Economic valuation of pest regulation benefits provided by arthropods in the UK

The role of arthropods as regulators of crop pests has gone underexamined in comparison to those species that are crop pollinators. While pollination services have been widely studied, the economic value of pest regulation provided by natural enemies remains underexplored. The suppression of insect crop pests by these natural enemies may provide substantial value to agriculture in reduced crop losses. Here, we estimate the economic value of pest regulation services provided by arthropod natural enemies in the UK for wheat (Triticum spp.), barley (Hordeum vulgare), and oilseed rape (Brassica napus) crops. We used a structured literature search to parameterise an economic production function to estimate the average annual value of pest regulation provided by arthropod natural enemies in the UK. We then simulated changes in economic benefits across different levels of natural enemy presence. A marginal 10% reduction from a full community of natural enemies had an estimated value per hectare between £108.98 − £171.13 for barley, £36.93 − £73.97 for oilseed rape, and £0.74 − £9.60 for wheat. We performed sensitivity analysis to evaluate how robust these benefits were across field management strategies. There are areas of uncertainty around the efficacy of natural enemies, crop yield response, economic thresholds, and field management. Resolving these sources of uncertainty and quantifying the economic value of pest regulation could inform sustainable pest management strategies and wider insect conservation practice.