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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Protection and Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #257440
Title: Colonization preference of Eushcistus servus and Nezara viridula in transgenic cotton varieties, peanut and soybean

Author
item Olson, Dawn
item RUBERSON, J.R. - University Of Georgia
item ZEILINGER, A.R. - University Of Minnesota
item ANDOW, D.A. - University Of Minnesota

Submitted to: Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/11/2011
Publication Date: 4/1/2011
Citation: Olson, D.M., Ruberson, J., Zeilinger, A., Andow, D. 2011. Colonization preference of Eushcistus servus and Nezara viridula in transgenic cotton varieties, peanut and soybean. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata. 139:161-169. DOI:10.1111/j.1570-7548.2011.01116.x.

Interpretive Summary: Producers face significant losses from highly polyphagous stink bug species in Bt-cotton in the southeastern U.S. and crop rotation practices often result in cotton, peanut and soybean growing in close proximity to one another. Because all of these crops are hosts for the major pest stink bug species: -- the southern green stink bug, the brown stink bug, and the green stink bug – in the region, we determined colonization preference of these species among the crops to clarify this aspect of their population dynamics in regional landscapes. We sampled insects colonizing peanut, soybean, Bt-cotton, and glyphosate-tolerant (RR) non-Bt cotton over 3 sites and 3 years and calculated odds ratios for colonization in each crop for the southern green, and the brown stink bug; the green stink bug was too rare to analyze. At every site except one, both species preferred soybeans significantly more often than Bt-cotton, non-Bt cotton and peanut. Neither species showed any preference between non-Bt and Bt-cotton among the sites and over all sites and years. Among the sites, both species tended to prefer Bt- and non-Bt cotton relative to peanuts, but analyses including all sites and years indicated that the southern green stink bug preferred Bt-cotton and non-Bt cotton significantly more often than peanuts. Our results suggest that soybean in the landscape may function as a sink for stink bug populations relative to nearby peanut and cotton, thereby reducing early season pest pressure in these crops, but population increases in soybean could lead to this crop functioning as a source for late-season pest pressure in cotton.

Technical Abstract: Because cotton, peanuts and soybean crops are often grown in close proximity and are hosts for the major pest stink bug species: -- the southern green stink bug, the brown stink bug, and the green stink bug – in the region, we determined colonization preference of these species among the crops to clarify this aspect of their population dynamics in regional landscapes. We sampled insects colonizing peanut, soybean, Bt-cotton, and glyphosate-tolerant (RR) non-Bt cotton over 3 sites and 3 years and calculated odds ratios for colonization in each crop for the southern green, and the brown stink bug; the green stink bug was too rare to analyze. The crop preference results in terms of odds ratios that we obtained from the small plot studies of this study will be compared to field collected data that provides the area under the curve of population density over time, colonizing adult lifespan, and proportion of cropland. This is similar to Southwood’s (1978) graphical method for estimating population survival rates from field data and provides a means of extrapolating small plot study results to field data at larger spatial scales.