Spatiotemporal Patterns and Dispersal of Stink Bugs (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) in Peanut-Cotton Farmscapes

Abstract

In the southeast United States, a field of peanuts, Arachis hypogaea L., is often closely associated with a field of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L. The objective of this 4-yr on-farm study was to examine and compare the spatiotemporal patterns and dispersal of the southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula L., and the brown stink bug, Euschistus servus (Say), in six of these peanut-cotton farmscapes. GS(+) Version 9 was used to generate interpolated estimates of stink bug density by inverse distance weighting. Interpolated stink bug population raster maps were constructed using ArcMap Version 9.2. This technique was used to show any change in distribution of stink bugs in the farmscape over time. SADIE (spatial analysis by distance indices) methodology was used to examine spatial aggregation of individual stink bug species and spatial association of the two stink bug species in the individual crops. Altogether, the spatiotemporal analyses for the farmscapes showed that some N. viridula and E. servus nymphs and adults that develop in peanuts disperse into cotton. When these stink bugs disperse from peanuts into cotton, they aggregate in cotton at the interface, or common boundary, of the two crops while feeding on cotton bolls. Therefore, there is a pronounced edge effect observed in the distribution of stink bugs as they colonize the new crop, cotton. The driving force for the spatiotemporal distribution and dispersal of both stink bug species in peanut-cotton farmscapes seems to be availability of food in time and space mitigated by landscape structure. Thus, an understanding of farmscape ecology of stink bugs and their natural enemies is necessary to strategically place, in time and space, biologically based management strategies that control stink bug populations while conserving natural enemies and the environment and reducing off-farm inputs.

Crop Juxtaposition Affects Cotton Fiber Quality in Georgia Farmscapes

“…However, empirical evidence on stink bug dispersal distance is extremely limited. Tillman et al (2009) recaptured marked individuals as far as 120 m from the release location in peanut and cotton farmscapes. One possible result of dispersing much larger distances than examined here is that the severity of observed damage may be diluted over a larger area.…”

Metapopulation Dynamics on Ephemeral Patches

“…For example, for landscapes mosaics formed by short-term crop systems, the manipulation of spatiotem-poral distribution of host plants can be a useful strategy to control and reduce the incidence of pest insects that disperse in pulses after harvest. When these species are capable of using alternative host plants as refuge during the absence of the primary host plant, creating gaps in time between the succession of crops can restrict the spread and consequently the economic damage caused by these species (Fitt et al 1995;Tilman et al 2009). The different practices for management of burnt wood after fire occurrence is another example of how habitat disturbs and dispersal can affect occupancy of species.…”

Using citizen‐reported data to predict distributions of two non‐native insect species in Sweden

“…Previous experimental studies show that flight activity is positively correlated to day-length but that the species has no migratory behavior (Nakamura 1998). Thus, G. lineatum is thought to move only minimum distances needed to find mates, new feeding-plants and hibernation shelters (Nakamura 1998, Tillman et al 2009). Their gregarious habits also make them less likely to benefit from moving long distances (Veselý et al 2006).…”