Genetic Diversity of Thrips on Avocado and Macadamia Cultivars in Limpopo, South Africa

Maxwell Kibor's dataset contains genetic diversity data for thrips (Thysanoptera) in an avocado and macadamia production region. It includes abundance, damage, and phenology data for eight cultivars across two production seasons (2021/22 and 2022/23). The dataset uses COI and ITS1 molecular markers to confirm six thrips species and applies random forest models to identify environmental drivers.

Use Cases

• Analyzing thrips species abundance and diversity based on crop cultivar data.
• Modeling environmental drivers of pest populations using random forest machine learning on climate and topographical variables.
• Assessing crop damage and yield (fruit/nut set) in relation to thrips infestation levels.
• Identifying long-term pest hot spots and cold spots using seasonal sticky trap data.

Strengths

• Data covers two full production seasons (2021/22 and 2022/23).
• Includes genetic identification using two molecular markers (COI and ITS1) confirming six thrips species.
• Monitors eight distinct crop cultivars (four avocado, four macadamia).
• Applies random forest machine learning to identify key environmental predictors.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the single Levubu region study area.

Provenance

Source

Maxwell Kibor via figshare.

Collection Method

Field monitoring of thrips abundance, damage, and phenology on selected cultivars, combined with genetic sequencing.

Time Range

Covers the 2021/22 and 2022/23 production seasons.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-27 10:35:36; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Levubu region, Limpopo Province, South Africa.