Biological control of aphidsBy Taylor Sabo
Introduction
Aphids responsible for between 10-250 million dollars in crop damage1
Growing interest in biological control due to increasing ecological impact of pesticides2
Research questions
1. Can biological control agents become established in a hoop house environment
2. How effective can biological control agents be in a hoop house
Materials and Methods• Four hoop houses. Two treated with
biocontrol agents (4, 2) two left alone (Pi, 3).
Mixtures of lettuce, kale, spinach, and chard grown in hoop houses all organically managed.
• Hoop houses were divided into 12 sections for binomial sampling between 2/9 and 4/24
• Sampling in each section with meter stick for presence/absence
• Sticky traps in each hoop house to track flying aphids and beneficials
Results
Results
• Both aphids and beneficials showed significant population decreases after weeding and harvesting
• Syrphid flies significant ally
Results
• Temperature had little if any affect on results
Conclusions
•More work is needed to determine ability of beneficials to establish
• Experiment needs to determine what affect beneficials have on aphid populations
Diehl, E., E. Sereda, V. Wolters, and K. Birkhofer, 2013. Effects of predator specialization, host plant and climate on biological control of aphids by natural enemies: a meta analysis. ‐ Journal of Applied Ecology, 50(1), 262-270.
Raupp, M.J., M.R. Hardin, S.M. Braxton, and B.B. Bull. 1994. Augmentative releases for aphid control on landscape plants. Journal of Arboriculture, 20, 241-241.
References
Sean Clarkhttp://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/Insects/Green%20Lacewing/greenlacel.jpg
Photo credit