Organic farming drives higher diversity of beetles, with more predators and less pests

Organic farming drives higher diversity of beetles, with more predators and less pests | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Organic farming drives higher diversity of beetles, with more predators and less pests Bounsanong Chouangthavy, Yoan Fourcade This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4586391/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Agricultural intensification has led to significant species losses and has been associated with a decline in ecosystem services proved by insects. Reconciling biodiversity and agriculture production is a key challenge of the 21st century, for which solutions such as organic farming emerge, but remain to be tested in a wide range of ecological and socio-economic contexts. In Asia, particularly in Lao PDR, biodiversity-friendly agricultural practices such as the production of organic crops have been promoted to address these challenges, although intensification continues to progress. In this study, we examined beetle community composition in three organic and three conventional farming systems in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Our results indicate that beetle abundance was relatively consistent in both farm types, while species richness was higher in organic farming compared to conventional farming. Furthermore, predators were over 18 times more abundant, and insect pests 9 times less abundant, in organic farming, suggesting an enhanced pest control. Abundance and richness of beetles also exhibited seasonal variation during the year. These findings have enormous significance for the promotion of sustainable agriculture and the preservation of biodiversity in Southeast Asia and tropical countries in general, and they greatly advance our understanding of the ecological effects of various farming methods. They may also contribute to assisting government policy, particularly the Ministry of Agriculture, which plays a crucial role in promoting and supporting the development of organic agriculture in Lao PDR. organic and conventional farming functional feeding guilds agricultural landscape beetle community Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Introduction Recent decades have seen an increase in global attention on agricultural practices and their consequences for food safety and biodiversity (Foley et al. 2005 ; Tschnarke et al. 2012). Intensive agriculture, while increasing yield (Seufert et al. 2012 ), has been associated with declines in biodiversity across all taxonomic groups (e.g., Kehoe et al. 2015 ; Outhwaite et al. 2022 ; Rigal et al. 2023 ). Organic agriculture, on the other hand can play a vital role in promoting biodiversity in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (Bengtsson et al. 2005 ; Fuller et al. 2005 ). It is also a key factor for maintaining ecosystem services and multifunctionality (Wittner et al. 2021), leading for instance to increased levels of soil organic matter and enhanced soil microbial activity (Paudel et al. 2023 ). Therefore, there is generally a push for a development of organic agriculture in high-income countries where crop systems are largely intensive, and a concern about the conversion of land-use into intensive agriculture in middle/low-income countries where traditional agricultural practices had been maintained up to now. Tropical countries that host a large proportion of the world’s biodiversity are particularly sensitive in this regard (Oakley and Bicknell 2022; Perfecto and Vandermeer 2008). Insects have proven to be the most successful group among all arthropods, with beetles (Order: Coleoptera) playing a crucial role in ecosystem processes (Jones et al. 2019 ). However, insects in general (Eggleton 2020 ; Sánchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys 2019 ), including beetles (e.g., Hutton and Giller 2003), are also particularly at risk when confronted to agriculture intensification. As beetles are widely distributed across various ecosystems and are sensitive to human-driven disturbance, they can serve as effective indicators to assess the impacts of agricultural practices on ecosystem functioning (Chowdhury et al. 2023 ; Chouangthavy et al. 2021 ; Gallé et al. 2019 ). Several studies found a positive effect of organic farming on beetle abundance and species richness, but this pattern failed to replicate in all cases (Hole et al. 2005 ). This indicates that more factors play a role in the differences between organic and conventional farming systems, including landscape matrix (e.g., Weibull and Bengtsson 2000 ; Weibull et al. 2003 ; Schmidt and Tscharntke 2005 ) and habitat heterogeneity (Weibull and Bengtsson 2000 ). Importantly, polyphagous predators (including carabid beetles), which serve as vital biological control agents for managing pests in cultivated areas (Diekötter et al. 2010 ), are particularly favored by organic agriculture (Gallé et al. 2019 ). This confirms the importance of agricultural practices for the delivery of ecosystem services, and the role organic farming, thought the promotion of beneficial insects, can play in this regard. However, most of this knowledge has been gained from studies conducted in the Global North, and the response of beetles to conventional vs. organic agriculture remains largely unknown in tropical regions such as southeastern Asia. In recent years, agricultural land area has increased rapidly across Laos, driven by foreign investments illustrated by a doubling in the number of foreign companies or factories from 2009 to 2015 (Wentworth et al. 2021 ). The conversion of organic agriculture to conventional practices has been particularly evident in large-scale banana plantations (NAFRI, 2016); revealing a steady transition from subsistence agriculture to commercial production through the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. We previously demonstrated that the conversion of natural forests into plantations decreases beetle abundance and diversity (Chouangthavy and Fourcade 2023 ; Chouangthavy et al. 2020 ), showing that agriculture expansion is an obstacle to the preservation of insect biodiversity in Laos. In response to concerns over suspected health risks for farm workers and consumers, as well as water contamination associated with the heavy use of agrochemicals on farms, the promotion of organic agriculture in Laos has been supported by rural development NGOs and private sector enterprises seeking access to premium markets. Additionally, the Lao government has played a role in the development of this sector from its early stages (Panyakul 2012 ). An important remaining question is whether this can also promote the maintenance of ecosystem services and the conservation of the country’s biodiversity, including its rich beetle fauna. To test the impact of agricultural practices on insect diversity and abundance, we conducted a comparative study on the diversity and abundance of beetle communities, between organic and conventional farming in Vientiane Capital, Laos. The objective of this study is to provide information on community composition and functional diversity of beetle communities in relation to contrasted farming systems. The knowledge presented here also aims to support and encourage farmers in gaining a better understanding of the importance of insect functional diversity in different farming practices, specifically organic and conventional systems. Materials and methods Study area and farm