Insect-Plant Food Webs Could Provide New Clues for Pest Management

Community food web analyses can provide information on species richness, resource partitioning, the presence of key species, and other community structure information that could be exploited for pest management purposes. Parasitoid food webs in particular are examined. Parasitoid food webs involving a leaf miner, its plant hosts, and parasitoids, from a native and a cultivated habitat in the same region of central Argentina were studied with emphasis on aspects relevant to pest management. Possible ways of utilizing useful parasitoids and plant-alternative host parasitoid interactions for pest management are discussed.