Notebook

You are expected to keep a notebook of your work that you may have to present to your instructor at the completion of the course. The notebook should contain all homework assignments and any other information relevant to the course. Writing in the notebook should be done neatly by hand and drawings should be used whenever possible to illustrate your work. Notebooks will be graded according to completeness, neatness and general overall quality. Your notebook will reflect the amount of time and care you have put into this course.

1. Read Chapter 5, Natural enemies of Forest Insects, of your textbook Forest Insects: Principles and Practice of Population Management and make notes and drawings in your notebook.
2. Do the problems specified below and send your answers to your instructor.
3. Go through Session 3 on the Internet and make notes in your notebook.

Problem

Do one (1) of the problems II.1 - II.4 on pages 100-102 of your textbook.

Questions

Questions similar to those below may appear on the first examination. You can practice your knowledge of this session by answering these questions and checking the answers against the information in the reading or Internet.

1. What conditions must be met in order for enemies to regulate their prey populations at sparse densities?
2. What is the numerical response of natural enemies?
3. What kind of population dynamics do we see when pest populations are regulated by the reproductive numerical responses of their enemies?
4. What kind of population dynamics do we see when pest populations are regulated by the migratory numerical responses of their enemies?
5. What is the functional response of a natural enemy?
6. What causes the functional response to attain a maximum value?
7. What kind of feedback does a cyrtoid functional response give rise to?
8. What kind of feedback does a sigmoid functional response give rise to?
9. How does predator switching affect the functional response?
10. What causes predators to switch from one prey species to another?
11. Why do sigmoid functional responses have the potential to regulate pests at sparse densities?
12. Why can pests escape from the effects of predator functional responses?
13. What is an escape threshold?
14. How do basic environment properties affect the escape threshold?
15. What effects do changes in predator density have on the escape threshold?
16. How are birds able to regulate forest pests at sparse densities?
17. Name 3 characteristics make birds effective predators of forest pests.
18. What stages and groups of forest insects do birds mainly attack?
19. What insect stages do mice and shrews usually feed upon?
20. Why are mice and shrews less effective predators than birds?
21. When are vertebrates not important in the dynamics of pest populations?
22. Why are they not important under these conditions?
23. List 5 types of arthropod predators on forest pests.
24. What kinds of pests are arthropod predators most effective at regulating?
25. What is a parasitoid?
26. What two insect Orders contain most of the parasitoids?
27. Why are parasitoids effective at controlling forest pests at low densities?
28. Why do insect parasitoids often produce population cycles in their prey?
29. What kinds of forest pests are parasitoids most effective against?
30. Name 4 groups of microorganisms that cause diseases in forest insects?
31. When are fungi important mortality agents against forest pests?
32. Give an example of a fungus disease terminating a pest outbreak.
33. Why are pathogens most important during outbreaks?
34. Why do viruses have little impact on sparse populations?
35. What is means by "safety in numbers"?
36. Compare the characteristics of vertebrates, arthropods, and microorganisms and explain and contrast their roles in regulating forest pest populations.

 E-mail your instructor to let him know that you have finished this session: berryman@mail.wsu.edu

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