Background The Argentine stem weevil (ASW, Listronotus bonariensis ) is a significant pasture pest in Aotearoa New Zealand, primarily controlled by the parasitoid biocontrol agent Microctonus hyperodae . Despite providing effective control of ASW soon after release, M. hyperodae parasitism rates have since declined significantly, with ASW hypothesised to have evolved resistance to its biocontrol agent. While the parasitism arsenal of M. hyperodae has previously been investigated, revealing many venom components and an exogenous novel DNA virus Microctonus hyperodae filamentous virus (MhFV), the effects of said arsenal on gene expression in ASW during parasitism have not been examined. In this study, we performed a multi-species transcriptomic analysis to investigate the biology of ASW parasitism by M. hyperodae , as well as the decline in efficacy of this biocontrol system. Results The transcriptomic response of ASW to parasitism by M. hyperodae involves modulation of the weevil’s innate immune system, flight muscle components, and lipid and glucose metabolism. The multispecies approach also revealed continued expression of venom components in parasitised ASW, as well as the transmission of MhFV to weevils during parasitism and some interrupted parasitism attempts. Transcriptomics did not detect a clear indication of parasitoid avoidance or other mechanisms to explain biocontrol decline. Conclusions This study has expanded our understanding of interactions between M. hyperodae and ASW in a biocontrol system of critical importance to Aotearoa-New Zealand’s agricultural economy. Transmission of MhFV to ASW during successful and interrupted parasitism attempts may link to a premature mortality phenomenon in ASW, hypothesised to be a result of a toxin-antitoxin system. Further research into MhFV and its potential role in ASW premature mortality is required to explore whether manipulation of this viral infection has the potential to increase biocontrol efficacy in future.

Miscanthus x giganteus (Miscanthus) grass shelterbelts can deliver multiple ecosystem services on New Zealand commercial dairy farms. However, there has been little investigation into how these shelterbelts contribute to insect pest management. Here, on a Canterbury dairy farm, we investigated what generalist surface-dwelling invertebrate natural enemies of insect pests inhabit three separate Miscanthus shelterbelts compared to three unmanipulated field margin plots. The potential contribution of these natural enemy assemblages to future biological control was also investigated. To measure this, live moth egg baits with associated pitfall trapping were deployed in autumn, winter and spring of 2015. Miscanthus and the field margin plots were found to have similar potential natural enemy richness but differed in their community composition. The potential predation rate of pests in Miscanthus was 85% higher than in the field margin. Infrared video and Sanger sequencing confirmed that the harvestman Phalangium opilio and the slug Deroceras reticulatum consumed the egg baits in Miscanthus. Conversely, no bait-consuming invertebrates were identified in the field margin. These preliminary results indicate potential natural enemies inhabit Miscanthus and may consume insect pest eggs on the soil-surface. However, to achieve anyinsect pest suppression, further habitat manipulation would be required.

Importation biological control can create new host-natural enemy responses that are different from those behaviours elicited in native ranges of the agent, and/or the pest. This possibility was investigated with the Argentine stem weevil (Listronotus bonariensis) in the presence of three endoparasitoid species with different levels of affinity to the weevil in New Zealand pasture. The question posed was whether the weevil exhibits species-specific or generic responses to the three parasitoids. The first parasitoid was Microctonus hyperodae which has a coevolutionary history with L. bonariensis. The second, was Microctonus aethiopoides, which has similar ecological and behavioural characteristics to M. hyperodae. The third parasitoid was Aphidius colemani, which attacks pasture aphids and is phylogenetically remote from the Microctonus spp. Microcosms were used to examine and compare the L. bonariensis responses when confronted by each of these parasitoids. L. bonariensis showed strong behavioural responses when confronted by M. hyperodae and similar, but very much reduced responses when exposed to M. aethiopoides. The weevil exhibited no measured reaction to A. colmani. Therefore, L. bonariensis showed a species-specific response to M. hyperodae rather than a generic response. The implications of the L. bonariensis behavioural responses to all three parasitoids are discussed in terms of the species' phenotypic closeness and centres of origin.

