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Abstract
The moth Helicoverpa armigera is a pest of worldwide agricultural importance, especially on cotton. The abundance of H. armigera adults was monitored throughout the spring and the summer (the flight period) for 4 years (2007 to 2010) using light traps in northern Xinjiang, China. Traps were placed in landscapes which varied in cropping complexity, to determine if such variability might influence the pest's population dynamics. Traps were located on commercial farms which varied in the relative amounts of cotton, tomatoes, sugar beet, corn and wheat that were grown. The type of agricultural landscape significantly influenced the abundance of H. armigera adults. The lowest numbers of moths were caught in simpler crop systems where cotton predominated, and the greatest numbers were caught where the proportions of tomatoes, corn and wheat amongst crops were highest. Although the data were collected from a region where transgenic (Bt) cotton is yet to be used, our results suggest that diverse landscape designs should assist the management of Bt resistance in H. armigera in regions employing such transgenic cotton, through the production of large numbers of moths from non-Bt plants, the provision being that Bt is deployed only in cotton, not other crops.
Acknowledgements
We thank Zhang Xin, Jing XiaoLe, Ma JiHong and Fang XueMing (Xinjiang institute of Ecology and Geography, CAS) for collecting moths in the field. This research was supported by the Key Project for Breeding Genetic Modified Organisms (2011ZX08012-004) and the international collaborative program (2007DFA31280) of the Ministry of Scientific and Technology of the Peoples Republic of China (MOST). Gary Fitt, Sharon Downes and Graham Bonnett provided helpful comments on a draft manuscript.