Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T22:50:56.366Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Effect of Crop Microenvironment on the Pea Leaf Weevil's Behaviour: An Explanation for Weevil Departure from Diverse Cropping Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2011

C. W. Baliddawa
Affiliation:
Department of Crop Science, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda
Get access

Abstract

A study of the effect of microenvironment on the pea leaf weevil's behaviour was made comparing a broad bean monoculture with a broad bean-oat crop mixture. It is observed that more weevils depart from the crop mixtures than from the monocultures. Microenvironment study in the two cropping systems show that temperature and wind speed are not significantly altered in the crop mixtures as compared to the monoculture, but beans growing in the mixtures were significantly more shaded than those in the monoculture. Evidence is given to show that this relative shading could be the main factor responsible for the observed increased weevil departure from the crop mixtures.

Résumé

Etude sur l'éffet du microenvironment sur le compartement des insectes qui attaquent les familles des petit-pois a été faite en comparant une prosse fève monoculture avec un melange des haricotovoire. Il a été observé que le depart de la plus-part de ces insectes quitent le melange des plantes que les plantes monocultures: L'étude du milieu dans les deux système de plantation montre que la temperature, la vitesse du vent ne sont pas modifier d'une manière significative dans le melange des plantes que dans le monoculture, mais les haricots qui granissent en melange sont plus dans l'ombre que celle en monoculture. La preuve montre que cette ombrage peut-être un facteur essentiel responsable pour l'augmentation du départ des insectes du melange des plantes.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © ICIPE 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baliddawa, C. W. (1984) Movement and feeding activity of adult pea leaf weevil, Sitona lineatus L. in an oatbroadbean diculture. Insect Sci. Applic. 5, 3339.Google Scholar
Baliddawa, C. W. (1983) Some effects of crop diversity on the weevil, Sitona lineatus. L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Ph.D. Thesis University of London.Google Scholar
Kareiva, P. M. (1982) Experimental and mathematical analyses of herbivore movement: Quantifying the influence of plant spacing and quality on foraging discrimination. Ecol. monogr. 52, 261282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karieva, P. M. and Shigesada, N. (1983) Analysing insect movement as a correlated random walk. Oecologia (Berlin) 56, 234238.Google Scholar
Risch, S. J. (1981) Insect herbivore abundance in tropical monocultures and polycultures: An experimental test of two hypotheses. Ecology 62, 13251340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stinner, R. E., Stimac, J. L., Barfield, C. S. and Dohse, L. (1983) Dispersal and movement of insect pests. A. Rev. Ent. 28, 319335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, R. A. J. (1980) A family of regression equations describing the density distribution of dispersing organisms. Nature 286, 5355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thiele, H. U. (1977) Carabid Beetles and Their Environments. Berlin Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimmerman, M. (1979) Optimal foraging: A case for random movement. Oecologia 43, 261267.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed