Integrated pest management at the landscape scale: tracing the tale of cotton IPM inthe San Joaquin Valley of Central California

Abstract: Lygus hesperus (Knight) is a key pest in many crops and is hosted on multiple weedand native vegetation in the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) of Central California. For over 45 years,the cropping landscape has been recognized as a key component in managing this insect pest incotton. Over the past 20 years, the acreage of cotton has contracted by 80%. As the cottonlandscape has become increasingly fragmented, more crops that serve as sources of L. hesperushave frequently come into contact with cotton, creating new IPM challenges. We have studied thechange using a variety of approaches to estimate the change in landscape structure, the proximityof cotton to sources and sinks and are developing estimates of the “strength” of crops to act assources for this pest.