Journal of Economic Entomology (2013) 106, 1218-1225

William R. Morrison III and Zsofia Szendrei (2013)
Patterns of spatial and temporal distribution of the asparagus miner (Diptera: Agromyzidae): Implications for management
Journal of Economic Entomology 106 (3), 1218-1225
Abstract: The asparagus miner is an obligatory feeder on asparagus and a putative vector for pathogenic fungi implicated in the early decline of asparagus fields. To date, the distribution of the asparagus miner over space and time is poorly understood. Our study evaluated the spatial and temporal pattern of adult asparagus miners in commercial asparagus fields in Michigan in 2011 and 2012. We sampled adults and damage weekly during the growing season using yellow sticky traps outside, at the edge, and inside commercial fields. Yellow sticky traps at each trapping location were placed at the canopy and ground level to determine vertical distribution of adults. During the first generation, adults were more evenly distributed throughout the field. In the second generation, adults were more commonly found on the edge of the field. Overall, there was a greater percent of mining damage near the edge of the field. Additionally, three times as many asparagus miners were found in the canopy compared with ground-level traps. There were 12 times as many asparagus miner adults on edges bordered by another asparagus field than on ones bordered by forest. Taken together, our results indicate that while asparagus miner management in the beginning of the growing season should focus on the entire field, in the latter half of the season, growers could save money and resources by targeting miner adults at the edges of fields. Finally, conserving the remaining naturally forested landscape and planting borders of trees may help ameliorate pest pressure in asparagus fields.
(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): William R. Morrison, Zsofia Szendrei

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.
	Ophiomyia simplex	Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)	U.S.A. (NE)