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Radar, Insect Population Ecology, and Pest Management

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NASA Conference PuJlicationl.20.70 (V1ILA§P-2070) RADAR, IUSECT POPULATION U79-19592 R%~O%\j ,A PEST MANAGENENT (1NAS1) 252 p THRU N79-19604. V~ AlCSCL'h2/F 06C Unclas t si/51 16357 ,Radar, Insect Population Ecology, and Pest Management Editors Charles R.Vaughn NASA Wallops Flight Center and Wayne Wolf and Waldemar Klassen U.S. Department of Agriculture A workshop jointly sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Wallops Flight Center, Wallops Island, Virginia, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Science and Education Administration-Agricultural Research, Beltsville, Maryland, and held at Wallops Flight Center, May 2 -4, 1978 NASA' Naltional Aeronautics and -EPRODUCED BY-' - Space Administration NATIONAL TECHNICAL Wallops Flight Center INFORMATION SERVICE Wallops Island, Virginia 23337 AIDEPARTMENTOFCOMMERCE ACl804 824-3411 SPRIGFIELD, VA.22161 _ 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. CP-2070 1 4. Title and Subtitle 5 Report Date Radar, Insect Population Ecology, and Pest Management March 1979 6. Performing Organization Code Wallops Flight Centel Proceedings of a Workshop Held fay 2-4, 1978 at 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Charles R.Vaughn, Wayne Wolf, Waldemar Klassen 10. Work Unit No. 9 Performing Organization Name and Addres; National Aeronautics and Space Administration 11. Contract or Grant No Wallops Flight Center Wallops Island, VA 23337 13. Type of Report and Period Covered 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address USDA/Science and Education Conference Proceedings NASA/Wallops Flight Center Administration Wallops Island, VA 23337 Agricultural Research 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Beltsville, MD 20705 15. SJpplementary Notes 16 Abstract These proceedings include twelve contributed papers and the product of four working groups that either directly or indirectly address ways inwhich radar might be used as an observing tool for entomological studies and pest management in the United States. Population processes of flying insects are reviewed with emphasis on species where migration is a clear component of their life history. Known radar capabilities as they relate to insect detection and flight study are presented through several papers that relate actual field studies, and the prospects for using various types of radars are considered. The working groups developed a variety of project plans for the future use of radar as a field tool for insect flight studies. Specific recommendations are presented for entomological projects, a large scale pest management program, and various aspects of radar hardware development and data analysis necessary for effective implementation of the radar tool for insect oriented programs. 17. Key Words (Suggested by Author(s)) 18 Distribution Statement Radar Entomology Agricultural Pest Management Unclassified - unlimited Insect Migration Signature Analysis STAR Categories 35 and 51 19. Security Clasif. (of this reportl 20. Security Classif. (of this pagel 21. No of Pages 22. Price* Unclassified . Unclassified 246 For sale by the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia 22151 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... .. .. ........... ....................... vii WORKSHOP SUMMARY WITH RECOMMENDATIONS ........... ... ................ ix INTRODUCTION . .... .. ... .. ... ..... ................... xiii WORKSHOP PURPOSE ..... .. ....................... ... .......... xv PRESENTED PAPERS "The Role of Insect Di'spersal and Migration in Population Processes" Rabb, R.- L. and R. E. Stinnei ..... ..... ......................... 3 "Short-Range Movement of Major Agricultural Pests" Van Steenwyk, R........ .. ................................. .. 17 "Selected Examples of Dispersal of Arthropods Associated with Agricultural Crop and Animal Production" Henneberry, T........ ... .................................. 23 "Dispersal of Forest 'Insects" McManu§, M. L ........ .. ..... ... ........................... 35 "Strategic and Tactical Use of Movement Information in Pest Management" Knipling, E. ..... .. .... ................................. 41 "The Possible Role of Atmospheric Processes in Insect Movements" Strommen, N........ ... ... ............................. .59 "Capabilities of Radar-as They Might Relate to Entomological Studies" Skolnik, M......... ................................... .61 "Possible Impact of Radar on Pest Management Operations" Rainey, R....... ..................... .................81 "Radar Observations of Insects - Mosquitoes" Frost, E. and J. Downing .... ............ ... ................. 87 "Radar Observation of Known and Unknown Clear Air Echoes" Glover, K. and T; Konrad ........ ............................ 