摘要
Humankinddrawsimportantbenefitsfromlarge-scaleecologicalprocessestermedecosystemservices,yetthestatusofseveralofthemisdeclining.Reliablemonitoringmethodsareessentialfortrackingthestatusofecosystemservices.Predationisthemainstayofnaturalpestcontrol,akeyecosystemservice.Weusedgreenplasticinecaterpillarstomonitorpredationpressure,andtoobtainbaselinedataonpredatoractivityintransgenicBtversusnon-BtmaizefieldsinOldandNewWorldcountries.Predationpressurewasmeasuredatgroundandcanopylevelsusinganidentical,small-plotexperimentaldesigninfourEuropeancountries(Denmark,Slovakia,RomaniaandItaly)andArgentina.Totalpredationrateinmaizewasll.7%d^-1(min.7.2%d^-1inArgentina,max.29.0%d^-1inRomania).Artificialcaterpillarswereattackedbothbyinvertebrates(mostlychewinginsectswith42.0%oftheattackmarks,andantswith7.1%,butalsopredatoryandparasitoidwasps,spidersandslugs),andvertebrates(smallmammals25.5%,andbirds20.2%).Totalpredationatgroundlevel(15.7%d^-1)wassignificantlyhigherthaninmaizecanopies(6.0%d^-1)inallcountries,exceptArgentina.WefoundnosignificantdifferencesbetweenpredatorpressureinBtversusnon-Btmaizeplots.Theartificialcaterpillarmethodprovidedcomparable,quantitativedataonpredationintensity,andprovedtobesuitableformonitoringnaturalpestcontrol.Thismethodusefullyexpandstheexistingtoolkitbydirectlymeasuringecologicalfunctionratherthanstructure.
出版日期
2019年03月13日（中国期刊网平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）
