Award details

The dynamics of migrant insects in the agricultural environment

Reference	BBS/E/C/00041170
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Richard Harrington
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	619,314
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/1997
End date	31/03/1999
Duration	24 months

Abstract

The Rothamsted Insect Survey suction trap network provides an efficient and standard method for monitoring the movement of insects in the agricultural environment. However, the relationship between the aerial populations of insects and their host plants is very complex. There is a need for basic biological and ecological studies to provide data on the importance of migrant insects on the subsequent multiplication and spread within crops. The main objective of this work is to further knowledge of the population dynamics of selected insect pests and natural enemies in order to develop fundamental understanding of their spatial and temporal population variability and regulation across all species, and to provide better forecasting procedures for crop pest aphids to improve control and minimise unnecessary pesticide use. 1)To co-ordinate the operation and maintenance of 11 suction traps in England and 4 in Scotland to provide standardised data on the nationwide distribution and abundance on a daily basis of over 350 aphid species and their natural enemies. To provide a summary of these data to a weekly deadline and to maintain hand-written and computer databases. 2)To maintain a world class expertise in identification of aphids to ensure the taxonomic accuracy of all data obtained. 3)To operate a separate trap in autumn at Rothamsted for collection of cereal aphids alive to determine which are from clones that will infest winter cereals and which are from clones that will overwinter as eggs on trees. To study the influence of climate on the proportions of these two clonal forms. 4)To collect aphids from four of the traps in a medium that allows the determination of insecticide-resistance status of an important pest species, and to study the influence of climate on the dynamics of insecticide resistance. 5)To analyse data from a novel design of low-level suction trap to determine its efficiency in relation to existing designs. 6)To study and attempt to explain the production of male aphids in spring and summer when they apparently have no biologically useful function. 7)To study the cold hardiness of selected aphid natural enemies in relation to climate change. 8)To study the role of host plant nutritional quality in relation to the dynamics of aphid populations in winter. 9)To use weather data to test models for forecasting the timing and size of spring migrations in selected aphid species at selected sites. 1)To co-ordinate the operation and maintenance of 11 suction traps in England and 4 in Scotland to provide standardised data on the nationwide distribution and abundance on a daily basis of over 350 aphid species and their natural enemies. To provide a summary of these data to a weekly deadline and to maintain hand-written and computer databases. 2)To maintain a world class expertise in identification of aphids to ensure the taxonomic accuracy of all data obtained. 3)To operate a separate trap in autumn at Rothamsted for collection of cereal aphids alive to determine which are from clones that will infest winter cereals and which are from clones that will overwinter as eggs on trees. To study the influence of climate on the proportions of these two clonal forms. 4)To collect aphids from four of the traps in a medium that allows the determination of insecticide-resistance status of an important pest species, and to study the influence of climate on the dynamics of insecticide resistance. 5) To examine the influence of rainfall and its interaction with temperature on aphid population dynamics. 6) To assess the value of the suction trap data in supervised control of cabbage aphids. 7) To co-ordinate an aphid monitoring programme throughout Europe. 8) To contribute to the International Geosphere and Biosphere Programme's project on Global Change in Terrestrial Ecosystems.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Agri-food (AF)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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