dc.contributor.author	Myers, Emily Bray
dc.coverage.spatial	Georgia	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2025-06-13T16:13:57Z
dc.date.available	2025-06-13T16:13:57Z
dc.date.issued	2025-06-06
dc.identifier.other	182a82f1-ae7f-452d-9c3a-9b0d00890302	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10428/7455
dc.description.abstract	Parasitoids are a diverse group of insects that contribute to several dimensions of biodiversity, including biological control of arthropod pests. Understanding parasitoid ecology, behavior, reproduction, habitat selection, and preferred pest host is crucial to increasing their populations for natural pest control. The invasive brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is a significant insect pest in agricultural systems, including pecan orchards. Natural enemies, such as stink bug egg parasitoids, may help control H. halys outbreaks in pecan. The addition of floral resources, such as crimson clover, which attract parasitoids, may also increase rates of parasitism as well as parasitoid abundance. For my thesis, I tested whether parasitoid rate of attack, abundance, and diversity differed with and without crimson clover in pecan tree canopies or on the ground next to trees. I monitored rate of attack with sentinel egg masses and abundance with yellow sticky cards. From H. halys sentinel egg masses, five native stink bug egg parasitoid species were detected, including one new species for the state of Georgia, Anastatus pearsalli (Ashmead), as well as Trissolcus brochymenae (Ashmead), Trissolcus euschisti (Ashmead), Telenomus podisi (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), and Anastatus reduvii (Howard) (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae). From sticky cards, I also detected five native stink bug egg parasitoid species, including A. reduvii, T. brochymenae, T. euschisti, T. podisi, and Ooencyrtus species (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). Overall, rate of attack in sentinel egg masses was higher in orchards with crimson clover compared to the control and was higher in the canopy compared to the ground. Parasitoid abundance was similar whether crimson clover was present or not. Despite similar abundance, increased rates of attack suggest that crimson clover improves biological control of H. halys in pecan orchards. Importantly, planting crimson clover in pecan orchards is a simple, sustainable approach for growers to control H. halys.	en_US
dc.format.extent	1 electronic record. PDF/A document, 37 pages, 848141 bytes.	en_US
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.rights	This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.	en_US
dc.subject	Biology	en_US
dc.subject	Academic theses	en_US
dc.subject	Parasitoids	en_US
dc.subject	Pests--Biological control--Research	en_US
dc.subject	Insect pests--Control	en_US
dc.subject	Sustainable agriculture	en_US
dc.subject	Pecan—Diseases and pests	en_US
dc.subject	Insects--Ecology	en_US
dc.subject	Hymenoptera	en_US
dc.subject	Pests--Integrated control	en_US
dc.subject	Entomology—Research	en_US
dc.subject	Brown marmorated stink bug	en_US
dc.title	Enhancing Biological Control by Native Stink Bug Parasitoids in Pecan Orchards through Cover Crop Implementation	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US
dc.contributor.department	Department of Biology of the College of Science and Mathematics	en_US
dc.description.advisor	Chambers, Eric
dc.description.committee	Tillman, Glynn
dc.description.committee	Grabarczyk, Erin
dc.description.degree	M.S.	en_US
dc.description.major	Biology	en_US