AUTHOR=Wen Zhi , Yang Quanfeng , Huang Binbin , Zhang Lu , Zheng Hua , Shen Yusheng , Yang Yanzheng , Ouyang Zhiyun , Li Ruonan 

TITLE=Landscape composition and configuration relatively affect invasive pest and its associator across multiple spatial scales

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1114508

DOI=10.3389/fsufs.2023.1114508

ISSN=2571-581X

ABSTRACT=<p>Landscape structures affect pests, depending on compositional heterogeneity (the number and proportions of different habitats), configurational heterogeneity (spatial arrangement of habitats), and spatial scales. However, there is limited information on the relative effects of compositional and configurational heterogeneity on invasive pests and their associates (species that can benefit from invasive pests), and how they vary across spatial scales. In this study, we assayed the invasive pest <italic>Bactrocera dorsalis</italic> (Hendel) and its associated fly <italic>Drosophila melanogaster</italic> in 15 landscapes centered on mango orchards. We calculated landscape composition (forest percentage, mango percentage, and Shannon's diversity) and configuration (edge density) using two methods: spatial distance scales and combined scales. Spatial distance scales included buffer rings with radii of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 km, and combined scales referred to cutting or not cutting a smaller ring from larger ones. Our results shown that compositional heterogeneity positively affected <italic>B. dorsalis</italic> and <italic>D. melanogaster</italic> due to forest cover percentage, whereas configurational heterogeneity with high edge density negative effect on <italic>B. dorsalis</italic>. Forest cover had less of an effect on <italic>B. dorsalis</italic> than configurational heterogeneity, but the opposite effect was observed for <italic>D. melanogaster</italic>. Importantly, the direction and strength of forest cover and configurational heterogeneity to species did not vary with spatial distance scales or spatial combined scales. Thus, compositional and configurational heterogeneity exhibit differential effects on this invasive pest and its associator, and revealed that the relative effects of landscape structures are consistent across multiple scales. These results provide new insights into landscape effects on interconnected species using a diverse spatial-scale approach.</p>