This article by Colin Tosh and Jo Smith (ex ORC) uses a novel method to model the interacting agroecosystem components (trees, weeds, crop disease, crop yield, crop pests, and pest natural enemies) in English silvoarable agroforestry.
Tosh CR, Smith J (2025) Can trees and their associated organisms still benefit arable crops in the presence of pesticide use? Agricultural Systems 225, 104292
Colin Tosh explains: “The method is called GBRNM and is based on Boolean regulatory modelling, which has predominantly been used for gene regulatory modelling to date. We recently published our first paper introducing this model and clearly outlining the structure of the model as applied to agroforestry systems (Tosh et al., 2024).
“In this article we ‘set this model to work’ to begin to address some real-life issues of concern to growers. Namely we analyse whether benefits to crop yield can still be expected from the biotic components of agroecosystems in the face of pesticide use. We assume that ecosystem services will be maximised in organic agroforestry systems, but we also realise that worldwide expansion of agroforestry will likely take place in the presence of pesticide use. Here we provide some recommendations, based on simulations, on how growers can minimise loss of ecosystem services from agroforestry using restrained and selective pesticide use.
“We find that restrained herbicide use alone may have minimal impacts on tree benefits to crop yield. All interventions targeting two ecosystem components across the growing season reduce tree ecosystem services but the intervention for weeds and insects least so. Intervention for all ecosystem components considered here (weeds, insects and crop disease) is not recommended and nullifies all ecosystem services, even at high intervention thresholds.
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https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1kgOB,70zHyuA0
