Monitoring Thaumastocoris peregrinus (Hemiptera: Thaumastocoridae) in Eucalyptus plantations with remote sensing

Abstract

Thaumastocoris peregrinus (Hemiptera: Thaumastocoridae), the eucalyptus bronze bug, is among the many species of insect pests that affect commercial eucalyptus forests in Brazil. T. peregrinus reduces the photosynthetic capacity of trees and, in some cases, can lead to the complete death of plants. The objective of this research was to evaluate the potential of medium spatial resolution images, available for free, in the mapping and prediction of attacks caused by T. peregrinus in eucalyptus plantations in Brazil, using Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA). The PLS-DA regression model selected three main components, with a cross-validation error rate of 0.245 for the prediction and mapping of stands attacked by T. peregrinus. The important bands were selected from the PLS-DA model, using variable importance in the projection (VIP). The VIP bands predicted healthy and Palavras-chave: Análise discriminante dos mínimos quadrados parciais; Análise multivariada; Insetos-praga; Imagens de média resolução.

Chemical vs entomopathogenic control of Thaumastocoris peregrinus (Hemiptera: Thaumastocoridae) via aerial application in eucalyptus plantations

“…Eucalyptus (Myrtales: Myrtaceae), a native plant mainly from Australia, was introduced to Brazil and planted in genetically homogeneous and continuous areas to produce raw material for the forestry industry 1,2 . Eucalyptus plantations occupy 5.7 million hectares, representing 72% of the total planted trees in this country 3 .…”