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Research Article

Increasing corn for biofuel production reduces biocontrol services in agricultural landscapes

Douglas A. Landis, Mary M. Gardiner, Wopke van der Werf, and Scott M. Swinton
  1. Departments of aEntomology and
  2. cAgricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing MI 48824; and
  3. bCentre for Crop Systems Analysis, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 430, 6700 AK Wageningen, The Netherlands

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PNAS first published December 15, 2008; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0804951106
Douglas A. Landis
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  • For correspondence: landisd@msu.edu
Mary M. Gardiner
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Wopke van der Werf
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Scott M. Swinton
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  1. Edited by May R. Berenbaum, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, and approved November 5, 2008 (received for review May 22, 2008)

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Abstract

Increased demand for corn grain as an ethanol feedstock is altering U.S. agricultural landscapes and the ecosystem services they provide. From 2006 to 2007, corn acreage increased 19% nationally, resulting in reduced crop diversity in many areas. Biological control of insects is an ecosystem service that is strongly influenced by local landscape structure. Here, we estimate the value of natural biological control of the soybean aphid, a major pest in agricultural landscapes, and the economic impacts of reduced biocontrol caused by increased corn production in 4 U.S. states (Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). For producers who use an integrated pest management strategy including insecticides as needed, natural suppression of soybean aphid in soybean is worth an average of $33 ha−1. At 2007–2008 prices these services are worth at least $239 million y−1 in these 4 states. Recent biofuel-driven growth in corn planting results in lower landscape diversity, altering the supply of aphid natural enemies to soybean fields and reducing biocontrol services by 24%. This loss of biocontrol services cost soybean producers in these states an estimated $58 million y−1 in reduced yield and increased pesticide use. For producers who rely solely on biological control, the value of lost services is much greater. These findings from a single pest in 1 crop suggest that the value of biocontrol services to the U.S. economy may be underestimated. Furthermore, we suggest that development of cellulosic ethanol production processes that use a variety of feedstocks could foster increased diversity in agricultural landscapes and enhance arthropod-mediated ecosystem services.

  • bioenergy
  • biological control
  • ecosystem services

Footnotes

  • 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: landisd{at}msu.edu
  • Author contributions: D.A.L., M.M.G., W.v.d.W., and S.M.S. designed research; M.M.G. and W.v.d.W. performed research; M.M.G. and W.v.d.W. analyzed data; and D.A.L., M.M.G., W.v.d.W., and S.M.S. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.

  • © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
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Increasing corn for biofuel production reduces biocontrol services in agricultural landscapes
Douglas A. Landis, Mary M. Gardiner, Wopke van der Werf, Scott M. Swinton
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Dec 2008, pnas.0804951106; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0804951106

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Increasing corn for biofuel production reduces biocontrol services in agricultural landscapes
Douglas A. Landis, Mary M. Gardiner, Wopke van der Werf, Scott M. Swinton
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Dec 2008, pnas.0804951106; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0804951106
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