selection The study was conducted in three organic farms across an area of 2.5 ha and three conventional farms across 5.7 ha, in Vientiane Capital in 2023. The organic farming sector encompasses 175 hectares of land in Vientiane, where over 1,000 tons of organic products are grown and sold annually (National Statistics 2020). However, conventional farming remains dominant, covering approximately 340 hectares (National Statistics 2020). Three organic farms were selected in Non-Tare Village (18°7'18.39"N; 102°42'27.21"E), situated approximately seven kilometers away from three selected conventional farms in Pakxab Kao village (18°8'45.54"N; 102°46'38.14"E). Organic farms were certified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and observe a strict adherence to the regulations and guidelines of Lao organic certification. Organic farming involves the cultivation of a diverse range of vegetables, such as Chinese cabbage, Morning glory, Cabbage, Lettuce, Chinese choice, Chinese kale, Cauliflower, Chinese mustard, Ivy guard, Spinach, Potato, Tomato, Cucumber, Asparagus, Broccoli, Ginger, Garlic, Coriander. Composted and fresh manure, for instance cow and chicken dung, are used as organic inputs, without chemical or synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The three conventional farms also cultivate similar vegetables, but they were treated with synthetic fertilizers, pesticide, insecticide, and herbicides (e.g., NPK). Located along the Nam Ngum River where convenient water supply for agriculture is available, they are surrounded by paddy rice fields, fruit orchards (predominantly tamarind, jackfruit, and mango trees) and ponds. They are also situated in close proximity to other intensive agricultural practices, such as deforestation for cassava plantation, expansion of grazing areas for cattle, and road construction. Beetle sampling and identification Pitfall traps were set and collected over a seven-month period (January to July) in 2023 following the same methodology as in Chouangthavy and Fourcade ( 2023 ). The traps were positioned along a transect line within each farm, with a total of 10 traps per farm, at least 10 m from each other, placed in the middle of each month (10 traps × 6 farms × 7 months = 420 traps). Beetles were collected from the traps after a period of seven days. Specimens underwent a drying process in a hot air oven at 45°C for seven days. Afterward, they were transferred to wooden insect collection boxes – one for each family – and sorted into morphospecies. Some beetle species could be identified thanks to comparisons with previously identified Laotian beetles from the families Curculionidae and Bostrichidae, classified by Dr. Roger Beaver from Chiang Mai, Thailand. Specimens belonging to the Carabidae, Chrysomelidae, Coccinellidae, and Scarabaeidae families were forwarded to the Plant Protection Center, Department of Agriculture and Forestry in Vientiane capital for identification. These specimens were then compared with older samples collected in lowland agricultural ecosystems in Laos, as documented by Rapusas ( 2006 ), housed at the Plant Protection Center. The remaining families were cross-referenced with voucher specimens housed in the Faculty of Forestry at the National University of Laos, identified by Korean entomologists (Lee et al., 2017 ). For specimens unidentified at the genus or species level, the authors assigned them morphospecies codes such as “sp” or “sp1, 2, 3...” in each respective family, for example: Scirtidae sp1; Scirtidae sp2. Additionally, all specimens were assigned to nine functional feeding guilds based on their known feeding habits and ecological roles, including Phytophagous, Dung feeders, Fungivores, Omnivores, Pests, Pollen feeders, Predators, Saprophagous, and Scavengers. Classification into functional feeding guilds help understand the ecological roles of different insect beetle families within ecosystems and how they contribute to ecosystem dynamics (Tscharntke et al., 2008 ). Finally, beetle data from the ten traps in each farm were pooled to form one sample per sampling farm per month. Data analysis We first compared the diversity of beetle communities, in terms of (morpho)species richness, between organic and conventional farming. For this, we constructed accumulation curves based on the number of collected individuals as a measure of sampling effort (Chao et al. 2014 ), using the procedure implemented in the ‘iNEXT’ R package (Hsieh et al. 2016 ). Then, we examined the beetle community composition in both farming systems by employing a Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling approach (NMDS). It was complemented by a permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) to test for any significant differences between the two groups, but also between the sampling months. Site identity was also included as a covariable to account for the fact that sampling was repeated several times in the same sites. NMDS and PERMANOVA were based on the Bray-Curtis distance between samples and were conducted using the ‘vegan’ R package (Oksanen et al. 2022 ). We explored the relative abundance of each beetle family and each feeding guild in organic vs. conventional farms by summing the data in each farming system, and testing whether they differ using a Pearson Chi-square test. Finally, we analyzed the abundance and species richness observed in each farm and each month, to test for seasonal patterns that may differ between organic and conventional farming. We modelled variation in beetle abundance and species richness as a function of farming system in interaction with the sampling month using negative binomial generalized linear mixed models, with site identity as random intercept, computed using the ‘lme4’ package for R (Bates et al. 2015). Results and Discussion Data on the comparative diversity and composition of insect communities in relation to agricultural practices are rare in tropical countries and in southeast Asia. Here, despite a sampling effort limited to one year and six farms, we were able to collect in total 2504 individuals belonging to 99 beetle morphospecies (23 families). Among them, almost half (1038 individuals) belonged to the Nitidulidae family. Specifically, we observed 1262 individuals belonging to 47 species (14 families) in conventional farms and 1242 individuals belonging to 65 species (18 families) in organic farms. The accumulation curves (Fig. 1 ) suggested that we covered almost all species present in these two farming systems (sampling coverage > 0.99), and that family richness was effectively higher in organic farms (asymptotic richness estimator: organic farms = 51.16 [95% CI: 47.00–70.55]; conventional farms = 70.32 [95% CI: 65.00–84.12]). A higher beetle richness associated with organic farming has been observed before in many ecological contexts, such as in North America (Cárcamo et al. 1995 ) or Europe (Eyre et al. 2012 ; Rosas-Ramos et al. 2022 ), although it is not a universal pattern (see e.g. Fukuda et al. 2011). We demonstrated here the value of organic practices for the preservation of beetle diversity in Lao PDR, a region that has only little been investigated in this regard (but see Chouangthavy et al. 2021 ). Besides these striking differences in species richness, communities visualized through the NMDS (stress = 0.19, non-metric fit = 0.97; see Fig. 2 ) revealed vastly different compositions between samples collected in conventional farms compared to organic farms. Only 13 species were present in both