The Role of Birds As Predators and Potential Biocontrol Agents of Lnsect Pests in Corn Fields
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The Role of Birds as Predators and Potential Biocontrol Agents of lnsect Pests in Corn Fields by Annie C. Tremblay A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fuifilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Sciences Department of Natural Resources Sciences Macdonald Campus of McGill University Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada May 1999 O Annie C. Tremblay 1999 National Library Bibliothèque nationale l*l of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rwWellington OttawaON K1AW Otfawaûîü KIAW CaMda Canade The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une Licence non exclusive licence aliowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seil reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othexwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT Annie C. Tremblay Natural Resources This project investigated the impact of bird predation on insect pest populations within tvJo cornfields of Southwestern Quebec. Birds were excluded from portions of these fields through the use of bird-proof netting. Rhopalosiphum maidis, Ostrinia nubilalis, Agmtis spp. and Sphenophorus spp. were al1 found at greater densities in plots where birds were excluded as cornpared with the non covered plots. Only the adult Diabrotica longicomis population was not reduced by birds. Results significantly suggest that birds can reduce insect pest populations. Bird visits in cornfields with respect to distance from field edge, type of edge habitat and corn phenology were also studied. Red-winged Blackbird, Song and Chipping Sparrows and American Robin were the most frequently obsewed bird species inside cornfields. Early in the summer. birds tended to stay closer to the field edge, especially when composed of mature coniferous trees. Different bird species visited the cornfields at specific periods during corn development. RÉSUMÉ Annie C. Tremblay Ressources Renouvelables L'objectif de ce projet de recherche était de déterminer l'impact des oiseaux sur les populations d'insectes nuisibles du maïs. Rhopalosiphum maidis. Ostnhia nubilalis, Agrotis spp. et Sphenophoms spp. furent échantillones en plus grand nombre dans les parcelles sans oiseaux. Diabrotica longicomis n'a pas été affectée par la présence des oiseaux. Les oiseaux peuvent donc significativement diminuer les populations d'insectes nuisibles. Les visites d'oiseaux dans les champs ont aussi été étudiées. Le carouge a épaulettes, les bruants chanteurs et familiers et le merle d'Amérique étaient les espèces d'oiseaux les plus fréquemment observées dans les champs. En général, les oiseaux restaient plus près de la bordure du champ, surtout tôt durant l'été et dans le champ près des conifères. Selon la croissance du maïs, différentes espèces d'oiseaux fréquentaient les champs de maïs. La composition et le type de lisière en bordure d'un champ affectent l'abondance des oiseaux à l'intérieur des champs de maïs. The thesis was structured as separated manuscripts. "Candidates have the option of including. as part of the thesis, the text of a paper(s) submitted or to be submitted for publication, or the clearly-duplicated text of a published paper(s). These texts must be bound as an integral part of the thesis. If this option is chosen. conneding texts that provide logical bridges between the different papers are mandatory. The thesis must be written in such a way that it is more than a mere collection of manuscripts; in other words, results of a series of papers must be integrated. The thesis rnust still conform to al1 other requirements of the Guidelines for Thesis Preparation. The thesis must include: A Table of Contents, an abstract, in English and French, an introduction which clearly states the rationale and objectives of the study, a comprehensive review of the literature. a final conclusion and summary, and a thorough bibliography or reference list. at the end of the thesis, after the final conclusion and summary. In the case of rnanuscripts CO-authoredby the candidate and others, the candidate is required to rnake an explicit statement in the thesis as to who contributed to such work and to what extent. Since the task of the examiners is made more difficult in these cases, it is in the candidate's interest to make perfectly clear the responsibilities of all the authon of the CO-authoredpapers. " iii The candidate was responsible for designing and conducting ail research experiments. Dr. Pierre Mineau, from Environment Canada, and Dr. R.K.Stewart, from the Natural Resources department of McGill University, provided assistance for this research, including supervisory guidance and review of manuscripts before subrnission. The hivo CO-supervisorswill be CO-authorsof the articles that will be published. World Wildlife Fund Canada funded this two year project through the Youth Horizon program. First of all, I would like to thank my CO-supervisors,Dr. Pierre Mineau and Dr. Robin K. Stewart. I want to acknowledge Dr. P. Mineau for his contagious enthusiasm about this project and for his confidence in my capacity to complete this research. Many thanks go to Dr. R.K. Stewart who encouraged and advised me during my whole Master program. I also want to thank Dr. R.K. Stewart and Dr. P. Mineau for revising my thesis as well as Lisa Buckman, Johan Perret and Julie Lecours. Special thanks go to everyone who help me in the field building the blinds, sampling, harvesting, and installing and removing the nets: René, Carmen, Johan, Véronique. Jean-Guy, Cécilia, Marsha, Guy, Marie-Josée. Sam, Annie. Boris, Lisa, Julie, Nathalie, Franck. I also want to thank Dr. Bob Bonnell as well as Véronique Aglat for helping me constructing my blinds by providing me useful tools. My field assistant, Andréanne Demers, deserves particular thanks for her help. encouragement, opinions and especially for her friendship. I would like to thank anyone else that I did not mention but that helped me in any way during the past two years. Appreciation is extended to Serge Lussier, Gilles Gagnon and the technicians at Macdonald Campus fann for their srniles, kindness and most of al1 for letting me using their cornfields to carry out experiments. I also wish to thank bath Peter Kirby and Mary Kubecki for their precious and personal advices. I wish to express my appreciation to Brian Collins and Pierre Dutillieul for their statistical expertise. A special thanks goes to Julia Langer, from the World Wildlife Fund. Canada, for supporting this project financially during the past two years. Pour conclure, je voudrais remercier tous ceux qui m'ont encouragée tout au long de cette étape importante de ma vie: mes amis, spécialement mes anciens et présents colocataires, pour leur joie de vivre contagieuse; ma famille qui a toujours cru en moi. Je veux également dédier un merci très spécial à Mireille et Gilbert Bieler pour leur accueile chaleureux et pour m'avoir permis de corriger ma thèse, tout en étant au Salvador. Finalement, merci Johan, mon compagnon de vie, pour ton aide constante et ton amour. 2.4 Bird use of agricultural fields ........................................................... 15 2.4.1 Birds' use of corn field ......................................................... 15 2.4.2 Birds' damages to cornfields ............................................. 18 2.4.3 Positive impact of birds in cornfields.................................... 20 2.4.4 Influence of hedge habitat on birds ....................................... 21 2.5 Concluding remarks..................................................................... 22 Chapter 3: IMPACT OF BIRDS ON INSECTS OF CORN......................... Abstract. ......................................................................................... 3.1 Introduction................................................................................. 3.2 Materials and methods.................................................................. 3.2.1 Study area ....................................................................... 3.2.2 Corn .............................................................................. 3.2.3 Experimental design ......................................................... 3.2.4 Statistical analysis ............................................................ 3.2.5 Sampling methods ..................................... ,. ..... 3.3 Results and discussion .................................................................. 3.3.1 European corn borer................................. .. ..................... 3.3.2 Northern corn rootworm..................................................... 3.3.3 Corn leaf aphid ................................................................. 3.3.4 Cutworms ........................................................................ 3.3.5 Billbugs........................................................................... 3.3.6 Arthropod soil predators....................................................