ECOLOGY, SAMPLING, AND MODELING OF INSECT PESTS OF STORED GRAIN, PROCESSING FACILITIES, AND WAREHOUSES

This project proposes to develop better tools to monitor insect populations; to improve IPM strategies for managing insects in stored grain, food processing facilities, and warehouses; to investigate the dispersal patterns that insects utilize to avoid treatments and to reinfest facilities; and to conduct investigations on emerging pests. The primary goal of the research is to reduce losses in quality to grain and grain products caused by insects. To achieve this goal, the following research objectives will be investigated: 1) improve methods for detecting insects in raw grain and other products by determining the critical factors that affect trap catch, and the relationship between trap catch and actual level of product infestation; 2) determine how the spatial distribution and population structure of stored-product insects inside and outside processing facilities before, during, and after control treatments affects re-infestation potential; 3) develop models that predict insect population growth in grain processing facilities and warehouses, and use the models to investigate optimal IPM strategies; and 4) determine the prevalence and pest potential of psocids and grain mites in stored grain, processing, and warehouse facilities, and conduct ecological studies on those emerging pests that prove to be economically important to implement monitoring and control strategies.