Insecticides may facilitate the escape of weeds from biological control
Background Preventative pesticide seed treatments (hereafter preventative pest management or PPM) are common corn and soybean treatments, and often include both fungicides and neonicotinoid insecticides. While PPM is intended to protect crops from soil-borne pathogens and early season insect pests,...
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PeerJ Inc.
2025-01-01
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| author | Elizabeth K. Rowen Kirsten Ann Pearsons Richard G. Smith Kyle Wickings John F. Tooker |
| author_facet | Elizabeth K. Rowen Kirsten Ann Pearsons Richard G. Smith Kyle Wickings John F. Tooker |
| author_sort | Elizabeth K. Rowen |
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| description | Background Preventative pesticide seed treatments (hereafter preventative pest management or PPM) are common corn and soybean treatments, and often include both fungicides and neonicotinoid insecticides. While PPM is intended to protect crops from soil-borne pathogens and early season insect pests, these seed treatments may have detrimental effects on biological control of weed seeds by insects. Methods Here, in two 3-year corn-soy rotations in Pennsylvania USA, we investigated a PPM approach to insect management compared to an integrated pest management approach (IPM) and a “no (insect) pest management” (NPM) control. This was crossed with a grass cover crop to see if this conservation practice can help recover the ecosystem services affected by chemical pest management practices. We hypothesized that PPM and IPM approaches would release weed seeds from biological control by insects but cover crops would increase biological control. We measured the effect of these treatments on the weed-seed bank, mid-season weed biomass, granivorous insect activity-density, and weed-seed predation. Results We found that, contrary to our hypothesis, planting a cover crop decreased carabid activity-density without consistent differences in weed-seed predation. Pest management and cover crop treatments also had inconsistent effects on the weed-seed bank and mid-season weed biomass, but insecticide use without a cover crop increased the biomass of likely glyphosate-resistant marestail (Erigeron canadensis L.) at the end of the trial. Our results suggest that reducing insecticide use may be important when combating herbicide-resistant weeds. We found planting cover crops and/or avoiding the use of insecticides may combat these problematic weeds. |
| format | Article |
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| spelling | doaj-art-1273280cbb2148d0869fbde46aaf60e32025-01-15T15:05:13ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592025-01-0113e1859710.7717/peerj.18597Insecticides may facilitate the escape of weeds from biological controlElizabeth K. Rowen0Kirsten Ann Pearsons1Richard G. Smith2Kyle Wickings3John F. Tooker4Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of AmericaDepartment of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of AmericaDepartment of Natural Resources and Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States of AmericaDepartment of Entomology, Cornell AgriTech, Cornell University, Geneva, NY, United States of AmericaDepartment of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of AmericaBackground Preventative pesticide seed treatments (hereafter preventative pest management or PPM) are common corn and soybean treatments, and often include both fungicides and neonicotinoid insecticides. While PPM is intended to protect crops from soil-borne pathogens and early season insect pests, these seed treatments may have detrimental effects on biological control of weed seeds by insects. Methods Here, in two 3-year corn-soy rotations in Pennsylvania USA, we investigated a PPM approach to insect management compared to an integrated pest management approach (IPM) and a “no (insect) pest management” (NPM) control. This was crossed with a grass cover crop to see if this conservation practice can help recover the ecosystem services affected by chemical pest management practices. We hypothesized that PPM and IPM approaches would release weed seeds from biological control by insects but cover crops would increase biological control. We measured the effect of these treatments on the weed-seed bank, mid-season weed biomass, granivorous insect activity-density, and weed-seed predation. Results We found that, contrary to our hypothesis, planting a cover crop decreased carabid activity-density without consistent differences in weed-seed predation. Pest management and cover crop treatments also had inconsistent effects on the weed-seed bank and mid-season weed biomass, but insecticide use without a cover crop increased the biomass of likely glyphosate-resistant marestail (Erigeron canadensis L.) at the end of the trial. Our results suggest that reducing insecticide use may be important when combating herbicide-resistant weeds. We found planting cover crops and/or avoiding the use of insecticides may combat these problematic weeds.https://peerj.com/articles/18597.pdfWeedsNeonicotinoid seed treatmentsWeed-seed predationCover cropsIntegrated pest management |
| spellingShingle | Elizabeth K. Rowen Kirsten Ann Pearsons Richard G. Smith Kyle Wickings John F. Tooker Insecticides may facilitate the escape of weeds from biological control PeerJ Weeds Neonicotinoid seed treatments Weed-seed predation Cover crops Integrated pest management |
| title | Insecticides may facilitate the escape of weeds from biological control |
| title_full | Insecticides may facilitate the escape of weeds from biological control |
| title_fullStr | Insecticides may facilitate the escape of weeds from biological control |
| title_full_unstemmed | Insecticides may facilitate the escape of weeds from biological control |
| title_short | Insecticides may facilitate the escape of weeds from biological control |
| title_sort | insecticides may facilitate the escape of weeds from biological control |
| topic | Weeds Neonicotinoid seed treatments Weed-seed predation Cover crops Integrated pest management |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/18597.pdf |
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