Modeling Ecological Dynamics of a Major Agricultural Pest Insect (Melanoplus sanguinipes; Orthoptera: Acrididae): A Cohort-Based Approach Incorporating the Effects of Weather on Grasshopper Development and Abundance.

Grasshoppers have been a chronic problem for agriculture on the Canadian prairies, the northern limits of the Northern Great Plains, since settlement of the region in the mid-1800s. Grasshopper pest management tools include biological control, cultural control, and insecticides. This article describes a mechanistic, or process-based, modeling approach used to assess the development and abundance of the migratory grasshopper, Melanoplus sanguinipes (Fabricius), based on a complex of environmental drivers.

Examining population structure of a bertha armyworm, Mamestra configurata (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), outbreak in western North America: Implications for gene flow and dispersal.

The bertha armyworm (BAW), Mamestra configurata, is a significant pest of canola (Brassica napus L. and B. rapa L.

Determining Temperature-Dependent Development and Mortality Parameters of the Swede Midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae).

The swede midge (Contarinia nasturtii Kieffer) is an invasive insect in North America whose feeding has caused a decline of over 60% of total canola acreage in Ontario, Canada since 2011. Temperature-dependent development and mortality information are important to develop an effective pest management strategy for this insect; as the most comprehensive study on C. nasturtii development was completed on populations from the United Kingdom in the 1960s, new geographically relevant information is needed.

Flight activity and dispersal of the cabbage seedpod weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) are related to atmospheric conditions.

The cabbage seedpod weevil, Ceutorhynchus obstrictus (Marsham) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is an invasive pest of canola (Brassica napus L. and Brassica rapa L.) in western Canada.

An interspersed refuge for Sitodiplosis mosellana (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) and a biocontrol agent Macroglenes penetrans (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) to manage crop resistance in wheat.

An interspersed refuge of susceptible plants in a resistant, spring-sown wheat crop was tested as a strategy to protect crop resistance against evolution of virulence by the wheat midge Sitodiplosis mosellana (Géhin), and also to conserve a biocontrol agent Macroglenes penetrans(Kirby). Eight replicated field experiments were conducted using seed mixtures of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 100% or 0, 5 and 100% susceptible wheat with an agronomically similar wheat expressing the antibiotic resistance gene Sm1. The frequencies of eggs, mature larvae and parasitized larvae in susceptible and resistant wheat spikes, and midge-affected seeds in the harvest, were recorded for each plot.