RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 More pests but less treatments: ambivalent effect of landscape complexity on Conservation Biological Control JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2021.03.19.436155 DO 10.1101/2021.03.19.436155 A1 Patrizia Zamberletti A1 Khadija Sabir A1 Thomas Opitz A1 Olivier Bonnefon A1 Edith Gabriel A1 Julien Papaïx YR 2021 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/03/20/2021.03.19.436155.abstract AB In agricultural landscapes, the amount and organization of crops and semi-natural habitats (SNH) have the potential to promote a bundle of ecosystem services due to their influence on ecological community at multiple spatio-temporal scales. SNH are relatively undisturbed and are often source of complementary resources and refuges, supporting more diverse and abundant natural pest enemies. However, the nexus of SNH proportion and organization with pest suppression is not trivial. It is thus crucial to understand how the behavior of pest and auxiliary species, the underlying landscape structure, and their interaction may influence conservation biological control (CBC). Here, we develop a generative stochastic landscape model to simulate realistic agricultural landscape compositions and configurations of fields and linear elements. Generated landscapes are used as spatial support over which we simulate a spatially explicit predator-prey dynamic model. We find that SNH boost predator population, but predator movement from hedges to fields is fundamental for an efficient pest regulation by auxiliaries and to decrease pesticide treatments. Moreover landscape elements may lead to different effects on pest reduction depending on the considered scale. Integration of species behaviors and traits with landscape structure at multiple scales are needed to provide useful insights for CBC.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.