farm types, including the single frequent morphospecies of our dataset (“Nitidulidae sp1”). This was confirmed by the PERMANOVA, which showed a significant effect of farming system on community composition ( F 1,30 = 4.38, R² = 0.08, P = 0.001). We observed that the distribution of individuals among families differed significantly between conventional and organic farms (Chi² = 1110.3, df = 22, P < 0.001). In the former, the second most abundant family was Chrysomelidae (387 individuals) followed by Curculionidae (149 individuals), while in the latter the second most abundant family was Carabidae (334 individuals) followed by Coccinellidae (246 individuals), suggesting that different beetle species respond differently to distinct farming practices. Döring and Kromp (2003) demonstrated that organic farming primarily favours open-field carabid species and promotes greater abundance and diversity among habitat specialists compared to generalist species. The fact that Nitidulidae, Chrysomelidae, Curculionidae, Carabidae, and Coccinellidae stood out as dominant among the sampled beetle families can be attributed to the exceptional dispersal abilities of these beetles, coupled with a general affinity for agricultural ecosystems (Bianchi et al. 2006 ). Differences in community composition translated into a relative abundance of beetles among feeding guilds that was also significantly different between conventional and organic farms (Fig. 3 , Chi² = 1030.2, df = 7, P < 0.001). Conventional farms were dominated by saprophagous (638 individuals) and pest (539) species, while predators (586 individuals) and saprophagous species (429 individuals) were the most abundant in organic farms. Organic farming is therefore associated with higher abundance of beneficial insects, especially predatory beetle species, while the abundance of pest species is reduced compared to conventional farming. These results suggest a more effective biological pest control in organic farms compared to conventional ones, as frequently observed (Muneret et al. 2018; Östman et al. 2003 rök et al. 2021 ). However, this interpretation is contingent upon the assumption that heightened diversity of natural enemies translates into increased rates of parasitism and predation on crop pests (Letourneau and Bothwell, 2008 ). In addition, the abundance of pollen feeders was also increased in organic farms, which is consistent with multiple evidence that organic farming contributes to strengthening pollination service compared to conventional practices (Gabriel and Tscharntke 2007 ; Holzschuh et al. 2008 ). A temporal analysis of our beetle sampling allowed clarifying the variations of diversity and abundance over time and between conventional and organic farming (Fig. 4 ). The number of individuals sampled across the months did not vary between conventional and organic farms (effect of farming system: Chi² = 0.65, df = 1, P = 0.418; effect of the interaction month × farming system: Chi² = 10.69, df = 6, P = 0.098). There was a significant effect of the sampling month (Chi² = 35.19, df = 6, P < 0.001), though, with less individuals sampled during the first (January) and last (July) months of sampling. Locally sampled species richness was significantly higher in organic compared to conventional farms (effect of farming system: Chi² = 10.65, df = 1, P = 0.001). Richness also differed between sampling months (Chi² = 31.21, df = 6, P < 0.001), and there was a significant interaction between farming system and sampling month (Chi² = 13.43, df = 6, P = 0.037). There was also evidence of different beetle community composition depending on the sampling month ( F 6,30 = 3.00, R² = 0.29, P = 0.001). Essentially, we observed seasonal variation in the composition of beetle communities, affecting both family richness and abundance, with an increase in species richness from January to February, followed by a substantial decline until July, in such a way that species richness became similar in both organic and conventional farms during from May to July. This finding again aligns with previous research emphasizing the positive influence of organic farming practices on beetle diversity, but not necessarily on their abundance (e.g., Rosas-Ramos et al. 2022 ). Certainly, there may be additional factors at play, which we did not explicitly investigate but could potentially exert an influence on the beetle community, such as weather fluctuations or resource pulses. It is also possible that at least some of the temporal variation we observed is due to a bias in our sampling method and not to real variations in the field. Still, our observation aligns with previous studies, which have also highlighted the temporal variation of insect assemblages (Skarbek et al. 2021 ; Chenchouni et al. 2015 ). It is evident that numerous factors play a role in influencing the abundance and diversity of insects within agricultural landscapes, only some of them being distinctly linked to the organic farming system (Brittain et al. 2010 , Piccini et al. 2019 ). Many of these factors fall within the purview of individual farmers, who have the opportunity to actively manage their land to enhance the prevalence of beneficial organism groups. For instance, the creation of habitats such as edge zones, hedgerows, and permanent grass strips, as well as the preservation of natural small refuges amidst cultivated fields, can promote the proliferation of natural enemies (e.g., Garratt et al. 2017 ; Morandin et al. 2014 rök et al. 2021 ). In this context, organic farmers hold an advantage due to their non-use of pesticides, therefore allowing the maintenance of viable populations in remnant habitats. Some measures can sometimes be equally effective regardless of the farming system, such as increasing landscape and crop heterogeneity for promoting insect-mediated ecosystem services (Andersson et al. 2013 , Sirami et al. 2019 ), or reducing tillage and increasing organic matter input into the soil to enhance earthworm populations (Bengtsson et al. 2005 ). In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that organic farming practices led to a substantial increase in the family richness of beetle communities, especially predator species, resulting in a notable reduction in insect pests compared to conventional farming practices. This observation confirms that while organic farming may not offer a solution for achieving the high yields that modern agriculture can (Seufert et al. 2012 ), it consistently outperforms conventional farming in promoting biodiversity (Bengtsson et al. 2005 ; Fuller et al. 2005 ; Letourneau and Bothwell 2008 ). This investigation offers significant insights into the dynamics of beetle communities in both conventional and organic farming environments, which remains largely overlooked in tropical ecosystems such as in Southeast Asia. In the context of Laos, organic farming assumes a pivotal role in the preservation of beetle biodiversity within agricultural systems, may serve to bolster the populations of species groups that provide invaluable ecosystem services, e.g. by enhancing top-down control of pest species, and therefore bear substantial implications for the promotion of sustainable agriculture and the conservation of biodiversity. Declarations Acknowledgments The authors express their gratitude to the village heads and farming owners for their invaluable support in providing the necessary information and facilities for conducting this research. Special thanks are extended to the Plant Protection students at the National University of Laos, namely Mr. Tarwanh, Teenoy, Khounkham, and Samayphone, for their assistance during the fieldwork. The authors would also like to thank Mr. Souphapone Rattanarasy for providing the necessary facilities, and to Associate Professor Katsuyuki Eguchi for providing facilities during preparation of the manuscript. Author contributions Bounsanong Chouangthavy : Conceptualization; investigation; writing original draft; methodology; writing-review and formal analysis. Yoan Fourcade : Conceptualization; investigation; writing-review, editing; formal analysis and revised the draft finally. 