Biological studies of Rhinocyllus conicus, Carduus thoermeri and a model of the interaction between these two species

• Main Author: Smith, Lane Martin
• Other Authors: Entomology
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 2017
• Subjects: LD5655.V855 1982.S626; Weeds > Biological control > Simulation methods; Carduus
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/76194

A computer simulation model written in PL/I of the flowering phenology of C. thoermeri and the seasonal population dynamics of R. conicus was constructed based on a synthesis of the literature, and on laboratory experiments which determined developmental periods, mortality for immature stages and the ovipositional pattern of R. conicus. The model successfully simulated the ovipositional pattern of R. conicus and the flowering phenology of C. thoermeri. Larval population dynamics of R. conicus, in the model however, did not fit the validation data. Though the model was temporally synchronized with the field data, the model results were one degree of magnitude less. The poor fit was attributed to sampling errors in the validation data. Studies of the overwintering mortalities of both organisms were performed. R. conicus was found to overwinter with lowest mortality on musk thistle rosettes; mortality was 73.6% in 1981, higher than previously reported but possibly more representative of field conditions. No overwintering mortality was observed for established rosettes of C. thoermeri. Studies of seed dispersal of C. thoermeri were performed to determine the percentage of seeds removed from the vicinity of the plant where they originated. Seed dispersal observed for different wind velocities demonstrated that less than 1% of seeds are blown further than 100m and most seeds are deposited within 50m of the release site. A Gaussian model of seed dispersal based on experimentally determined parameters and literature values corroborated these results. === Master of Science