Photo Credit: John Gavloski, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development
Project: Effects of landscape structure on abundance of Cereal Leaf Beetle and its natural enemies
This project seeks to increase our understanding of how landscape structure can influence parasitism of the cereal leaf beetle by the parasitoid Tetrastichus julis. Furthermore, this work seeks to determine how habitat complexity influences the diversity and abundance of generalist predators in agricultural ecosystems.
Hypotheses
- Cereal leaf beetle parasitsim rates will differ based on the extent and arrangement of non-crop habitats in an agricultural landscape.
- Habitats with a higher proportion of non-crop or semi-natural habitats will harbour a greater diversity of generalist predators.