In the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the concept of sustainable development, un­derstood as the balance between economic, social, and environmental factors interacting in space and time, was recognized by representatives from 179 countries as vital to sustain human life without compromising the planet (United Nations, 1992). Nowadays, as hu­manity faces unseen anthropogenic problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss (IPCC, 2021), the concept of sustainable development has been recently highlighted by United Nations through the creation of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, aiming at impro­ving environmental and human well-being globally (United Nations, 2015).

New Zealand pastures largely comprising Lolium ryegrass species (Poales: Poaceae) are worth $19.6B and are subject to major pest impacts. A very severe pest is the Argentine stem weevil Listronotus bonariensis (Kuschel) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). This has been previously suppressed by the importation biological control agent, Microctonus hyperodae Loan (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). However, this suppression has recently declined and is subject to investigation. It has been hypothesised that grass type influences the parasitism avoidance behaviour by the weevil and thus parasitism rates. This study explored the hypothesis using three common pasture grasses: a diploid Lolium perenne x Lolium multiflorum hybrid ryegrass (cv. Manawa), a tetraploid Italian ryegrass L. multiflorum Lam. (cv. Tama), and a diploid perennial ryegrass L. perenne L. (cv. Samson). The described laboratory-based microcosm methodology determined the extent of weevil avoidance behaviour on each of these three grasses when subjected to the parasitoid. Such reaction was gauged by the extent of reduced weevil on-plant presence and feeding compared to the control populations. In the absence of the parasitoid, the hybrid cv. Manawa ryegrass is as highly favoured by the weevil as the tetraploid cv. Tama. On diploid cv. Samson, feeding is considerably less. In the presence of the parasitoid, weevils on the tetraploid cv. Tama plants showed little avoidance activity in response to the parasitoid and it can be argued that the benefits of staying on this plant outweighed the possibility of parasitism. Conversely and surprisingly, in the parasitoid’s presence, weevils on diploid cv. Manawa showed very strong avoidance behaviour leading to levels of exposure similar to those found on the less-preferred diploid cv. Samson. These findings reflect how weevil parasitism rates have declined in most Lolium grasses, particularly diploids, since the 1990s, but not in the tetraploid L. multiflorum. This contribution supports the hypothesis that the decline in weevil parasitism rates has been the result of rapid evolution arising from parasitoid-induced selection pressure and the countervailing effect of the nutritional quality of the host plants.

Biological control of pests continues to become more important in agriculture as pesticides are being withdrawn. However, successful control can be compromised by contemporary evolution. Recent work in New Zealand has shown that the once-successful biological control programme of the sexually reproducing grassland weevil pest Listronotus bonariensis by the asexual parasitoid Microctonus hyperodae has now failed. To explain the mechanisms associated with this, weevil parasitism rates were intensively monitored between 1994 and 2019. Frequent sampling took place at widely dispersed New Zealand sites spanning the warmer northern regions to the cooler south. Based on elapsed heat accumulation above the parasitoid’s development temperature threshold of 10.2°C degree-day (DD), the results over c. 25 years indicated that the extent of parasitism decline at a given location was directly related to the accumulated DD. The latter, in turn, was taken to be indicative of parasitoid activity and selection pressure. Accordingly, laboratory microcosm experiments measuring the response of weevils collected from the North–South distribution to a common population of parasitoids showed that the weevils from the warmer northern region showed higher rates of avoidance of the searching parasitoids than those from the cooler south. This strongly supported the hypothesis that the weevil resistance mechanism is related to levels of parasitoid avoidance behaviour arising from long-term parasitoid selection pressure. This study of the behaviourally based acquisition of resistance to a biological control agent illustrates a general need to consider the potential capability of an exotic target host to develop resistance to imported biological control agents. This includes identifying existing host adaptations that selection pressure could potentially act upon that may compromise otherwise successful biological control programmes. Such a requirement points to the need for long-term monitoring of biological control systems and understanding of parasitoid/host dynamics.