113 "Quantitative Analysis of Radar Returns from Insects" Riley, J. R........ .. ................................... 131 'Radar Program at Western Cotton Research Laboratory" Wolf, W........ ... ..................................... 159 "NASA Radar Entomology Program at Wallops Flight Center" Vaughn, C.'.. ........ ... ............................... 161 Preceding page blank -iii REPORTS FROM WORKSHOP GROUPS ........ ........................... 171 I. Entomological Research ...... .. ......................... 173 Introduction ........ .. .............................. 173 1.1 Usefulness of Radar Technology in Insect Population Dynamics Studies ..... ..................... ............ 174 1.2 Insect Transport Model ...... .. ....................... 177 Appendix: An Insect Transport Model (Ronald Drake) .... ............ 178 1.3 Dispersion of Gypsy Moth Larvae in Complex Terrain .............188 1.4 The Dispersal Behavior of Adult Male Gypsy Moths ... .......... 190 1.5 Improving the Interpretation of Sampling Data from Aerial Trapping Techniques ... ................. .. .............. 192 1.6 Characterize the Meteorological Conditions and Systems That Annually Transport Cereal Aphids From the Southern Great Plains to the Northern Coast Plains ...... .. ........................ 193 1.7 Radar Observations of the Spatial Distribution of Insects Released from Aircraft ........ ........................... 194 1.8 Long Distance Flight Dispersal and Migration Studies .. ........ 195 1.9 Use of Radar to Detect and Describe Insect Movement Across the Florida Peninsula ....... .......................... 197 I.10 Development of Information Describing the General Movement of Insects Across the Southern United States .... .............. 198 II. Pest Management .......... .. ......................... 199 Introduction ..... ................................. .199 State-of-the-Art ............ ........................ .199 Development Strategy and Recommendations .... ................. .202 III. Radar Technology ......... ............................. 204 Introduction ...... .... ............................... 204 III.1 Exploratory Research ........ ...................... 206 111.2 Optimum Radar Design ........ ...................... 208 111.3 Tracking of Individual Insects ...... ................. 210 111.4 Airborne Radar for Insect Detection ....... .......... 212 Conclusions and Recommendations ........ ... ........... 213 IV. Field Program Development .......... .... .............. 215 Introduction ...... ....... ..................... .. 215 The Problem .......... .... ................... .. 215 Radar Considerations ...... ..... .. ................. ... 218 Personnel Team ...... .... ................. ........ 221 Recommendations ........ ... .......................... 222 Appendix A: Spruce Budworm Moth Dispersal in New Brunswick, Canada . .224 iv ,Appendix B: Meteorological Support ....... ................... 227 SCIENTIFIC AND COMMON NAMES OF REFERENCED INSECTS ...... ................. 231 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ........... ............................... 233 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ........... ................................ 243 v vi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This workshop was convened, through mutual agreement between the USDA/SEA-AR and NASA/ WFC, in order to familiarize a group of radar scientists, pest managers, entomologists,and meteorologists with the state-of-the-art of radar entomology, and to produce a document with program recommendations for the realistic application of radar to insect ecology studies and pest management. From May 2-4, 1978 a multi-institutional body of forty scientists from Canada, Great Britain, and the United States attended this workshop and developed these recommendations, with no specific charge to direct them to any particular governmental agency. The detailed recommendations in the Summary, and in each session report, are useful for directing ongoing programs, as well as for developing new programs. There is no question that the use of radar in pest management can potentially lead to important changes in pest management practices, with annual benefits to society of hun­ dreds of millions of dollars. Specific attention was called to the fall armyworm: a moth only capable of surviving southward from the southernmost regions of the United States. By September each year close to $500,000,000 damage to agriculture is done as this species migrates northward to Canada. However, migration is a significant factor in the popula­ tion dynamics of many more species of pest insects than the fall armyworm. Yet for most such insects migration is not adequately understood, even though such an understanding is necessary to reduce effectively the annual loss to agriculture of billions of dollars. The basic problem lies in the present lack of techniques to observe this migration.
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