Marrying research and management activities: adaptive managementof Grape leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus

Abstract: This paper deals with the study and management of the Grape leafhopper Scaphoideustitanus Ball, vector of the Candidatus Phytoplasma vitis pathogen, in vineyards located inSouthern Switzerland. S. titanus is an invasive species of North American origin that became acomponent of a complex population system and an object of a complex population managementset-up. Uncertainities have been recorded in three areas: uncertainty about the observations andmeasurements, uncertainty about the underlying behavior of the system and uncertainty about theenvironment. For dealing with complex problems high in uncertainty, an adaptive management(AM) strategy is developed and implemented. Progress is reported in the area of technologyselection for measuring infestation levels and temperature profiles (i), the quantitative analyticaltools have been advanced as to obtain a better insight into the dynamics of the population system(ii) and the timing of insecticide applications and monitoring operations (iii), the ground has beensolidified for the design and implementation of an integrated population and disease transmissionsystem (iv). The detailed presentation of the methodologies and the results of differentcomponent studies by Rigamonti et al. (2011a; 2011b; 2013), Prevostini et al. (2013) andTrivellone et al. (2011) allows focusing on AM design, implementation and preliminaryachievements. The AM framework was concluded to be adequate for dealing with highuncertainties associated with the complexities of the S. titanus population system and the designand implementation of an IPM program.