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Sirami, C., Gross, N., Baillod, A.B., Bertrand, C., Carrie, R., Hass, A., Henckel, L., Miguet, P., Vuillot, C., Alignier, A., Girard, J., Batary, P., Clough, Y., Violle, C., Giralt, D., Bota, G., Badenhausser, I., Lefebvre, G., Gauffre, B. & Fahrig, L. (2019) Increasing crop heterogeneity enhances multitrophic diversity across agricultural regions. Pro Natl Acad Sci 116: 16442–16447. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1906419116 Skarbek CJ, Kobel-Lamparski A, Dormann CF (2021) Trends in monthly abundance and species richness of carabids over 33 years at the Kaiserstuhl, southwest Germany. Basic Appl Ecol 50:107-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2020.11.003 Török E, Zieger S, Rosenthal J, Földesi R, Gallé R, Tscharntke T, Batáry P (2021) Organic farming supports lower pest infestation, but fewer natural enemies than flower strips. J Appl Ecol 58:2277-2286. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13946 Tscharntke T, Sekercioglu CH, Dietsch TV, Sodhi NS, Hoehn P, Tylianakis JM (2008) Landscape constraints on functional diversity of birds and insects in tropical agroecosystems. Ecology 89:944-951. https://doi.org/10.1890/07-0455.1 Tscharntke T, Clough Y, Wanger TC, Jackson L, Motzke I, Perfecto I, Vandermeer J, Whitbread A (2012) Global food security, biodiversity conservation and the future of agricultural intensification. Biol Conserv 151:53–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2012.01.068 Venables WN, Ripley BD (2003) Modern Applied Statistics With S . Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 498 pp. Weibull, A.C., Ostman, O. & Granqvist, A. (2003) Species richness in agroecosystems: the effect of landscape, habitat and farm management. Biodiversity Conserv 12:1335–1355. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023617117780 Weibull AC, Bengtsson J (2000) Diversity of butterflies in the agricultural landscape: the role of farming system and landscape heterogeneity. Ecography 23:743–750. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2000.tb00317.x Wentworth A, Pavelic P, Kongmany S, Sotoukee T, Sengphaxaiyalath K, Phomkeona K, Manivong V (2021) Environmental risks from pesticide use: the case of commercial banana farming in northern Lao PDR (Vol. 177). IWMI. Winqvist C, Ahnström J, Bengtsson J (2012) Effects of organic farming on biodiversity and ecosystem services: taking landscape complexity into account. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1249:191-203. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06413.x Wittwer RA, Bender SF, Hartman K, Hydbom S, Lima RAA, Loaiza V, Nemecek T et al (2021) Organic and conservation agriculture promote ecosystem multifunctionality. Sci Adv 7:34 eabg6995. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg6995 Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4586391","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":318857073,"identity":"e6092240-f0b4-4870-90a7-a98947a636d3","order_by":0,"name":"Bounsanong Chouangthavy","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABC0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAyBmhrLZQIQciDjwgDgtzGAtxmAtCaRoSWwAkfi0mPOfPfi5oOKwvDn/+mMPfrYdTp8fdvgh0BY7Od0G7FosZ+QlS884c9hw54zH7Ia9bYdzN95OMwBqSTY2O4DDYTd4zJh52w4zbrhxmE2C5wxQy+wEkJYDidtwaTl/BqzFHqRF8s+Zw+mGs9M/4NdyIAesJXHD+WY2aZ6Kwwny0jn4bbGckWMszXMmPXnDDWYzaZmKdMMN0jkFBxIMcPvFnP+M4WeeCmvbDecPPpN8Y2AtLz87ffOHDxV2cri0IIBEAohsBjoV7GBCykGAH6y0jkG+gRjVo2AUjIJRMJIAAFTFZGvP8oymAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"National University of Laos","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bounsanong","middleName":"","lastName":"Chouangthavy","suffix":""},{"id":318857074,"identity":"39f77daf-8002-4954-8ec5-cd1f52b33611","order_by":1,"name":"Yoan Fourcade","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Univ. Paris Est Creteil, Sorbonne Université, Univ Paris Cité, CNRS, IRD, INRAE, IEES","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yoan","middleName":"","lastName":"Fourcade","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-06-15 11:53:25","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4586391/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4586391/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":60274425,"identity":"07838c0f-6f2d-43d0-89eb-a0ca0eb49116","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-15 04:41:29","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":123487,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eRarefaction and extrapolation curves of beetle species richness for conventional and organic farms\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4586391/v1/73292d420e1ef1160753a806.png"},{"id":60274428,"identity":"24b6b69e-370d-4e31-ad22-1977dbd9b3af","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-15 04:41:29","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":284180,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eNon-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) showing on a 2D space the pairwise Bray-Curtis distance between beetle samples, collected in organic (green) and conventional (red) farms.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4586391/v1/6722bb6604f967819f26cefc.png"},{"id":60274429,"identity":"09782cf1-901a-4e5c-9d91-ecd67d35f298","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-15 04:41:29","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":114747,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eAbundance of beetles collected in conventional and organic farms (all data merged), grouped by feeding guild.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4586391/v1/9bc29a719e959494b88203a7.png"},{"id":60274427,"identity":"b40c8bfa-2f91-4d79-859f-da4664afcd71","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-15 04:41:29","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":173542,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eMean (± standard error) abundance (a) and species richness (b) sampled in conventional (red) and organic (green) farms during the six months of sampling.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4586391/v1/af856bab3a222fa28b7200b2.png"},{"id":63096396,"identity":"8371a83d-afa2-4f29-ba22-f259a754edca","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-08-23 05:48:23","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1007798,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4586391/v1/fabc3624-eac5-4b50-90b2-5704f840707d.