Work

Assessing unintended effects of pest-exclusion netting on non-target arthropod biodiversity across scales

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: In recent years, the development of alternative pest-control strategies aimed at reducing reliance on pesticides has accelerated. Yet these methods may generate unintended effects on non-targeted organisms such as arthropods. Such consequences remain poorly investigated, especially for recent methods like pest-exclusion netting in perennial cropping systems, for which potential non-target effects may act at both local and landscape scales. From 2021–2023, we monitored 23 pairs of commercial organic orchards, each comprising one orchard protected by nets, in the main apple-growing area of southeastern France. This design allowed us to disentangle local and landscape effects of netting on soil-dwelling and canopy arthropods. Our results revealed taxon-specific responses to exclusion netting, with no overall evidence of consistent negative effects of netting on arthropod abundance or diversity. At the local scale, exclusion netting generally had non-significant to positive effects on non-target arthropods, particularly benefiting crawling and predatory taxa, with earwigs largely driving the observed positive responses. However, at the landscape scale, responses were more variable, differing in both magnitude and direction across taxonomic groups and sampled vegetation strata. Given the high efficiency of exclusion netting for pest management, our results highlight that this management option is a viable agroecological strategy that may reduce reliance on insecticides without strong impact on most orchard arthropod biodiversity.

Source: Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment

DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2026.110769