Dissertation Research: Adding Natural Enemies to a Virus- Plant Interaction in an Agricultural System

为了开发和评估昆虫的控制策略， 在农业生态系统中， 必须了解种群动态和行为生态学。 虽然许多研究已经检查了昆虫种群动态， 死亡率由于天敌，很少有人研究的影响， 天敌对媒介昆虫运动行为的影响。 这 尽管捕食性和寄生性的 天敌可以影响病媒的移动， 病媒移动行为的改变可增加疾病传播， 尽管美国农业部正在进行释放天敌的项目， 用于控制美国西部谷物中的蚜虫。 我们将 比较捕食者（七星瓢虫a 甲虫）和拟寄生物（蚜虫属，（黄蜂）少校的 蚜虫媒介（禾谷缢管蚜）对大麦黄化病传播的影响 矮缩病毒，影响世界各地的小谷物。 本研究 将开发昆虫介导的植物疾病的机械模型 并将模型预测与实验结果进行比较。 那里 没有昆虫媒介植物疾病的机械模型， 这些模型将有助于评估疾病的后果， 生物控制策略使用容易观察的行为 相关生物的参数。 这项研究将测试 模型假设限制燕麦地块的天敌， 田间和测量蚜虫运动，蚜虫死亡率， 发病率

In order to develop and evaluate control strategies for insect- vectored plant pathogens, in agroecosystems, both vector population dynamics and behavioral ecology must be understood. While many studies have examined insect population dynamics and mortality due to natural enemies, few have studied the impact of natural enemies on the movement behavior of insect vectors. This is true despite demonstrations that both predaceous and parasitic natural enemies can affect vector movement, that the resulting change in vector movement behavior can increase disease spread, and despite the ongoing USDA project to release natural enemies for aphid control in grains throughout the Western US. We will compare the impact of a predator (Coccinella septempunctata a beetle) and a parasitoid (Aphidius sp., a wasp) of the major aphid vector (Rhopalosiphum padi) on the spread of barley yellow dwarf virus which affects small grains worldwide. This study will develop mechanistic models of insect-vectored plant disease and compare model predictions with experimental results. There are no mechanistic models of insect-vectored plant disease, and such models will assist in evaluating the disease consequences of biological control strategies using easily observed behavioral parameters of the organisms involved. The research will test model hypotheses by confining natural enemies in plots of oats in the field and measure aphid movement, aphid mortality, and disease incidence.