Australian Journal of Entomology (2011) 50, 276-280

Jennifer E. Spinner, Sarah Mansfield, Leigh J. Pilkington and Peter Thomson (2011)
Sampling protocol to detect Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in mixed species populations in greenhouse vegetable crops
Australian Journal of Entomology 50 (3), 276-280
Abstract: Current sampling protocols for pest whitefly in greenhouse cropping systems are not adequate for detection of Bemisia tabaci when it is part of a mixed species population. Greenhouse vegetable and flower crops in the north, west and south of Sydney were sampled for fourth-instar whitefly nymphs in autumn, winter and spring of 2007. Bemisia tabaci was found in all regions: in the north in winter, the west in all seasons and the south in autumn and winter. A comparison of a Poisson model for pest abundance and a binomial model of presence/absence showed the same factors to be significant, indicating that it is sufficient to sample for presence/absence of the pest on individual plants, rather than to measure pest abundance per plant. A model using the binomial distribution determined that if more than 20% of plants are infested with B. tabaci, a sample size of 20 whole plants per greenhouse is sufficient to detect the presence of B. tabaci with greater than 95% confidence.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Sarah Mansfield

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Bemisia tabaci		Australia (South+SE)