Aphids and their parasitoids persist using temporal pairing and synchrony.

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Entomology
• Ecological Dynamics
• Time Series Analysis

Background:

• Aphid and parasitoid populations in winter cereals exhibit complex dynamics.
• Understanding pest-parasitoid interactions is crucial for effective agricultural management.
• Previous analyses often struggled to capture the non-stationary nature of these ecological time series.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze population dynamics and synchronization patterns of aphids and parasitoids in southern Brazil's winter cereals.
• To evaluate the efficacy of wavelet transform (WT) for characterizing non-stationary ecological time series.
• To identify synchronized aphid-parasitoid pairs for improved pest management.

Main Methods:

• Decade-long population data (2011-2020) from winter cereals.
• Application of wavelet transform (WT) for periodicity and synchronization detection.
• Cluster analysis to identify synchronized pest-parasitoid pairs.
• Wavelet coherence (WC) to assess correlations between population time series.

Main Results:

• Aphid population peaks showed varied frequencies, with Metopolophium dirhodum outbreaks becoming more frequent.
• Parasitoid populations displayed more consistent patterns, with peaks around 12 months.
• Four highly synchronized aphid-parasitoid pairs were identified.
• Wavelet coherence confirmed significant temporal correlations, including in-phase and anti-phase relationships.

Conclusions:

• Wavelet analysis is a robust tool for studying non-stationary ecological data like insect population dynamics.
• Identified synchronization patterns provide insights into pest-parasitoid interactions.
• Findings support the development of targeted integrated pest management strategies for sustainable agriculture.