Sodium (Na) concentrations are low in plant tissues, and its metabolic function in plants is minor; however, Na is a key nutrient for plant consumers. Previous studies have thus far focused on Na concentration. Nevertheless, a balanced potassium (K) to Na ratio (K:Na) is more important than Na concentration alone since food with high K:Na has detrimental effects on consumers irrespective of Na concentration. Therefore, plants may actively regulate K:Na in their tissues and products, shaping plant-insect interactions. Studies considering nutritional aspects of plant-insect interactions have focused on nonreproductive tissues and nectar. In this study, we consider pollen as serving a primary reproductive function for plants as well as a food of pollinivores. Plants might regulate K:Na in pollen to affect their interactions with pollinivorous pollinators. To investigate whether such a mechanism exists, we manipulated Na concentrations in soil and measured the proportion of K, Na, and 13 other nutrient elements in the pollen of two sunflower (Helianthus annuus) cultivars. This approach allowed us to account for the overall nutritional quality of pollen by investigating the proportions of many elements that could correlate with the concentrations of K and Na. Of the elements studied, only the concentrations of Na and K were highly correlated. Pollen K:Na was high in both cultivars irrespective of Na fertilization, and it remained high regardless of pollen Na concentration. Interestingly, pollen K:Na did not decrease as pollen increased the Na concentration. We hypothesize that high K:Na in pollen might benefit plant fertilization and embryonic development; therefore, a tradeoff might occur between producing low K:Na pollen as a reward for pollinators and high K:Na pollen to optimize the plant fertilization process. This is the first study to provide data on pollen K:Na regulation by plants. Our findings broaden the understanding of plant-bee interactions and provide a foundation for a better understanding of the role of the soil-plant-pollen-pollinator pathway in nutrient cycling in ecosystems. Specifically, unexplored costs and tradeoffs related to balancing the K:Na by plants and pollinivores might play a role in past and current shaping of pollination ecology.

1. Honey bees require minerals for a complete diet. However, minerals from flowers can be inadequate in concentration and composition. Therefore, honey bees may drink ‘dirty water’ from natural sources such as puddles. Some research has attempted to simulate this through honey bee bioassays, but to date, these have tested minerals individually, not as mixtures as would occur in nature. Here, for the first time, we use honey bees in bioassays in which a range of mineral mixtures are presented together in choice experiments. 2. Six minerals (NaCl, KCl, CaCl 2 , MgCl 2 , NH 4 Cl, and KH 2 PO 4 ) were used in mixtures to simulate different mineral stoichiometries, which may occur in ‘dirty water’, such as puddles, from which honey bees often drink. Based on the honey bee mineral tolerance ranges from the literature, these mixtures were offered in aqueous solutions at low, medium, high, and mixed molar concentrations. Deionised water and sucrose were neutral and positive controls, respectively. Petri dishes were set up in containers in a laboratory. Twenty worker honey bees ( Apis mellifera L.) were placed into each container and observed for drinking behaviour for 1 h. 3. Honey bees preferred the mixed molar treatment comprising a high Na:K ratio, a medium molarity of NaCl and a low molarity of the other minerals. This novel finding suggests that mixed mineral ‘dirty water’ should be investigated on a larger scale with multiple hives in the field and highlights the importance of stoichiometrically balanced honey bee diets.

The adoption of agro-ecological practices in agricultural systems worldwide can contribute to increased food production without compromising future food security, especially under the current biodiversity loss and climate change scenarios. Despite the increase in publications on agro-ecological research and practices during the last 35 years, a weak link between that knowledge and changed farmer practices has led to few examples of agroecological protocols and effective delivery systems to agriculturalists. In an attempt to reduce this gap, we synthesised the main concepts related to biodiversity and its functions by creating a web-based interactive spiral (www. biodiversity function.com). This tool explains and describes a pathway for achieving agro-ecological outcomes, starting from the basic principle of biodiversity and its functions to enhanced biodiversity on farms. Within this pathway, 11 key steps are identified and sequentially presented on a web platform through which key players (farmers, farmer networks, policy makers, scientists and other stakeholders) can navigate and learn. Because in many areas of the world the necessary knowledge needed for achieving the adoption of particular agro-ecological techniques is not available, the spiral approach can provide the necessary conceptual steps needed for obtaining and understanding such knowledge by navigating through the interactive pathway. This novel approach aims to improve our understanding of the sequence from the concept of biodiversity to harnessing its power to improve prospects for 'sustainable intensification' of agricultural systems worldwide.

