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Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Member Symposium

Digital Tools and Ecological Techniques to Understand Complex Insect Behavior

Aphid video surveillance for biocontrol research and extension

Sunday, November 13, 2022

8:50 AM – 9:10 AM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 224

Presenting Author(s)

Robert Orpet

Postdoctoral Researcher
Washington State University
Wenatchee, Washington

Co-Author(s)

DC

David Crowder

Associate Professor
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington

Co-author(s)

VJ

Vincent Jones

Washington State University
Pullman, Washington
Louis B. Nottingham

Research Assistant Professor
Washington State University
Wenatchee, Washington

Biocontrol is critical to sustainable pest management. To effectively integrate biocontrol into a strategy, it is key to know who eats what and when. Videorecording is an effective method to quantify this and share direct evidence of biocontrol with stakeholders. Across 1,413 h of video recorded over 4 weeks from up to 4 surveillance cameras, we observed the timing, frequency, and length of attacks on woolly apple aphid colonies (a key apple pest that requires biocontrol for effective management) by different predators in an experiment station apple orchard. Phenology and diel periodicity of the main predator taxa (earwigs, ladybug larvae, lacewing larvae, and syrphid larvae) were complementary and these predators did not antagonize each other. However, ants interfered with predation and were mainly active at night. These observations fit with general theory on generalist and specialist biocontrol agents, but perhaps more importantly, the direct video evidence of predation was popular at extension meetings. Agricultural professionals often rely on direct observations to inform pest their management philosophy, so we think that video can increase confidence in effective integrated management strategies that rely on biocontrol. Despite its advantages, there are some challenges and limitation of the technique, and its application is uncommon. By taking of advantage of advances in hardware and software in the past two decades, video studies might have higher potential for ecological field studies than widely appreciated.