Management of Arthropod-Mediated Ecosystem Services to Deliver Agroecosystem Resilience.

There is mounting evidence that diverse agricultural landscapes support a greater diversity and abundance of beneficial invertebrates and this can improve agricultural productivity. However, traditional cost-benefit analyses of management strategies aimed at delivering increased resources for these species often indicate equivocal results for farmers. We argue that by focusing on short term outcomes these analyses miss the major benefits provided by beneficial insects. The most significant benefits are likely to be from reducing the risk of poor harvests as a result of pest outbreaks, pesticide resistance and pollination failure. These benefits can only be appreciated over the longer-term with analyses that consider variability rather than only the mean. We will present ecological information on the benefits and uncertainties around managing landscapes for beneficial invertebrates.