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