Entomology Commons^™

Agricultural Natural Enemies Benefit Predominantly From Broader Scales Of Environmental Heterogeneity: A Quantitative Review, Aaron Iverson, Robyn Burnham, John Vandermeer

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Naturally occurring predator and parasitoid communities are well known to respond to multiple scales of environmental heterogeneity within and around agroecoystems, yet our understanding of which scales are most influential on different functional guilds of enemies is limited. Using vote-counting methodology, we synthesized the results from 40 empirical studies that observed how natural enemy richness, diversity, or parasitism rate is affected by environmental heterogeneity at a local scale (e.g. a focal field), an intermediate scale (e.g. habitat in immediate proximity of a focal field), and landscape scale (e.g. habitat within >200 m radius around focal field). Heterogeneity at all scales …

Multi-Year Biological Control Of Black Vine Weevil, Otiorhynchus Sulcatus, With Persistent Entomopathogenic Nematodes, Elson J. Shields, Antonio M. Testa

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Abstract:

The black vine weevil (BVW), Otiorhynchus sulcatus Fabricius (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), has a worldwide distribution and is a serious pest of many agricultural crops with a host plant species range of 140 plants. Common economic losses occur in small fruits, including strawberries, ornamental and nursery plants, caused primarily by the root feeding larvae resulting in reduced vigor and plant death.

The susceptibility of BVW to entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) is well established with numerous authors publishing papers using a wide array of EPN species from commercial sources and very high application rates for use as a biopesticide. The concept of using …