Urban-agricultural interface: assessing the effect of urban habitat characteristics on the occurrence of the Mediterranean fruit fly in peri-urban citrus orchards

Abstract The spatial proximity of urban settlements to agricultural lands has been linked to increased pest pressure in crop fields. However, it remains unclear which features of urban landscapes contribute most to pest persistence and spillover. We integrated nationwide pest monitoring data (2900 traps, 2017–2023) with high-resolution spatial layers of urban land cover to examine how settlement characteristics influence medfly ( Ceratitis capitata ) abundance in adjacent citrus orchards. Using an ecoinformatics approach, we combined geospatial analysis, remote sensing data, and spatiotemporal generalized additive models to assess the effects of proximity to settlements, seasonal variation, and urban landscape features, including vegetation and built-up cover, on pest abundance. Vegetation cover in settlements was positively linked to medfly abundance at close distances, supporting the hypothesis that untended urban greenery sustains pest populations, while low building cover and high impervious cover were also associated with elevated medfly levels. These findings highlight the importance of urban land cover structure in shaping pest dynamics at the urban-agricultural interface and underscore the value of high-resolution spatial data for informing area-wide pest management strategies.