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Organic farming drives higher diversity of beetles, with more predators and less pests","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eRecent decades have seen an increase in global attention on agricultural practices and their consequences for food safety and biodiversity (Foley et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e; Tschnarke et al. 2012). Intensive agriculture, while increasing yield (Seufert et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e), has been associated with declines in biodiversity across all taxonomic groups (e.g., Kehoe et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e; Outhwaite et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Rigal et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Organic agriculture, on the other hand can play a vital role in promoting biodiversity in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (Bengtsson et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e; Fuller et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e). It is also a key factor for maintaining ecosystem services and multifunctionality (Wittner et al. 2021), leading for instance to increased levels of soil organic matter and enhanced soil microbial activity (Paudel et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Therefore, there is generally a push for a development of organic agriculture in high-income countries where crop systems are largely intensive, and a concern about the conversion of land-use into intensive agriculture in middle/low-income countries where traditional agricultural practices had been maintained up to now. Tropical countries that host a large proportion of the world\u0026rsquo;s biodiversity are particularly sensitive in this regard (Oakley and Bicknell 2022; Perfecto and Vandermeer 2008).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eInsects have proven to be the most successful group among all arthropods, with beetles (Order: Coleoptera) playing a crucial role in ecosystem processes (Jones et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). However, insects in general (Eggleton \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; S\u0026aacute;nchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys \u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e), including beetles (e.g., Hutton and Giller 2003), are also particularly at risk when confronted to agriculture intensification. As beetles are widely distributed across various ecosystems and are sensitive to human-driven disturbance, they can serve as effective indicators to assess the impacts of agricultural practices on ecosystem functioning (Chowdhury et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Chouangthavy et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Gall\u0026eacute; et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). Several studies found a positive effect of organic farming on beetle abundance and species richness, but this pattern failed to replicate in all cases (Hole et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e). This indicates that more factors play a role in the differences between organic and conventional farming systems, including landscape matrix (e.g., Weibull and Bengtsson \u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2000\u003c/span\u003e; Weibull et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR47\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2003\u003c/span\u003e; Schmidt and Tscharntke \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e) and habitat heterogeneity (Weibull and Bengtsson \u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2000\u003c/span\u003e). Importantly, polyphagous predators (including carabid beetles), which serve as vital biological control agents for managing pests in cultivated areas (Diek\u0026ouml;tter et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e), are particularly favored by organic agriculture (Gall\u0026eacute; et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). This confirms the importance of agricultural practices for the delivery of ecosystem services, and the role organic farming, thought the promotion of beneficial insects, can play in this regard. However, most of this knowledge has been gained from studies conducted in the Global North, and the response of beetles to conventional vs. organic agriculture remains largely unknown in tropical regions such as southeastern Asia.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn recent years, agricultural land area has increased rapidly across Laos, driven by foreign investments illustrated by a doubling in the number of foreign companies or factories from 2009 to 2015 (Wentworth et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR49\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). The conversion of organic agriculture to conventional practices has been particularly evident in large-scale banana plantations (NAFRI, 2016); revealing a steady transition from subsistence agriculture to commercial production through the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. We previously demonstrated that the conversion of natural forests into plantations decreases beetle abundance and diversity (Chouangthavy and Fourcade \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Chouangthavy et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), showing that agriculture expansion is an obstacle to the preservation of insect biodiversity in Laos. In response to concerns over suspected health risks for farm workers and consumers, as well as water contamination associated with the heavy use of agrochemicals on farms, the promotion of organic agriculture in Laos has been supported by rural development NGOs and private sector enterprises seeking access to premium markets. Additionally, the Lao government has played a role in the development of this sector from its early stages (Panyakul \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e). An important remaining question is whether this can also promote the maintenance of ecosystem services and the conservation of the country\u0026rsquo;s biodiversity, including its rich beetle fauna.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTo test the impact of agricultural practices on insect diversity and abundance, we conducted a comparative study on the diversity and abundance of beetle communities, between organic and conventional farming in Vientiane Capital, Laos. The objective of this study is to provide information on community composition and functional diversity of beetle communities in relation to contrasted farming systems. The knowledge presented here also aims to support and encourage farmers in gaining a better understanding of the importance of insect functional diversity in different farming practices, specifically organic and conventional systems.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Materials and methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eStudy area and farm selection\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe study was conducted in three organic farms across an area of 2.5 ha and three conventional farms across 5.7 ha, in Vientiane Capital in 2023. The organic farming sector encompasses 175 hectares of land in Vientiane, where over 1,000 tons of organic products are grown and sold annually (National Statistics 2020). However, conventional farming remains dominant, covering approximately 340 hectares (National Statistics 2020).