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The invasive spotted-wing drosophila,Drosophila suzukii,is a major pest of fruit crops worldwide. Management ofD. suzukiirelies heavily on chemical control in both organic and conventional systems, and there is a need to develop more sustainable management practices. We evaluated the efficacy of three colors of plastic mulches at reducing populations ofD. suzukiiin fall-bearing raspberry and assessed the mulches’ impacts on canopy microclimate factors relevant toD. suzukii. Black, white, and metallic plastic mulches reduced adultD. suzukiipopulations by 42–51% and larval populations by 52–72% compared to the grower standard. The mulches did not change canopy temperature or relative humidity, but metallic mulches increased canopy light intensity compared to the black mulch. Radiance in the visible spectrum (401–680 nm) was higher for the white and metallic mulch plots, but the black mulch plots did not differ from the control. In the UV spectrum (380–400 nm), all three plastic mulches had higher radiance than the control plots. Future studies will determine whether changes in radiance are associated with the observed reduction inD. suzukiipopulations. Plastic mulches are a promising cultural practice for managingD. suzukiisince they can reduce adult and larval populations and could be incorporated into an integrated pest management program in both organic and conventional systems.

Reflectance spectra provide integrative measures of plant phenotypes by capturing chemical, morphological, anatomical and architectural trait information. Here, we investigate the linkages between plant spectral variation, and spectral and resource-use complementarity that contribute to ecosystem productivity. In both a forest and prairie grassland diversity experiment, we delineated n -dimensional hypervolumes using wavelength bands of reflectance spectra to test the association between the spectral space occupied by individual plants and their growth, as well as between the spectral space occupied by plant communities and ecosystem productivity. We show that the spectral space occupied by individuals increased with their growth, and the spectral space occupied by plant communities increased with ecosystem productivity. Furthermore, ecosystem productivity was better explained by inter-individual spectral complementarity than by the large spectral space occupied by productive individuals. Our results indicate that spectral hypervolumes of plants can reflect ecological strategies that shape community composition and ecosystem function, and that spectral complementarity can reveal resource-use complementarity.

Concurrent measurement of multiple foliar traits to assess the full range of trade‐offs among and within taxa and across broad environmental gradients is limited. Leaf spectroscopy can quantify a wide range of foliar functional traits, enabling assessment of interrelationships among traits and with the environment.

We analyzed leaf trait measurements from 32 sites along the wide eco‐climatic gradient encompassed by the US National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). We explored the relationships among 14 foliar traits of 1103 individuals across and within species, and with environmental factors.

Across all species pooled, the relationships between leaf economic traits (leaf mass per area, nitrogen) and traits indicative of defense and stress tolerance (phenolics, nonstructural carbohydrates) were weak, but became strong within certain species. Elevation, mean annual temperature and precipitation weakly predicted trait variation across species, although some traits exhibited species‐specific significant relationships with environmental factors.

Foliar functional traits vary idiosyncratically and species express diverse combinations of leaf traits to achieve fitness. Leaf spectroscopy offers an effective approach to quantify intra‐species trait variation and covariation, and potentially could be used to improve the characterization of vegetation in Earth system models.