Effects of Shelterbelts on the Aerial Distribution of Insect Pests in Muskmelon

Authors

Mary Ellen Dix, USDA Forest Service
Laurie Hodges, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
James R. Brandle, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Robert J. Wright, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Mark O. Harrell, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

April 1997

Comments

Published in Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, Vol. 9(2/3) 1997. Copyright © 1997 by the Haworth Press, Inc. Used by permission.

Abstract

Sticky traps were used to measure how tree shelterbelts influence the abundance of crop insect pests and beneficial arthropods in muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) plots in eastern Nebraska. Abundance of striped cucumber beetles {Acalymma vittatum Fabricius (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)} , southern corn rootworms {Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi Barber (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)}, and northern corn rootworms {D. barberi Smith & Lawrence (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)} was similar in exposed and sheltered plots. Western corn rootworms {D. virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)} were significantly more abundant in exposed plots. More lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and ichneumonid wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) were caught on traps in sheltered plots than exposed plots, especially during June. Few spiders (Aranae), lacewings (Planipennia), or braconid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) were caught in either treatment.