Answer:
Decline in soil health is a serious worldwide problem that decreases complexity and stability of agricultural ecosystems, commonly making them more prone to outbreaks of herbivorous insect pests. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L., Solanaceae) and onion (Allium cepa L., Amaryllidaceae) production is currently characterized by high soil disturbance and heavy reliance on synthetic inputs, including insecticides. Evidence suggests that adopting soil conservation techniques often (but not always) increases mortality and decreases reproductive output for the major insect pests of these important vegetable crops. Known mechanisms responsible for such an effect include increases in density and activity of natural enemy populations, enhanced plant defenses, and modified physical characteristics of respective agricultural habitats. However, most research efforts focused on mulches and organic soil amendments, with additional research needed on elucidating effects and their mechanisms for conservation tillage, cover crops, and arbuscular mycorrhizae.
Introduction
Soil erosion is a serious problem worldwide (Amundson et al., 2015). Although it is often overshadowed in public discourse by other concerns, such as climate change and invasive species, soil deterioration receives considerable attention from the scientific community (Montgomery, 2007; Borrelli et al., 2017; Berhe et al., 2018). In addition to the loss of agricultural productivity, soil erosion has been linked to increased emissions of greenhouse gases and reduced water quality (Amundson et al., 2015; Berhe et al., 2018). Global soil erosion is forecasted to increase in the near future because of cropland expansion, especially in the least economically developed areas (Borrelli et al., 2017).
