Environmental management strategies for pest control in strawberry crop

Abstract

Paulo (USP), and to all teachers who helped me during the undergraduate and graduated courses, for the necessary support to carry out all works.To my parents, João Luiz Esteca and Angela Tereza de Oliveira Neves Esteca, for always encouraging me to study, aiming at a quality education and above all always respecting others; without their encouragement, support and help I would never have made it this far.To my brother, Antonio Marcos Neves Esteca, for all his teachings, collaboration, dedicated time and patience when teaching me various subjects during my undergraduate and graduate time. Thank you so much, my brother, for always wanting my best. To my sister, Ariane Neves Esteca.To my nephews, Yago Esteca de Albuquerque Saraiva and Sophia Esteca de Carvalho, to my goddaughters, Mariana Baccan Esteca and Letícia Baccan Esteca, for making me happy and always trying to understand that the moments of my absence (dedicated to higher education) are for the future and that this is only done from the constant dedication in the present.To my fiancé, Andre Ricardo Machi, for the attention, support, collaboration in various moments of this work and mainly always encouraging me to move forward in the troubled moments during my graduate program.To my puppy, Belinha, for being my angel and my support, for calming me down, bringing me happiness, confidence and security to my life.To my advisor, Prof. Dr. Gilberto José de Moraes, for always being available to solve doubts and problems that arose during the development of the thesis. There were many years of living together, and he helped me a lot to overcome my fears and try new challenges. I am very grateful.To Dr. Ingeborg Klingen and Dr. Nina Trandem for having welcomed me so well and having guided me during my marvelous time in Norway. I can say that I have developed many skills under their guidance, both for academic life and for personal life. To Dr. Marit Helgheim at NIBIO for practical assistance in conducting the expriments in Norway.To Prof. Dr. Italo Delalibera Júnior for the contact with the SMARTCROP project and for all the help and incentive provided for my work in Norway. I am very thankful.

Preliminary Studies on the Predation of the Mite Blattisocius mali (Acari: Blattisociidae) on Various Life Stages of Spider Mite, Thrips and Fruit Fly

“…Most larvae were consumed totally, i.e., 9.19 ± 0.49, whereas only a few larvae, i.e., 1 ± 0.32 were fed on to a lesser extent. Voracity of the edaphic predatory mites on drosophilid development stages was also examined by Esteca [ 50 ] using D. suzukii Magtsumura and 2-day-old gravid females of Macrocheles embersoni Azevedo, Castilho & Berto, M. muscadomesticae (Scopoli), P. bicklei (Bram) and S. scimitus previously fed with nematodes. When exposed to 20 fly eggs or 10 first-instar D. suzukii larvae for 10 days, the predatory females ate at 25 °C on average 2–10 eggs or 4–7 larvae per day.…”

“…It should be emphasized that, in natural conditions, some drosophilid eggs and larvae may be buried in the substrate. Esteca [ 50 ] found that only S. scimitus was able to access D. suzukii eggs embedded in fruit. Thus, to assess the potential negative effect of B. mali on the fitness of its drosophilid host, more research is needed, taking into account the predation of this mite on all development stages of fruit flies exposed to it or hidden in the substrate.…”

Feeding Behaviour of the Mite Blattisocius mali on Eggs of the Fruit Flies Drosophila melanogaster and D. hydei

“…Further research is needed to examine whether B. mali's feeding on fruit fly eggs buried in the substrate or present on its surface would be similar. A study by Esteca [43] on predation on D. suzukii eggs appears especially interesting in this case. All five tested species of predatory mites (from Melicharidae and Lealepidae) fed on D. suzukii eggs present on the substrate, consuming them at different rates, from 2-10 eggs per day.…”

“…Our study is the first report of a predator of the genus Blattisocius feeding on the eggs of drosophilid fruit flies. A number of species of mesostigmatic mites, including species from Ascidae, Laelapidae, Melicharidae, Parasitidae, and Blattisocidae, have so far been reported to predate on eggs of drosophilid fruit flies, namely on D. melanogater and D. suzukii (Matsumura) [40][41][42][43]. Furthermore, Lasioseius alli Chant (Blattisocidae) developed and reproduced on D. melanogaster [44].…”

“…However, when the fruit fly eggs were embedded in the fruit, only Stratiolaelaps scimitus (Womersley) fed on those eggs. According to Esteca [43], among the predators studied, S. scimitius had the longest chelicerae, which probably allowed it to pierce the fruit fly egg in the fruit and feed on it. The results presented in her work indicate, however, that this predatory mite fed on embedded eggs at a much lower rate than on unburied eggs.…”