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThree organic farms were selected in Non-Tare Village (18\u0026deg;7'18.39\"N; 102\u0026deg;42'27.21\"E), situated approximately seven kilometers away from three selected conventional farms in Pakxab Kao village (18\u0026deg;8'45.54\"N; 102\u0026deg;46'38.14\"E). Organic farms were certified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and observe a strict adherence to the regulations and guidelines of Lao organic certification. Organic farming involves the cultivation of a diverse range of vegetables, such as Chinese cabbage, Morning glory, Cabbage, Lettuce, Chinese choice, Chinese kale, Cauliflower, Chinese mustard, Ivy guard, Spinach, Potato, Tomato, Cucumber, Asparagus, Broccoli, Ginger, Garlic, Coriander. Composted and fresh manure, for instance cow and chicken dung, are used as organic inputs, without chemical or synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe three conventional farms also cultivate similar vegetables, but they were treated with synthetic fertilizers, pesticide, insecticide, and herbicides (e.g., NPK). Located along the Nam Ngum River where convenient water supply for agriculture is available, they are surrounded by paddy rice fields, fruit orchards (predominantly tamarind, jackfruit, and mango trees) and ponds. They are also situated in close proximity to other intensive agricultural practices, such as deforestation for cassava plantation, expansion of grazing areas for cattle, and road construction.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eBeetle sampling and identification\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003ePitfall traps were set and collected over a seven-month period (January to July) in 2023 following the same methodology as in Chouangthavy and Fourcade (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). The traps were positioned along a transect line within each farm, with a total of 10 traps per farm, at least 10 m from each other, placed in the middle of each month (10 traps \u0026times; 6 farms \u0026times; 7 months\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;420 traps). Beetles were collected from the traps after a period of seven days.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSpecimens underwent a drying process in a hot air oven at 45\u0026deg;C for seven days. Afterward, they were transferred to wooden insect collection boxes \u0026ndash; one for each family \u0026ndash; and sorted into morphospecies. Some beetle species could be identified thanks to comparisons with previously identified Laotian beetles from the families Curculionidae and Bostrichidae, classified by Dr. Roger Beaver from Chiang Mai, Thailand. Specimens belonging to the Carabidae, Chrysomelidae, Coccinellidae, and Scarabaeidae families were forwarded to the Plant Protection Center, Department of Agriculture and Forestry in Vientiane capital for identification. These specimens were then compared with older samples collected in lowland agricultural ecosystems in Laos, as documented by Rapusas (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e), housed at the Plant Protection Center. The remaining families were cross-referenced with voucher specimens housed in the Faculty of Forestry at the National University of Laos, identified by Korean entomologists (Lee et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). For specimens unidentified at the genus or species level, the authors assigned them morphospecies codes such as \u0026ldquo;sp\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;sp1, 2, 3...\u0026rdquo; in each respective family, for example: \u003cem\u003eScirtidae\u003c/em\u003e sp1; \u003cem\u003eScirtidae\u003c/em\u003e sp2.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAdditionally, all specimens were assigned to nine functional feeding guilds based on their known feeding habits and ecological roles, including Phytophagous, Dung feeders, Fungivores, Omnivores, Pests, Pollen feeders, Predators, Saprophagous, and Scavengers. Classification into functional feeding guilds help understand the ecological roles of different insect beetle families within ecosystems and how they contribute to ecosystem dynamics (Tscharntke et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e). Finally, beetle data from the ten traps in each farm were pooled to form one sample per sampling farm per month.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eData analysis\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe first compared the diversity of beetle communities, in terms of (morpho)species richness, between organic and conventional farming. For this, we constructed accumulation curves based on the number of collected individuals as a measure of sampling effort (Chao et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e), using the procedure implemented in the \u0026lsquo;iNEXT\u0026rsquo; R package (Hsieh et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThen, we examined the beetle community composition in both farming systems by employing a Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling approach (NMDS). It was complemented by a permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) to test for any significant differences between the two groups, but also between the sampling months. Site identity was also included as a covariable to account for the fact that sampling was repeated several times in the same sites. NMDS and PERMANOVA were based on the Bray-Curtis distance between samples and were conducted using the \u0026lsquo;vegan\u0026rsquo; R package (Oksanen et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe explored the relative abundance of each beetle family and each feeding guild in organic vs. conventional farms by summing the data in each farming system, and testing whether they differ using a Pearson Chi-square test.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFinally, we analyzed the abundance and species richness observed in each farm and each month, to test for seasonal patterns that may differ between organic and conventional farming. We modelled variation in beetle abundance and species richness as a function of farming system in interaction with the sampling month using negative binomial generalized linear mixed models, with site identity as random intercept, computed using the \u0026lsquo;lme4\u0026rsquo; package for R (Bates et al. 2015).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Results and Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eData on the comparative diversity and composition of insect communities in relation to agricultural practices are rare in tropical countries and in southeast Asia. Here, despite a sampling effort limited to one year and six farms, we were able to collect in total 2504 individuals belonging to 99 beetle morphospecies (23 families). Among them, almost half (1038 individuals) belonged to the Nitidulidae family. Specifically, we observed 1262 individuals belonging to 47 species (14 families) in conventional farms and 1242 individuals belonging to 65 species (18 families) in organic farms.