainably during crop production. In IPM, synthetic pesticides are a last resort, used after habitat management strategies, pest monitoring and prediction, and biological control measures have been ineffective. This PhD focuses on the first rung of IPM - the use of general habitat and ecosystem management measures to support natural pest regulation - sometimes called conservation biological control. Recent evidence shows that conserving habitat around farms is sometimes, but not always in farmers' interests, as far as pest management is concerned. In some contexts, non-crop habitat increases pest densities. Agro-ecological information about a local farming context is needed before habitat conservation can be recommended as a pest-suppression strategy. Work will be on an experimental array of grape and mango farms in Pernambuco and Bahia, Brazil, within an established partnership of researchers, suppliers and farmers associated with the BBSRC-Newton funded project Sustainable Fruit farming In the CAatinga: managing ecosystem service trade-offs as agriculture intensifies (SUFICA). The scientific questions are: 1) How does the area and arrangement of natural habitat influence the communities of natural enemies and pests in fruit-growing areas? 2) Is there an effect of distance to natural habitat on the pest regulation service in the caatinga fruit farms, as has been shown in other systems? 3) What is the economic value of natural pest regulation in the SUFICA farms, in terms of crop yield and quality outcomes? The focus will be on one or two groups of parasitoids or predators of pests (arthropods, birds or bats), depending on their interest.