Enhancing ecosystem service provisioning by natural enemies of arthropod herbivores in the agroecosystems of BC’s northern central interior.

Arthropods – particularly spiders and certain insects – provide pest management services to agricultural ecosystems in BC and elsewhere. However, very little work has been done to understand either the pest insects or the insect and spider species that might control them in BC’s central interior agroecosystems. For instance, this is no current catalog of the species that are present in the region, and any prior assessments may be outdated due to climate change-induced shifts in geographic range of species. We plan to catalog the pest and predator biodiversity and to assess how landscape features (e.g. fields with surrounding forested land, nearby woodlots, hedgerows, etc.) encourage the growth and health of beneficial spiders and insects to help to increase agricultural productivity in this area while reducing pesticide use.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dezene Huber;Jasmine Janes

Student:

Partner:

BC Forage Council (BCFC)

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

University of Northern British Columbia

Program: