Integrating Pest and Pollinator Management: Assessing the Impact of Commercial Watermelon Production on Pests and Pollinators
Abstract
Fruit set in cucurbit crops such as watermelon is entirely dependent upon pollinators, which makes them an important aspect of grower management. This reliance on pollinators means that growers must consider them when making pest management decisions, especially when using pesticides, which can have a negative impact on pollinators. Thus, pest management in watermelon production faces a potential trade-off between pests and pollinators. The ways in which growers manage this trade-off could have a large impact on the communities of both groups and the yield of the crop. During the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons, I worked with 16 commercial watermelon growers on 30 fields in Indiana and Illinois. Each of these growers implemented unique strategies for pest and pollinator management. I set out to investigate pest management practices, how to better implement integrated pest and pollinator management, and how these management impacts pest and pollinator communities and grower outcomes. A diverse array of pollinators was identified, with communities being highly variable between sites. Fields that were treated with insecticides had both lower pest densities as well as native pollinator visitation than those that were not. Bee species richness was best predicted by pest densities, not management variables such as toxicity or number of insecticide applications. Despite the variation in management, no field ever exceeded the economic threshold. The implementation of integrated pest and pollinator management (IPPM) practices such as, scouting methodology, and increased pest tolerance could decrease insecticide use in commercial watermelon production. This has the potential to decrease non-target impacts on pollinators and could lead to greater pollinator diversity and improved fruit set.
Degree
M.Sc.
Advisors
Foster, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Agricultural chemistry|Agriculture|Chemistry|Ecology|Entomology|Management|Organic chemistry|Plant sciences
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