The wheat bug Nysius huttoni is a major pest of brassica seedlings. Management of this insect currently relies on seed treatment with neonicotinoids and spraying with chlorpyrifos and pyrethroid insecticides. These practices can generate severe external costs, including human health, the environment and biodiversity. Trap cropping is one alternative option to protect brassica seedlings from N. huttoni. Trap crop species evaluated in field cage experiments were: alyssum (Lobularia maritima L. Desvauxcv. Benthamii White), wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Morph), coriander (Coriandrum sativum L. cv. Santo) and clover (Trifolium repens L. cv. Nomad). These were compared with kale (Brassica oleracea L. cv. Kestrel). In open-field experiments, alyssum (L maritima), wheat (T. aestivum) and a mixture of alyssum (L. maritima) and wheat (T. aestivum) were used. All of these were compared to kale (B. oleracea). Alyssum and wheat were the most favoured potential trap plants for N. huttoni. Results indicated that two treatments: alyssum (used as a single trap crop) or 'alyssum plus wheat' (a multiple trap crop), may be useful in brassica fields to protect the seedlings from N. huttoni damage. Such a trap cropping protocol potentially reduces pesticide use in forage brassicas and can also deliver multiple ecosystem services such as biological control of insect pests.

“I am a photosynthesis manager and an ecosystemservice provider”. This profound statement was made by a Swedish farmer some years ago (Wratten, 2018). Few farmers describe their occupation in this way. However, there is a major body of work giving substantial evidence that current high-input farming (Figure 1) has no future without changes to its approach (Pretty et al., 2018). One reason for this view is that agriculture is one of the main causes of climate disturbance, largely driven by changes in land-use practices (Bennetzen et al., 2016). The main consequence has been biodiversity loss (Sala et al., 2000). A very worrying example of this is that human activities have made 60% of mammal, bird, fish and reptile species extinct since 1970, as consumption of food and resources by the global human population has de-stabilised the ‘web of life’ (Carrington and Watts, 2018). In more scientific language, we are losing ecosystem functions provided by nature at an alarming rate and with that, ecosystem (nature’s) services are declining rapidly. Examples are declines in pollination, predation of pests and soil services. The seriousness of these losses was recently reported by workers at the University of Sheffield, UK, who predicted that Britain has only 100 harvests remaining before that country’s soils are no longer suitable for growing crops (Dunnett, 2014). Compounding the above threats to future farming was the evidence found by Vitousek et al. (1997), who showed that half the nitrogen circulating in the earth’s fresh and salt water, soil and atmosphere is anthropogenic. This means that it is based on the use of fossil fuels and put there indirectly by mankind. In fact, we are now considered to be living in the Anthropocene in which man’s activities are affecting the earth at a global scale (Zalasiewicz et al., 2010). World population has risen 2.5-fold since 1960 and yet per-capita food production has grown by only 50% over the same period (Tilman, 1999). Achieving that growth in food produc-

Flowering plants have been widely used to enhance biological control. However, this approach has been limited to some extent by the lack of suitable flowering plant species of wide applicability, particularly for global pests. A key example is the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (GPA). It is commonly attacked by the polyphagous koinobiont aphidiidae, Aphidius colemani, which is also of global occurrence. Here, eight flowering plants were evaluated for the potential enhancement of GPA biological control using A. colemani under laboratory conditions. These included buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), alyssum (Lobularia maritima), white rocket (Diplotaxis erucoides.), wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis), lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), wild marjoram (Origanum vulgare), thyme (Origanum marjorana) and pepper mint (Mentha piperita). The effects of access to these flowers on the longevity (days), potential fecundity (number of dissected eggs) and parasitism rate for A. colemani compared with the control treatment (water) were studied. Longevity of A. colemani which had access to buckwheat was 4-5 times longer than the control and 2-3 times longer than it was in the other plant treatments; the latter did not differ significantly between each other. Potential fecundity of A. colemani was the highest when it had been provided with buckwheat flowers. Exposing A. colemani to flowering plants for longer time intervals (12 hr and 24 hr) increased the number of eggs produced compared with 6 hr. The number of parasitized aphids/female A. colemani with buckwheat flowers was the highest of all treatments; it ranged from 14 in the control to 219 with buckwheat. Further studies should be carried out under field conditions to determine the effect of a range of flowering plants on A. colemani. For example, although buckwheat was highly effective, in many climates it may be a useful component in mixtures comprising other, more robust species.

