2009 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) Determine effects of landscapes on population growth of major pests, stink bugs in Bt cotton. Conduct research to understand why stink bugs are important pests on Bt cotton. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) 1) Sample stink bug populations at the landscape level to confirm sequence of habitats used. . 2)Estimate net reproductive rate and inter-patch movement, parametize and fit model using data to predict colonization of cotton and effects of landscape structure on colonization. 3.Progress Report This project is related to objective 1 of the inhouse project: Develop vegetational designs and therapeutic interventions that foster desirable pest/natural enemy balances. Stink bugs are pests of many crops worldwide and are the major insect pests of crops in the southeastern U.S. The large number of plants that they feed upon and their high mobility makes landscape or regional studies of their populations necessary. In the initial year of our regional study, we have determined that the odds of southern green stink bugs colonizing soybean were significantly higher than peanuts, non-Bt cotton, and Bt-cotton. The odds of colonizing Bt-cotton and non-Bt cotton were significantly higher than peanuts, and there were no differences in colonization rates between Bt and non-Bt cotton. We have established two regions in the coastal plain of Georgia that differ in the amount of soybean (preferred host plant) and corn (early season host) for stink bugs. We have geo-referenced each area and are sampling each crop for southern green and brown stink bugs. We will ground truth these areas and determine parameters for our model that predicts populations of stink bugs in cotton crops based on the underlying landscape.