Semiochemical Pest Control Experiments from UK Cereal Crops

Semiochemical experiment data from a 2005-2009 NERC RELU program study on biological pest control alternatives in UK cereal crop systems. The research collected behavioral observations and counts of pest insects and their natural enemies, along with crop yield measurements and chemical analyses from laboratory, semi-field, and field-scale bioassays. The project investigated habitat manipulation and naturally occurring odours as model technologies to reduce insecticide dependence.

Use Cases

• Analyze counts of pest insects and their natural enemies to assess biocontrol efficacy across different experimental scales.
• Model the relationship between crop yields and pest insect counts to evaluate economic impacts of alternative pest management.
• Use behavioral observations of pest insects from bioassays to study the effects of habitat manipulation strategies.
• Correlate chemical analysis data from air entrainment with pest insect counts to identify effective semiochemicals.

Strengths

• Data spans a multi-year study from 2005 to 2009, providing temporal depth.
• Integrates multiple data types: behavioral observations, insect counts, crop yields, and chemical analyses.
• Experiments conducted at three scales: laboratory, semi-field, and field, allowing for controlled and real-world comparisons.

Limitations

• Unknown row count and column structure, complicating assessment of dataset scale and direct usability for modeling.
• Data is temporally stale, with the last update reflecting system metadata from 2026, not new experimental data.
• Potential geographic bias as the study focuses specifically on UK cereal crop production systems.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre, part of the NERC Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme.

Collection Method

Collected from novel laboratory, semi-field, and field-scale bioassay experiments involving behavioral observations, insect counts, yield measurements, and air entrainment chemical analyses.

Time Range

2005-2009

Freshness

null

Geography

United Kingdom, focusing on cereal crop systems.