Weed floral resources are often overlooked in biological control manipulations, yet common species in this group can contribute to enhanced biological control efficacy. Weed floral resources may not be examined as frequently as certain insectary species (buckwheat). Furthermore, they may require less maintenance and are adapted to grow in the planted area. Here, we investigated the effects of weed and other non-crop floral resources on Eretmocerus mundus, a parasitoid of the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, in the laboratory. The two common weeds evaluated were shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) and white rocket (Diplotaxis erucoides). These were compared with buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) and alyssum (Lobularia maritima). Adults of the above parasitoid were exposed to flowers of the selected plants and survived six times longer with buckwheat than those in the control (water only) and 2.8, 3.1 and four times longer with shepherd’s purse, rocket and alyssum, respectively. All plant species significantly increased parasitoid longevity, egg load and fecundity compared to the control. Buckwheat had the greatest effect on these parameters. Parasitism rate of the pest increased by up to 72.1%. This work illustrates that the selected non-buckwheat species could have value where buckwheat germination rate and phenology may be limiting such as in arid climates, for which this work was targeted.

The human population is predicted to reach 9 billion by 2050. To achieve food security for this growing population, agricultural intensification is occurring, with increasing use of pesticides to reach the necessary yields. However, there is strong evidence that suggests pesticides cannot provide the agro-ecosystem growth and stability needed for the increasing demand. It is well established that pesticides are harmful to human, animal and environmental health. This information has reached the public, causing some governments to create policies that require the reduction of pesticide inputs in agro-ecosystems. Consequently, there is a need to manage pests using alternative techniques. One such approach is to enhance an ecosystem service (ES) which is conservation biological control (CBC). This is defined as manipulating the agro-ecosystem to enhance natural enemy fitness, populations and efficacy to suppress pest numbers. The problem is, not every study that has added multiple resources to agro-ecosystems is successful. Such resources may act synergistically and provide multiple ES delivery or include elements of redundancy, competition, or generate ecosystem dis-services. Here, we synthesize current reviews, provide a critical analysis and indicate future strategies. The key area that needs more focused research is understanding why floral resources are not always successful in the enhancement of natural enemy populations that lead to top-down pest suppression. Associated with this challenge, there are large knowledge gaps in natural enemy non-consumptive effects on prey and how these can be manipulated and used in CBC. For example, adding flowering plants to an agro-ecosystem is likely to impact several invertebrate and vertebrate communities, not always positively. These effects may, however, only be short term and localized. Existing landscape complexity has potential to supplement local effects but this is a highly multivariate approach. Major impediments to CBC being widely deployed certainly do not include cost. A typical 100 m x 2.3 m vineyard inter-row with buckwheat seeds costs only US $2.00. Key limitations to uptake of CBC by farmers and growers include: individual government policies which are inimical to agro-ecological approaches; the marketing power of agro-chemical companies; farmer innate conservatism; and most importantly, a weak emphasis of delivery systems and pathways to implementation. The most effective way to addressing the latter is 'farmer field schools', led by 'farmer teachers'. Outputs do not lead to outcomes unless multiple delivery systems and pathways of implementation are involved and developed at the beginning of the research.

