The Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Kurdjumov), and greenbug, Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), are important insect pests of wheat, Triticum aestivum L. Outbreaks of both pests in commercial wheat fields occur almost every year in the Great Plains of the United States. Infestations of both pests in wheat fields are clumped in distribution, and as a result so is the injury to plants in the field. The spatial pattern of patches of plants injured by the two aphid pests can be detected using airborne multispectral imaging. This study used multispectral imagery of wheat fields infested by the two species of aphids analyzed using spatial-pattern metrics with the purpose of determining differences between species in the spatial pattern of injury to wheat plants in fields. Analyses using Students t-tests revealed patches of wheat within fields injured by Russian wheat aphid were larger, more complex in shape, and more isolated than patches of wheat injured by greenbug. Our findings progress toward developing practical methods using multispectral imagery to identify wheat fields infested by aphid pests and to differentiate fields infested by Russian wheat aphid from greenbug.
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1 March 2016
Using Multispectral Imagery to Compare the Spatial Pattern of Injury to Wheat Caused by Russian Wheat Aphid and Greenbug
Georges F. Backoulou,
Norman C. Elliott,
Kristopher L. Giles
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Southwestern Entomologist
Vol. 41 • No. 1
March 2016
Vol. 41 • No. 1
March 2016