We tested the effects of high humidity and submergence on egg hatching of spider mites. In both the high humidity and submergence treatments, many Tetranychus and Panonychus eggs did not hatch until after the hatching peak of the lower humidity or unsubmerged controls. However, after humidity decreased or water was drained, many eggs hatched within 1-3 h. This was observed regardless of when hi...

The attack of phytophagous mites may induce plants to produce volatiles, which in turn may attract predators. The occurrence of multiple phytophagous infestations on plants may infl uence predator response. In this paper, we investigated whether the attraction of the predatory mite Phytoseiulus macropilis (Banks) to phytophagous-infested plants would change with the simultaneous presence of two...

Spider mites, a cosmopolitan pest of agricultural and landscape plants, thrive under hot and dry conditions, which could become more frequent and extreme due to climate change. Recent work has shown that neonicotinoids, a widely used class of systemic insecticides that have come under scrutiny for non-target effects, can elevate spider mite populations. Both water-stress and neonicotinoids inde...

Climate variability has major implications for agriculture due to the increase in frequency and intensity of simultaneous abiotic, namely water-stress, biotic stresses crops. Plant water-stress alone harms crops but also can attract outbreaks herbivores with varied host specialization, plants succumb further yield losses dealing multiple stressors. Host plant resistance provides a route lessen ...

A pest management decision to initiate a control treatment depends upon an accurate estimate of mean pest density. Presence-absence sampling plans significantly reduce sampling efforts to make treatment decisions by using the proportion of infested leaves to estimate mean pest density in lieu of counting individual pests. The use of sequential hypothesis testing procedures can significantly red...