ABSTRACT Carabidae (Coleoptera) are commonly used as indicators of ecosystem health due to their high diversity, conservation value and relative ease of identification. Carabids were monitored at Ahuriri Scenic Reserve, Port Hills, Canterbury, from August 2007 to September 2008 using pitfall traps. Carabid captures, species richness and distribution across the reserve were compared with those found in a similar study in 1977–1978. Monthly carabid captures were highly correlated with average temperature in both studies. There was little evidence of carabids responding to habitat factors, such as leaf litter depth, pH or ground cover. However, Megadromus antarcticus was positively associated with canopy openness and ground cover, whereas Holcaspis angustula was more abundant where canopy cover was extensive and there was a relatively high incidence of bare rock. Thirteen species of carabid were recorded in 1977–1978, of which six were absent, four had decreased, one was stable and two species increased in abundance from collections made in 2007–2008. The loss of one Banks Peninsula and five New Zealand endemic beetle species from this reserve is of concern, and future work should aim to gain more detailed information on the habitat requirements of these species to assist conservation management strategies.

Meeting the growing global demand for agricultural products requires the development and use of ecologically-based strategies that will allow sustainable intensification based on ecosystem services. An important component of this approach is conservation biological control. This approach encompasses a variety of management practices that protect natural enemy populations in the agro-ecosystem and enhance their fitness and ultimate impact on pests. It represents an alternative to dependence on pesticides which is associated with environmental damage and risks to human health. The interventions used to achieve conservation biological control are commonly based on managing vegetation patterns at the local scale (e.g. flowering strips that promote parasitoids by supplying nectar) or at wider scale (e.g., woodland to serve as donor habitat for natural enemies). Importantly, such vegetation management also offers scope to provide agriculture with additional ecosystem services as diverse as pollination and carbon sequestration. Despite these attractive features and the success of a small number of conservation biological control strategies, it remains underutilized. We identify as barriers to adoption the relative complexity of conservation biological control and challenges with economic evaluation, as well as perceptions and communication. Climate change is a challenge that will demand the development of flexible strategies that can respond to changes in pest distributions and/or food web structure.

Specimens of a previously unrecorded collembolan species were found in a field margin of a commercial dairy farm near Christchurch, New Zealand. They were consistently observed apparently feeding on egg batches of the light brown apple moth Epiphyas postvittana, which were being used as bait to assess predation rate by potential biocontrol agents. The collembolan specimens were identified as the European species Dicyrtoma fusca based on published morphological descriptions of this species. DNA sequence data of the New Zealand specimens clustered with sequence data from GenBank of this species from Norway and England, confirming that D. fusca populations in New Zealand originated from Europe. A GenBank sequence had previously identified a collembolan species from Estonia as this species, but its position in the phylogeny indicates that it is a different species. Some morphological variations observed in arrangement of macrochaetae on the head were shown by sequence data to be intraspecific differences only.

Chapter 7 Ecosystem Services Provided by Unmanaged Habitats in Agricultural Landscapes Stefano Colazza, Stefano ColazzaSearch for more papers by this authorMorgan W. Shields, Morgan W. ShieldsSearch for more papers by this authorEzio Peri, Ezio PeriSearch for more papers by this authorAntonino Cusumano, Antonino CusumanoSearch for more papers by this author Stefano Colazza, Stefano ColazzaSearch for more papers by this authorMorgan W. Shields, Morgan W. ShieldsSearch for more papers by this authorEzio Peri, Ezio PeriSearch for more papers by this authorAntonino Cusumano, Antonino CusumanoSearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Moshe Coll, Moshe Coll Department of Entomology, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, IsraelSearch for more papers by this authorEric Wajnberg, Eric Wajnberg INRA, Sophia Antipolis, FranceSearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 August 2017 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119255574.ch7Citations: 2 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Summary Insect pest management can be sustainably accomplished with reduced or no insecticide application by using unmanaged vegetation to enhance conservation biological control and the ecosystem service (ES) of controlling insect pest populations in agricultural landscapes. This chapter is focused on the role of natural enemies in reducing insect pest populations, how the effectiveness of natural enemies can be enhanced using unmanaged vegetation and non-crop vegetation and how habitat manipulation at a landscape scale can affect natural enemy effectiveness. The first parts of the chapter discuss ES in agriculture, including the global importance of insect pest management using agro-ecological approaches. The following sections review the effect of unmanaged vegetation on natural enemies, and examine how and when landscape complexity can increase the abundance, richness and efficacy of these organisms. Then, the implementation of habitat management practices aimed at maximizing biological pest control is discussed. We conclude by considering the implications of enhancing multiple ES simultaneously and suggest future research opportunities in this area. Citing Literature Environmental Pest Management: Challenges for Agronomists, Ecologists, Economists and Policymakers RelatedInformation

