Pest Management Alliance Grants Awarded 2015

Back to Funded Pest Management Alliance Grants (2007 - present)

Project Summaries

Completing the knowledge cycle: Deriving IPM knowledge directly from practitioners on working landscapes
Sponsor: University of California, Davis - Plant Sciences
Principal Investigator: Elise Gornish
Funding totals:$199,414

Approaches that maximize cost effectiveness of reduced-risk practices while promoting biodiversity on rangelands is needed in California. Field practitioners hold one of the most voluminous caches of integrated pest management (IPM) experience. However, these individuals infrequently share IPM knowledge in formats that academics access to identify research priorities and design experiments. We propose to conduct coordinated activities, including developing and distributing IPM decision-making surveys to managers at workshops across California, as well as conducting semi-structured interviews with agencies that use IPM, to mine knowledge from IPM practitioners on rangelands. We will conduct meta-analyses on these data to identify factors that contribute to the success or failure of IPM, as well as to identify research priorities. This work will provide an opportunity for agencies and academics to leverage the largely untapped collective knowledge of IPM practitioners across the state.

Media contact: Dr. Elise Gornish, Principal Investigator, 530-752-6314, egornish@ucdavis.edu

Area-wide integrated pest management program for Virginia creeper leafhoppers (Erythroneura ziczac) in North Coast vineyards
Sponsor: University of California, Berkeley
Principal Investigator: Kent Daane
Funding totals: $191,038

North Coast wine grape growers have been experiencing severe outbreaks of the Virginia creeper leafhopper (Erythroneura ziczac) due to a total lack of biological control and limited awareness of best management practices (BMPs). While many are familiar with management of a related pest, the Western grape leafhopper (E. elegantula), practices must be modified to account for key differences in E. ziczac biology. Outreach and education to growers could increase adoption of these BMPs. A parasitoid that attacks E. ziczac has been identified (Anagrus daanei [Hymenoptera: Mymaridae]) in the Sacramento Valley and could be introduced into vineyards in order to reduce E. ziczac populations by increasing egg parasitism. A combination of parasitoid introductions to enhance biological control and grower adoption of BMPs could largely reduce pesticide use for E. ziczac. Georeferenced data on E. ziczac densities will also be used to develop models to predict seasonal E. ziczac outbreaks.

Media contact: UC Berkeley Media Relations Team, 510-642-3734, news@berkeley.edu

For content questions, contact:
Tory Vizenor
1001 I Street, P.O. Box 4015
Sacramento, CA 95812-4015
E-mail: Tory.Vizenor@cdpr.ca.gov