Suppression of indigo bush with pod pests

Abstract

The recorded seed predators of Amorpha fruticosa L., indigo bush weevils and pteromalid wasps, were the subject of laboratory and field research studies in the period from 2006 to 2011. Sample analyses were carried out on more than 30 localities in Serbia with the aim of measuring the summarized pre-dispersal and post dispersal predation preferences. The percentages of the total pre-dispersal (max≈33%) and post-dispersal re-infested material (over 95%), make these insects serious candidates for host-plant suppression. Their bionomics were monitored through continuous collection, dessection and observation of infested seeds, in correlation with environmental parameters, especially water-level fluctuations in endangered forests. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TP-31070: The development of technological methods in forestry in order to attain optimal forest cover]

Keywords

• Pods
• Amorpha fruticosa
• weevil
• parasitic wasp
• endophagous herbivores
• Vojvodina (Serbia)
• Balkan Peninsula