Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Apr 22;13(8):1164.
doi: 10.3390/plants13081164.

Crop Diversity in Agroecosystems for Pest Management and Food Production

Affiliations

Crop Diversity in Agroecosystems for Pest Management and Food Production

Jillian Lenné et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

During the past 30 years, there has been a growing belief in and promotion of agroecosystem diversity for pest management and future food production as an agroecological or nature-based approach. Monoculture agriculture, which produces most of our food, is considered to be highly vulnerable to pests in contrast to plant species-diverse agroecosystems which may possess a greater abundance of natural enemies, keeping pest populations under control. In this paper, we question the role of crop diversity for pest management and explore the relationship between crop and associated diversity and pests through the following processes: environmental stresses that favor monodominance; evolutionary adaptations that resist insect herbivores (genetic resistance response); mechanisms of spatial escape from insect herbivores (escape response); and the role of crop-associated biodiversity. We present strong evidence that not only questions the high vulnerability of monocultures to pest damage but also supports why monocultures continue to produce most of the world's food. Reference is made to the importance of targeted plant breeding and the role of trans-continental crop introduction supported by efficient quarantine for pest management. We conclude that-with the exception of irrigated rice-much more research is needed to better understand the role of crop diversity in agroecosystems for pest management and food production.

Keywords: crop introduction; escape response; field margins; genetic resistance response; irrigated rice systems; monoculture; monodominance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Wood D. Agroecology: Searching in the wrong place. Outl. Agric. 2023;52:254–263. doi: 10.1177/00307270231191809. - DOI
    1. Altieri M.A. How best can we use biodiversity in agroecosystems? Outl. Agric. 1991;20:15–23. doi: 10.1177/003072709102000105. - DOI
    1. Altieri M.A. The ecological role of biodiversity in agroecosystems. Agric. Ecosys. Environ. 1999;74:19–31. doi: 10.1016/S0167-8809(99)00028-6. - DOI
    1. Altieri M., Nicholls C.I. Biodiversity and Pest Management in Agroecosystems. 2nd ed. Haworth Press; Binghampton, NY, USA: 2004. - DOI
    1. Barrios E., Gemmill-Herren B., Bicksler A. The 10 elements of agroecology: Enabling transitions towards sustainable agriculture and food systems through visual narratives. Ecosyst. People. 2020;16:230–247. doi: 10.1080/26395916.2020.1808705. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources