Facilitation of a Native Pest of Rice, Stenotus Rubrovittatus (Hemiptera: Miridae), by the Non-native Lolium Multiflorum (Cyperales: Poaceae) in an Agricultural Landscape

Source populations of polyphagous pests often occur on host plants other than the economically damaged crop. We evaluated the contribution of patches of a non-native meadow grass, Lolium multiflorum Lam. (Poaceae), and other weeds growing in fallow fields or meadows as source hosts of an important native pest of rice, Stenotus rubrovittatus (Matsumura) (Hemiptera: Miridae), in an agricultural landscape of northern Japan. Periodical censuses of this mirid bug by using the sweeping method, vegetation surveys, and statistical analysis revealed that L. multiflorum was the only plant species that was positively correlated with the density of adult S. rubrovittatus through two generations and thus may be the most stable and important host of the mirid bug early in the season before the colonization of rice paddies. The risk and cost of such an indirect negative effect on a crop plant through facilitation of a native pest by a non-native plant in the agricultural landscape should not be overlooked.