Primary and secondary pest management in agriculture: balancing pesticides and natural enemies in potato production
研究通过生物经济模型分析马铃薯生产中天敌对主要和次要害虫的抑制作用，发现纳入天敌可使收益增加2%，为平衡农药使用与生态服务提供依据。
Natural enemies (NEs) provide an important ecosystem service by preying on variety of pests in agricultural crop production systems. Current management practices of both primary and secondary pests in agricultural production principally rely on the use of pesticides with associated negative social and environmental consequences/externalities. Excessive use of pesticides against primary pets can remove NEs from the agro-ecosystem and amplify susceptibility of the system to outbreaks of secondary pests. The combined effect of NEs on primary and secondary pests has received limited attention. This study uses an intraseasonal bioeconomic model to explicitly take into account biological interactions among primary pests, secondary pests, and NEs assuming decision makers’ profit maximizing behavior. The model explicitly captures the opportunity cost of injury to NE in terms of both primary and secondary pest suppression by NE. The results show that in the context of the green peach aphid (primary pest) and two-spotted spider mite (secondary pest) in potato production, inclusion of NE into pest mitigation strategy can increase returns by 2%.