Increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agriculture
Urban agriculture is making an increasing contribution to food security in large cities around the world. The potential contribution of biodiversity to ecological intensification in urban agricultural systems has not been investigated. We present monitoring data collected from rice fields in 34 comm...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2018-05-01
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| Series: | eLife |
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/35103 |
| _version_ | 1811199353621053440 |
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| author | Nian-Feng Wan You-Ming Cai Yan-Jun Shen Xiang-Yun Ji Xiang-Wen Wu Xiang-Rong Zheng Wei Cheng Jun Li Yao-Pei Jiang Xin Chen Jacob Weiner Jie-Xian Jiang Ming Nie Rui-Ting Ju Tao Yuan Jian-Jun Tang Wei-Dong Tian Hao Zhang Bo Li |
| author_facet | Nian-Feng Wan You-Ming Cai Yan-Jun Shen Xiang-Yun Ji Xiang-Wen Wu Xiang-Rong Zheng Wei Cheng Jun Li Yao-Pei Jiang Xin Chen Jacob Weiner Jie-Xian Jiang Ming Nie Rui-Ting Ju Tao Yuan Jian-Jun Tang Wei-Dong Tian Hao Zhang Bo Li |
| author_sort | Nian-Feng Wan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Urban agriculture is making an increasing contribution to food security in large cities around the world. The potential contribution of biodiversity to ecological intensification in urban agricultural systems has not been investigated. We present monitoring data collected from rice fields in 34 community farms in mega-urban Shanghai, China, from 2001 to 2015, and show that the presence of a border crop of soybeans and neighboring crops (maize, eggplant and Chinese cabbage), both without weed control, increased invertebrate predator abundance, decreased the abundance of pests and dependence on insecticides, and increased grain yield and economic profits. Two 2 year randomized experiments with the low and high diversity practices in the same locations confirmed these results. Our study shows that diversifying farming practices can make an important contribution to ecological intensification and the sustainable use of associated ecosystem services in an urban ecosystem. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:47:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fa4184aee3ea4af28a2b2845da256e69 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:47:47Z |
| publishDate | 2018-05-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-fa4184aee3ea4af28a2b2845da256e692022-12-22T03:53:02ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2018-05-01710.7554/eLife.35103Increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agricultureNian-Feng Wan0You-Ming Cai1Yan-Jun Shen2Xiang-Yun Ji3Xiang-Wen Wu4Xiang-Rong Zheng5Wei Cheng6Jun Li7Yao-Pei Jiang8Xin Chen9Jacob Weiner10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0736-7943Jie-Xian Jiang11https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3567-8201Ming Nie12Rui-Ting Ju13Tao Yuan14Jian-Jun Tang15Wei-Dong Tian16Hao Zhang17Bo Li18https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0439-5666Eco-environmental Protection Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Protected Horticultural Technology, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre of Low-carbon Agriculture, Shanghai, China; Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Shanghai Chongming Dongtan Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Biostatistics, Shanghai Institute of Eco-Chongming, (SIEC), Fudan University, Shanghai, ChinaEco-environmental Protection Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Protected Horticultural Technology, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre of Low-carbon Agriculture, Shanghai, ChinaChongming Agricultural Technology Extension and Service Center, Shanghai, ChinaEco-environmental Protection Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Protected Horticultural Technology, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre of Low-carbon Agriculture, Shanghai, ChinaShanghai Agricultural Technology Extension and Service Center, Shanghai, ChinaMinistry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Shanghai Chongming Dongtan Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Biostatistics, Shanghai Institute of Eco-Chongming, (SIEC), Fudan University, Shanghai, ChinaShanghai Agricultural Technology Extension and Service Center, Shanghai, ChinaClimate Center of Shanghai, Shanghai, ChinaShanghai Agricultural Technology Extension and Service Center, Shanghai, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkEco-environmental Protection Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Protected Horticultural Technology, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre of Low-carbon Agriculture, Shanghai, ChinaMinistry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Shanghai Chongming Dongtan Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Biostatistics, Shanghai Institute of Eco-Chongming, (SIEC), Fudan University, Shanghai, ChinaMinistry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Shanghai Chongming Dongtan Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Biostatistics, Shanghai Institute of Eco-Chongming, (SIEC), Fudan University, Shanghai, ChinaEco-environmental Protection Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Protected Horticultural Technology, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre of Low-carbon Agriculture, Shanghai, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaMinistry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Shanghai Chongming Dongtan Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Biostatistics, Shanghai Institute of Eco-Chongming, (SIEC), Fudan University, Shanghai, ChinaEco-environmental Protection Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Protected Horticultural Technology, Shanghai Engineering Research Centre of Low-carbon Agriculture, Shanghai, ChinaMinistry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Shanghai Chongming Dongtan Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Biostatistics, Shanghai Institute of Eco-Chongming, (SIEC), Fudan University, Shanghai, ChinaUrban agriculture is making an increasing contribution to food security in large cities around the world. The potential contribution of biodiversity to ecological intensification in urban agricultural systems has not been investigated. We present monitoring data collected from rice fields in 34 community farms in mega-urban Shanghai, China, from 2001 to 2015, and show that the presence of a border crop of soybeans and neighboring crops (maize, eggplant and Chinese cabbage), both without weed control, increased invertebrate predator abundance, decreased the abundance of pests and dependence on insecticides, and increased grain yield and economic profits. Two 2 year randomized experiments with the low and high diversity practices in the same locations confirmed these results. Our study shows that diversifying farming practices can make an important contribution to ecological intensification and the sustainable use of associated ecosystem services in an urban ecosystem.https://elifesciences.org/articles/35103Chinese cabbageeggplantmaizericesoybeanpredator |
| spellingShingle | Nian-Feng Wan You-Ming Cai Yan-Jun Shen Xiang-Yun Ji Xiang-Wen Wu Xiang-Rong Zheng Wei Cheng Jun Li Yao-Pei Jiang Xin Chen Jacob Weiner Jie-Xian Jiang Ming Nie Rui-Ting Ju Tao Yuan Jian-Jun Tang Wei-Dong Tian Hao Zhang Bo Li Increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agriculture eLife Chinese cabbage eggplant maize rice soybean predator |
| title | Increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agriculture |
| title_full | Increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agriculture |
| title_fullStr | Increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agriculture |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agriculture |
| title_short | Increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agriculture |
| title_sort | increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agriculture |
| topic | Chinese cabbage eggplant maize rice soybean predator |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/35103 |
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