LE3 .A278 2020

2020

Hillier, Kirk
Bent, Erika

Acadia University

Bachelor or Science

Honours

Environmental Sciences

Earth & Environmental Sciences

In this study, I investigated the abundance of the North American large raspberry aphid Amphorophora agathonica Hottes (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. Amphorophora agathonica is an important vector of two plant viruses (Rubus yellow-net virus and Raspberry leaf-mottle virus). The partnership with APM Agricultural Pest Monitoring Consulting Ltd. located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, provided access to three test fields with four collection sites: commercial raspberry plantings (including a site along the edge of the field), wild raspberry plantings, and wild blackberry plantings. This study collected aphid samples using two collection practices common to Integrated Pest Management (IPM), visual sampling and pan trapping. Our study also evaluated virus presence from wild and conventional raspberry and blackberry leaf samples to diagnose virus presence. In doing so, our study found more virus in wild raspberry and blackberry plantings than conventional raspberry plantings. Suggesting that wild raspberry plants can act as reservoirs for these viruses, ultimately augmenting the abundance of A. agathonica along the edge of the conventional raspberry fields.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3439