This is an exciting opportunity for a student interested in climate change and its effect on biological systems – particularly those involving agricultural pests and their management to protect crops.
The project work aims to summarize i) historical records of agricultural insect pest population densities in selected crops; and ii) historical weather data. Using these summaries and statistical and mathematical procedures, cause and effect relationships will be sought. The central question is whether there is an association between weather variables (e.g. degree days, maximum and minimum temperatures, rainfall) and pest temporal occurrence and density. With such an association, the student will project implications for pest control needs into the future, and anticipate changes in population dynamics for other insect pests.
See here for more information and contact Todd Kabaluk with any questions.