Vineyards worldwide occupy over 7 million hectares and are typically virtual monocultures, with high and costly inputs of water and agro-chemicals. Understanding and enhancing ecosystem services can reduce inputs and their costs and help satisfy market demands for evidence of more sustainable practices. In this New Zealand work, low-growing, endemic plant species were evaluated for their potential benefits as Service Providing Units (SPUs) or Ecosystem Service Providers (ESPs). The services provided were weed suppression, conservation of beneficial invertebrates, soil moisture retention and microbial activity. The potential Ecosystem Dis-services (EDS) from the selected plant species by hosting the larvae of a key vine moth pest, the light-brown apple moth (Epiphyas postvittana), was also quantified. Questionnaires were used to evaluate winegrowers’ perceptions of the value of and problems associated with such endemic plant species in their vineyards. Growth and survival rates of the 14 plant species, in eight families, were evaluated, with Leptinella dioica (Asteraceae) and Acaena inermis ‘purpurea’ (Rosaceae) having the highest growth rates in terms of area covered and the highest survival rate after 12 months. All 14 plant species suppressed weeds, with Leptinella squalida, Geranium sessiliforum (Geraniaceae), Hebe chathamica (Plantaginaceae), Scleranthus uniflorus (Caryophyllaceae) and L. dioica, each reducing weed cover by >95%. Plant species also differed in the diversity of arthropods that they supported, with the Shannon Wiener diversity index (H′) for these taxa ranging from 0 to 1.3. G. sessiliforum and Muehlenbeckia axillaris (Polygonaceae) had the highest invertebrate diversity. Density of spiders was correlated with arthropod diversity and G. sessiliflorum and H. chathamica had the highest densities of these arthropods. Several plant species associated with higher soil moisture content than in control plots. The best performing species in this context were A. inermis ‘purpurea’ and Lobelia angulata (Lobeliaceae). Soil beneath all plant species had a higher microbial activity than in control plots, with L. dioica being highest in this respect. Survival proportion to the adult stage of the moth pest, E. postvittana, on all plant species was poor (<0.3). When judged by a ranking combining multiple criteria, the most promising plant species were (in decreasing order) G. sessiliflorum, A. inermis ‘purpurea’, H. chathamica, M. axillaris, L. dioica, L. angulata, L. squalida and S. uniflorus. Winegrowers surveyed said that they probably would deploy endemic plants around their vines. This research demonstrates that enhancing plant diversity in vineyards can deliver SPUs, harbour ESPs and therefore deliver ES. The data also shows that growers are willing to follow these protocols, with appropriate advice founded on sound research.

The sterile hybrid grass Miscanthus x giganteus (Mxg) can produce more than 30 t dry matter/ha/year. This biomass has a range of uses, including animal bedding and a source of heating fuel. The grass provides a wide range of other ecosystem services (ES), including shelter for crops and livestock, a refuge for beneficial arthropods, reptiles and earthworms and is an ideal cellulosic feedstock for liquid biofuels such as renewable (drop-in) diesel. In this study, the effects of different strains of the beneficial fungus Trichoderma on above-and below-ground biomass of Mxg were evaluated in glasshouse and field experiments, the latter on a commercial dairy farm over two years. Other ES benefits of Trichoderma measured in this study included enhanced leaf chlorophyll content as well as increased digestibility of the dried material for livestock. This study shows, for the first time for a biofuel feedstock plant, how Trichoderma can enhance productivity of such plants and complements other recent work on the wide-ranging provision of ES by this plant species.