Meeting ID: 971 0293 9495
Passcode: Seminar
Dr. Jaime Pinero
Extension Professor, Stockbridge School of Agriculture, UMass Amherst
Title: Developing ECOstacking and attract-and-kill approaches for ecologically-based pest management in New England
Abstract: Ecological strategies for pest management, aimed at minimizing pesticide usage, are gaining momentum. ECOstacking, a method involving the strategic assembly of ecosystem services to promote functional biodiversity, stands out as an effective approach. One facet of this ecological strategy involves habitat manipulation with trap crop plants that divert pests away from cash crops while insectary plants attract and enhance natural enemy populations.
In 2018, we embarked on a long-term project focused on developing a permanent, cost-effective trap cropping system for various apple pests. This involved grafting selected perimeter-row trees with six apple cultivars known to be attractive to key pests such as plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and apple maggot fly. Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae).
Another ecological approach involves attract-and-kill systems designed to concentrate insect pests in specific areas for targeted elimination. In this presentation, we will explore four examples of attract-and-kill systems that have demonstrated the potential to significantly reduce the need for insecticides. The integrated pest management strategies discussed herein are easily implementable by growers, providing valuable support for the pursuit of more sustainable fruit production.
BIO
Dr. Jaime Piñero has been involved with entomological and IPM research for more than 25 years. In 2005, Jaime was awarded a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After spending time in Switzerland, Hawaii, and Missouri, in 2018 Jaime returned to UMass. He is an Extension Professor at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture and holds a three-way appointment that combines research, Extension, and teaching.
Jaime’s research focuses on applied aspects of insect-plant interactions as a basis to develop more sustainable pest management tools and strategies in fruit orchards. In recent years, Jaime has engaged more in student mentorship. One example of this is a 5-year grant with Elizabeth Garofalo for $730,000, which supports the REEU internship program. A second example includes the founding, with graduate student Mateo Rull-Garza, of a student-led chapter of the national organization ‘Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences’ (MANRRS).
Website Link: https://www.umass.edu/stockbridge/jaime-c-pi%C3%B1ero