Natural landscapes surrounding vineyards can decrease pest outbreaks and depress pesticide use, according to a UC Davis paper published in the current edition of the journal Ecology Letters.
A five-member team led by postdoctoral researcher Daniel “Dani” Paredes of the Daniel Karp lab, UCD Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, analyzed a 13-year government database to assess how the landscapes surrounding 400 Spanish vineyards influenced European grapevine moth outbreaks and insecticides application rates.
The article, “Landscape Simplification Increases Vineyard Pest Outbreaks and Insecticide Use,” is now online.
“At harvest, we found pest outbreaks increased four-fold in simplified, vineyard-dominated landscapes compared to complex landscapes in which vineyards are surrounded by semi-natural habitats,” said lead author Paredes, who holds a doctorate in…