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe accumulation curves (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e) suggested that we covered almost all species present in these two farming systems (sampling coverage\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.99), and that family richness was effectively higher in organic farms (asymptotic richness estimator: organic farms\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;51.16 [95% CI: 47.00\u0026ndash;70.55]; conventional farms\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;70.32 [95% CI: 65.00\u0026ndash;84.12]). A higher beetle richness associated with organic farming has been observed before in many ecological contexts, such as in North America (C\u0026aacute;rcamo et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1995\u003c/span\u003e) or Europe (Eyre et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e; Rosas-Ramos et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e), although it is not a universal pattern (see e.g. Fukuda et al. 2011). We demonstrated here the value of organic practices for the preservation of beetle diversity in Lao PDR, a region that has only little been investigated in this regard (but see Chouangthavy et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBesides these striking differences in species richness, communities visualized through the NMDS (stress\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.19, non-metric fit\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.97; see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e) revealed vastly different compositions between samples collected in conventional farms compared to organic farms. Only 13 species were present in both farm types, including the single frequent morphospecies of our dataset (\u0026ldquo;Nitidulidae sp1\u0026rdquo;). This was confirmed by the PERMANOVA, which showed a significant effect of farming system on community composition (\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e1,30\u003c/sub\u003e = 4.38, R\u0026sup2; = 0.08, \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.001). We observed that the distribution of individuals among families differed significantly between conventional and organic farms (Chi\u0026sup2; = 1110.3, df\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;22, \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). In the former, the second most abundant family was Chrysomelidae (387 individuals) followed by Curculionidae (149 individuals), while in the latter the second most abundant family was Carabidae (334 individuals) followed by Coccinellidae (246 individuals), suggesting that different beetle species respond differently to distinct farming practices. D\u0026ouml;ring and Kromp (2003) demonstrated that organic farming primarily favours open-field carabid species and promotes greater abundance and diversity among habitat specialists compared to generalist species. The fact that Nitidulidae, Chrysomelidae, Curculionidae, Carabidae, and Coccinellidae stood out as dominant among the sampled beetle families can be attributed to the exceptional dispersal abilities of these beetles, coupled with a general affinity for agricultural ecosystems (Bianchi et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDifferences in community composition translated into a relative abundance of beetles among feeding guilds that was also significantly different between conventional and organic farms (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e, Chi\u0026sup2; = 1030.2, df\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;7, \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). Conventional farms were dominated by saprophagous (638 individuals) and pest (539) species, while predators (586 individuals) and saprophagous species (429 individuals) were the most abundant in organic farms. Organic farming is therefore associated with higher abundance of beneficial insects, especially predatory beetle species, while the abundance of pest species is reduced compared to conventional farming. These results suggest a more effective biological pest control in organic farms compared to conventional ones, as frequently observed (Muneret et al. 2018; \u0026Ouml;stman et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2003\u003c/span\u003er\u0026ouml;k et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). However, this interpretation is contingent upon the assumption that heightened diversity of natural enemies translates into increased rates of parasitism and predation on crop pests (Letourneau and Bothwell, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e). In addition, the abundance of pollen feeders was also increased in organic farms, which is consistent with multiple evidence that organic farming contributes to strengthening pollination service compared to conventional practices (Gabriel and Tscharntke \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e; Holzschuh et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA temporal analysis of our beetle sampling allowed clarifying the variations of diversity and abundance over time and between conventional and organic farming (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e). The number of individuals sampled across the months did not vary between conventional and organic farms (effect of farming system: Chi\u0026sup2; = 0.65, df\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1, \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.418; effect of the interaction month \u0026times; farming system: Chi\u0026sup2; = 10.69, df\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;6, \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.098). There was a significant effect of the sampling month (Chi\u0026sup2; = 35.19, df\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;6, \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001), though, with less individuals sampled during the first (January) and last (July) months of sampling.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLocally sampled species richness was significantly higher in organic compared to conventional farms (effect of farming system: Chi\u0026sup2; = 10.65, df\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1, \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.001). Richness also differed between sampling months (Chi\u0026sup2; = 31.21, df\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;6, \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001), and there was a significant interaction between farming system and sampling month (Chi\u0026sup2; = 13.43, df\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;6, \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.037). There was also evidence of different beetle community composition depending on the sampling month (\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e6,30\u003c/sub\u003e = 3.00, R\u0026sup2; = 0.29, \u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.001). Essentially, we observed seasonal variation in the composition of beetle communities, affecting both family richness and abundance, with an increase in species richness from January to February, followed by a substantial decline until July, in such a way that species richness became similar in both organic and conventional farms during from May to July. This finding again aligns with previous research emphasizing the positive influence of organic farming practices on beetle diversity, but not necessarily on their abundance (e.g., Rosas-Ramos et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCertainly, there may be additional factors at play, which we did not explicitly investigate but could potentially exert an influence on the beetle community, such as weather fluctuations or resource pulses. It is also possible that at least some of the temporal variation we observed is due to a bias in our sampling method and not to real variations in the field. Still, our observation aligns with previous studies, which have also highlighted the temporal variation of insect assemblages (Skarbek et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Chenchouni et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIt is evident that numerous factors play a role in