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Cost-benefit trade-offs of bird activity in apple orchards

Birds active in apple orchards in south–eastern Australia can contribute positively (e.g., control crop pests) or negatively (e.g., crop damage) to crop yields. Our study is the first to identify net outcomes of these activities, using six apple orchards, varying in management intensity, in south–ea...

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Autores principales: Peisley, Rebecca K., Saunders, Manu E., Luck, Gary W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4933086/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27413639
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2179
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author Peisley, Rebecca K.
Saunders, Manu E.
Luck, Gary W.
author_facet Peisley, Rebecca K.
Saunders, Manu E.
Luck, Gary W.
author_sort Peisley, Rebecca K.
collection PubMed
description Birds active in apple orchards in south–eastern Australia can contribute positively (e.g., control crop pests) or negatively (e.g., crop damage) to crop yields. Our study is the first to identify net outcomes of these activities, using six apple orchards, varying in management intensity, in south–eastern Australia as a study system. We also conducted a predation experiment using real and artificial codling moth (Cydia pomonella) larvae (a major pest in apple crops). We found that: (1) excluding birds from branches of apple trees resulted in an average of 12.8% more apples damaged by insects; (2) bird damage to apples was low (1.9% of apples); and (3) when trading off the potential benefits (biological control) with costs (bird damage to apples), birds provided an overall net benefit to orchard growers. We found that predation of real codling moth larvae was higher than for plasticine larvae, suggesting that plasticine prey models are not useful for inferring actual predation levels. Our study shows how complex ecological interactions between birds and invertebrates affect crop yield in apples, and provides practical strategies for improving the sustainability of orchard systems.
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spelling pubmed-49330862016-07-13 Cost-benefit trade-offs of bird activity in apple orchards Peisley, Rebecca K. Saunders, Manu E. Luck, Gary W. PeerJ Agricultural Science Birds active in apple orchards in south–eastern Australia can contribute positively (e.g., control crop pests) or negatively (e.g., crop damage) to crop yields. Our study is the first to identify net outcomes of these activities, using six apple orchards, varying in management intensity, in south–eastern Australia as a study system. We also conducted a predation experiment using real and artificial codling moth (Cydia pomonella) larvae (a major pest in apple crops). We found that: (1) excluding birds from branches of apple trees resulted in an average of 12.8% more apples damaged by insects; (2) bird damage to apples was low (1.9% of apples); and (3) when trading off the potential benefits (biological control) with costs (bird damage to apples), birds provided an overall net benefit to orchard growers. We found that predation of real codling moth larvae was higher than for plasticine larvae, suggesting that plasticine prey models are not useful for inferring actual predation levels. Our study shows how complex ecological interactions between birds and invertebrates affect crop yield in apples, and provides practical strategies for improving the sustainability of orchard systems. PeerJ Inc. 2016-06-30 /pmc/articles/PMC4933086/ /pubmed/27413639 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2179 Text en ©2016 Peisley et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Agricultural Science
Peisley, Rebecca K.
Saunders, Manu E.
Luck, Gary W.
Cost-benefit trade-offs of bird activity in apple orchards
title Cost-benefit trade-offs of bird activity in apple orchards
title_full Cost-benefit trade-offs of bird activity in apple orchards
title_fullStr Cost-benefit trade-offs of bird activity in apple orchards
title_full_unstemmed Cost-benefit trade-offs of bird activity in apple orchards
title_short Cost-benefit trade-offs of bird activity in apple orchards
title_sort cost-benefit trade-offs of bird activity in apple orchards
topic Agricultural Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4933086/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27413639
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2179
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