Title page for ETD etd-03116182972760

Type of Document

Master's Thesis

Author

Platt, Jason Owen

Author's Email Address

donna@vt.edu

URN

etd-03116182972760

Title

The Use of Buckwheat Border Habitats to Attract Natural Enemies of Cucumber Beetles in a Cucurbit Agroecosystem

Degree

Master of Science

Department

Horticulture

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Kok, Loke T.
Welbaum, Gregory E.
Caldwell, John S.	Committee Chair

Keywords

acalymma vittatum
agroecosystem
celatoria spp.
chauliognathus pennsylvanicus
cucurbita pepo
malaise trap

Date of Defense

1997-02-07

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

The potential control of cucumber beetles,

Acalymma vittatum (Fab.) and Diabrotica

undecimpunctata howardi (Barber) (both

Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) two major

pests of cucurbits, was assessed in a

cucurbit agroecosystem by using

buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum

Moench) border habitat to attract the

natural enemies, Celatoria diabroticae

(Shimer) and Celatoria setosa (Coquillett)

(both Diptera: Tachinidae) and

Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus (Deg.)

(Coleoptera: Cantharidae). Five different

plants were seeded in the border and

buckwheat dominated. Four natural enemy

groups were also included as indicators of

the attractiveness of the floral border: The

Order Diptera; the Families Tachinidae and

Syrphidae of Diptera; and the Order

Hymenoptera. In 1995-1996, rows of

squash, Cucurbita pepo (L.) var. melopepo

(Alef.) 'Seneca Prolific', and cucumbers,

Cucumis sativa (L.) 'Arkansas Littleleaf',

were planted perpendicular to floral

border habitats. Sticky traps and modified

Malaise traps on transects at intervals from

the border were used to monitor insect

numbers. Insect counts and yields of

cucurbits were analyzed using analysis of

variance with contrasts for linear and

quadratic effects and regression model

fitting. Borders were strongly attractive to

Diptera and moderately attractive to C.

pennsylvanicus, Syrphidae, Tachinidae, and

Hymenoptera. C. setosa and C. diabroticae

counts were too low to analyze and borders

habitats did not have any meaningful effect

on yields. The border conserved

populations of Diptera, leatherwings,

Hymenoptera, and tachinids on some dates

and may be useful with economic thresholds

for pest management because of an

observed gradient of insect movement.

Files

Filename		Size	Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)
Filename		Size	28.8 Modem	56K Modem	ISDN (64 Kb)	ISDN (128 Kb)	Higher-speed Access
	thesis.pdf	528.05 Kb	00:02:26	00:01:15	00:01:06	00:00:33	00:00:02