Vegetational Diversity and Arthropod Population Response

TLDR: Vegetational diversity plays a central role in this research renaissance on cultural and biological controls in entomology because it involves mixing different kinds of plants in a plant community.

Abstract: Studies of agroecosystems during the past 30 years have lead several agri­ cultural scientists to question the commitment of modem industrial agriculture to high intensity monocultural production . Additionally, current research directions in integrated pest management emphasize biological interactions among insect pests, natural enemies, and other crop pests, such as weeds. These inquiries have led to a recent rebirth in interest and research activities on cultural and biological controls in entomology . Vegetational diversity plays a central role in this research renaissance. If one considers it broadly, vegetational diversity involves mixing different kinds of plants in a plant community, but, to paraphrase Vilfredo Pareto ( 1 12), vegetational diversity appears like a bat; within it one can find both birds and mice . More specifically, vegetational diversity varies in three ways: the kinds, the spatial array, and the temporal overlap of the plants in the mixture. In most cases, the mixed plants are different plant species. These plants might be two crops, which is called intercropping; a crop and a weed, which is called weedy culture; or a crop and a beneficial noncrop, which is known by many names including nursery crops, living-mulches, cover­ cropping, etc . In some cases, however, different plant genotypes are mixed (41), including polyvarietal mixtures of agronomically dissimilar genotypes