Nutritional Ecology of Beneficial Arthropods in Changing Agricultural Landscapes
A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Insect Ecology, Diversity and Conservation".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 302
Special Issue Editors
Interests: augmentative; classical and conservation biological control; agroecology; habitat management; ecological intensification; functional biodiversity; risk assessment of exotic natural enemies; biology and ecology of parasitoid Hymenoptera and Syrphidae
Interests: functional biodiversity; ecological interactions between insect pests; beneficial arthropods and plants in managed ecosystems; biological control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear colleagues,
Agricultural landscapes are dominated by intensified, high-input cropping systems of monocultures. Biodiversity loss and insect decline are linked to this overall simplification of landscapes worldwide. New approaches aim at diversification at field, farm, and landscape levels to design more diverse agricultural systems, especially to support those organisms, which deliver essential agroecosystem services, such as biological control of insect pests and pollination. This Special Issue seeks studies which investigate possibilities to support natural enemies and pollinators by designing more diverse agricultural systems to meet their dietary needs and augment their populations year-round. This requires a better understanding of insect nutritional needs as well as of how they can be met in the spatiotemporally changing agroecosystem. The focus can be on one or more of the following aspects: a) dietary value of pollen and nectar for natural enemies and pollinators; b) the effect of enhanced provision of necessary resources (plant-derived food, alternative preys and hosts) on natural enemies, pollinators, pest control, and yield; c) design of systems to support beneficials. New approaches which involve, for example, new energy crops, alternative crops, innovative crop rotation design, intercropping, permaculture or agroforestry, and their potential effects on insect communities but also on specific key antagonists will be considered. On-farm studies and studies with stakeholder involvement are especially welcome, but also laboratory studies providing a better understanding of the effects of diversification on beneficial insects.
Dr. Annette Herz
Dr. Lene Sigsgaard
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- functional biodiversity
- agroecosystem
- diet
- insect–plant interaction
- design
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