influencing the abundance and diversity of insects within agricultural landscapes, only some of them being distinctly linked to the organic farming system (Brittain et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e, Piccini et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). Many of these factors fall within the purview of individual farmers, who have the opportunity to actively manage their land to enhance the prevalence of beneficial organism groups. For instance, the creation of habitats such as edge zones, hedgerows, and permanent grass strips, as well as the preservation of natural small refuges amidst cultivated fields, can promote the proliferation of natural enemies (e.g., Garratt et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Morandin et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003er\u0026ouml;k et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). In this context, organic farmers hold an advantage due to their non-use of pesticides, therefore allowing the maintenance of viable populations in remnant habitats. Some measures can sometimes be equally effective regardless of the farming system, such as increasing landscape and crop heterogeneity for promoting insect-mediated ecosystem services (Andersson et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e, Sirami et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e), or reducing tillage and increasing organic matter input into the soil to enhance earthworm populations (Bengtsson et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn conclusion, our findings demonstrate that organic farming practices led to a substantial increase in the family richness of beetle communities, especially predator species, resulting in a notable reduction in insect pests compared to conventional farming practices. This observation confirms that while organic farming may not offer a solution for achieving the high yields that modern agriculture can (Seufert et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e), it consistently outperforms conventional farming in promoting biodiversity (Bengtsson et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e; Fuller et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e; Letourneau and Bothwell \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e). This investigation offers significant insights into the dynamics of beetle communities in both conventional and organic farming environments, which remains largely overlooked in tropical ecosystems such as in Southeast Asia. In the context of Laos, organic farming assumes a pivotal role in the preservation of beetle biodiversity within agricultural systems, may serve to bolster the populations of species groups that provide invaluable ecosystem services, e.g. by enhancing top-down control of pest species, and therefore bear substantial implications for the promotion of sustainable agriculture and the conservation of biodiversity.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors express their gratitude to the village heads and farming owners for their invaluable support in providing the necessary information and facilities for conducting this research. Special thanks are extended to the Plant Protection students at the National University of Laos, namely Mr. Tarwanh, Teenoy, Khounkham, and Samayphone, for their assistance during the fieldwork. The authors would also like to thank Mr. Souphapone Rattanarasy for providing the necessary facilities, and to Associate Professor Katsuyuki Eguchi for providing facilities during preparation of the manuscript.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor contributions\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBounsanong Chouangthavy\u003c/strong\u003e: Conceptualization; investigation; writing original draft; methodology; writing-review and formal analysis. \u003cstrong\u003eYoan Fourcade\u003c/strong\u003e: Conceptualization; investigation; writing-review, editing; formal analysis and revised the draft finally.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003cstrong\u003eData availability\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe beetle sampling data in organic and conventional farming is available in the Figshare repository: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25019879.v1\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors do not have any conflicts of interest.\u003c/p\u003e\n"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndersson GKS, Birkhofer K, Rundlof M, Smith HG (2013) Landscape heterogeneity and farming practice alter the species composition and taxonomic breadth of pollinator communities. 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Sci Adv 7:34 eabg6995. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg6995\u003cbr\u003e \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"organic and conventional farming, functional feeding guilds, agricultural landscape, beetle community","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4586391/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4586391/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eAgricultural intensification has led to significant species losses and has been associated with a decline in ecosystem services proved by insects. Reconciling biodiversity and agriculture production is a key challenge of the 21st century, for which solutions such as organic farming emerge, but remain to be tested in a wide range of ecological and socio-economic contexts. In Asia, particularly in Lao PDR, biodiversity-friendly agricultural practices such as the production of organic crops have been promoted to address these challenges, although intensification continues to progress. In this study, we examined beetle community composition in three organic and three conventional farming systems in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Our results indicate that beetle abundance was relatively consistent in both farm types, while species richness was higher in organic farming compared to conventional farming. Furthermore, predators were over 18 times more abundant, and insect pests 9 times less abundant, in organic farming, suggesting an enhanced pest control. Abundance and richness of beetles also exhibited seasonal variation during the year. These findings have enormous significance for the promotion of sustainable agriculture and the preservation of biodiversity in Southeast Asia and tropical countries in general, and they greatly advance our understanding of the ecological effects of various farming methods. They may also contribute to assisting government policy, particularly the Ministry of Agriculture, which plays a crucial role in promoting and supporting the development of organic agriculture in Lao PDR.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Organic farming drives higher diversity of beetles, with more predators and less pests","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-07-15 04:41:24","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4586391/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"dbaca9d3-eb6a-4263-9b70-6048278be93f","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 15th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-08-23T05:40:16+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-07-15 04:41:24","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4586391","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4586391","identity":"rs-4586391","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}