Modelling a targeted use of pesticide procedure for pest populations with heterogeneous spatial distributions

Natalia B. Petrovskaya, John R. Ellis, Emily Forbes and Keith F.A. Walters

Ecological Modelling, 2020, vol. 427, issue C

Abstract: Commercial and environmental considerations have led to increased pressure to reduce pesticide use in agricultural crops resulting in a growing interest in development of pesticide application protocols that allow for their targeted use. In this paper, we revisit a standard decision-making protocol for pesticide application and introduce protocol modifications to apply pesticide to selected spatial sub-domains in the agricultural field. The baseline case we consider is the control of populations of the grey field slug (Deroceras reticulatum) in commercial fields. It is well known that slugs have strongly heterogeneous (patchy) spatial distribution and we show that targeting patches with higher slug density only, may offer significant potential for reducing the use of pesticides. An approach to incorporating targeted application of pesticide into a control protocol with treatment decisions based on a threshold population abundance will be discussed. The benefits of the targeted use of pesticides will be clearly demonstrated using data on slug abundance collected in commercial fields.

Keywords: Discontinuous spatial distribution; Sustainable pesticide use; Pesticide reduction; Slug patch (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:427:y:2020:i:c:s0304380020301319

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109059

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