Natural biological control of Chrysodeixis includens

• Autor(a) principal: Pereira, R.R.
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Neves, D.V.C., Campos, J.N., Santana Júnior, P.A., Hunt, T.E., Picanço, M.C.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: LOCUS Repositório Institucional da UFV
• Texto Completo: http://doi.org/10.1017/S000748531800007X; http://www.locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/19740
• topic: Ecological life table; Natural enemies; Population dynamics; Soybean looper; Integrated pest management

A wide variety of abiotic and biotic factors act on insect pests to regulate their populations. Knowledge of the time and magnitude of these factors is fundamental to understanding population dynamics and developing efficient pest management systems. We investigate the natural mortality factors, critical pest stages, and key mortality factors that regulate Chrysodeixis includens populations via ecological life tables. The total mortality caused by natural factors was 99.99%. Natural enemies were the most important mortality factors in all pest stages. The critical stages of C. includens mortality were second and fourth instars. The key mortality factors were predation by ants in the second instar and predation by Vespidae in the fourth instar. The elimination of these factors can cause an increase of 77.52 and 85.17% of C. includens population, respectively. This study elucidates the importance of natural enemies and other natural mortality factors in C. includens population regulation. These factors should be considered in developing and implementing C. includens management strategies and tactics in order to achieve effective and sustainable pest control.