The black vine weevil in nursery production provides a unique opportunity to examine mechanisms underlying pest outbreaks in an intensively managed agro-ecosystem and to solve a critical problem facing producers of ornamental plants.

A recent assessment of the needs of the nursery industry identified black vine weevil as the second most important insect pest in nurseries in the north-eastern United States. Identifying factors that lead to pest outbreaks in highly managed systems, like nurseries, will assist in determining management practices that prevent outbreaks. Plant water and nutrient deficits have been studied for many years and there still is not a clear understanding of how herbivores respond to plant stress or the mechanisms underlying their response. Moreover, few studies have examined the effect of nutrient or water stress on root feeding herbivores. Using the black vine weevil allows us to explore an area of plant-insect interactions that is little known.

Click on the link to return to the Research Homepage or the NurseryWeb Homepage.