Incorporating native vegetation into a landscape-scale Integrated Pest Management program in Ventura County

Award Period
to
Award Amount
$29,399
Agency Name
CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, POMONA
Award Number
S23-002045-UCSB
PI First Name
Adam
PI Last Name
Lambert
MSI People
Area/s of Research
Climate Change Science
Ecology and Evolution
Abstract

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), under the direction of PI-Dr. Adam Lambert, will direct and aid in conducting work for the insect pollinator and natural enemy monitoring that will occur as part of the project. Targeted netting will be used to assay arthropod communities on two randomly selected crop trees (orchards) or crop plants (row crops) within a 5-m radius of the  margin point and the center point of each transect, as well as two shrubs within small-scale restored plots. To measure pollinators and parasitoids, arrays of yellow, white, and blue pan traps will be placed below focal plants for 6 hours. Sampling will be conducted by CalPoly students with the assistance of UCSB students. Arthropods will be stored in coolers and transferred to co-PI Lambert’s lab for identification, curation, and deposition into the university’s collection. Difficult to identify insects will be sent to California Academy of Sciences (or another expert) for identification. Data from replicate plants will be combined to yield a measure of insect richness and abundance at each sampling point. Sampling will be done at least two times per year to capture seasonal variation in arthropod communities. Results will be analyzed and reported in collaboration with the research team.