Using Simulated Pest Models and Biological Clustering Validation to Improve Zoning Methods in Site-Specific Pest Management

Abstract

Site-specific pest management (SSPM) is a component of precision agriculture that relies on spatially enabled agronomic data to facilitate pest control practices within management zones rather than whole fields. Recent integration of high-resolution environmental data, multivariate clustering algorithms, and species distribution modeling has facilitated the development of a novel approach to SSPM that bases zone delineation on environmentally independent subfield units with individual potential to host pest populations (eSSPM). Although the potential benefits of eSSPM are clear, methods currently described for its implementation still demand further evaluation. To offer clear insight into this matter, we used field-level environmental data from a Tahiti lime orchard and realistic simulations of six citrus pests to: (1) generate a series of virtual (i.e., controlled) infestation scenarios suitable for methodological testing purposes, (2) evaluate the utility of nested (i.e., within-cluster) partitioning essays to improve the accuracy of current eSSPM methods, and (3) implement two biological clustering validators to evaluate the performance of 10 clustering algorithms and choose appropriate numbers of management zones during field partitioning essays. Our results demonstrate that: (1) nested partitioning essays outperform zoning methods previously described in eSSPM, (2) more than one clustering algorithm tend to be necessary to generate field partition models that optimize site-specific pest control practices within crop fields, and (3) biological clustering validation is an essential addition to eSSPM zoning methods. Finally, the generated evidence was integrated into an improved workflow for within-field zone delineation with pest control purposes.

Keywords

• algorithms
• clustering
• modeling
• pest control
• precision agriculture
• site-specific