Marrying research and management activities: adaptive management of Grape leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus

This paper deals with the study and management of the Grape leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus Ball, vector of the Candidatus Phytoplasma vitis pathogen, in vineyards located in Southern Switzerland. S. titanus is an invasive species of North American origin that became a component of a complex population system and an object of a complex population management set-up. Uncertainities have been recorded in three areas: uncertainty about the observations and measurements, uncertainty about the underlying behavior of the system and uncertainty about the environment. For dealing with complex problems high in uncertainty, an adaptive management (AM) strategy is developed and implemented. Progress is reported in the area of technology selection for measuring infestation levels and temperature profiles (i), the quantitative analytical tools have been advanced as to obtain a better insight into the dynamics of the population system (ii) and the timing of insecticide applications and monitoring operations (iii), the ground has been solidified for the design and implementation of an integrated population and disease transmission system (iv). The detailed presentation of the methodologies and the results of different component studies by Rigamonti et al. (2011a; 2011b; 2013), Prevostini et al. (2013) and Trivellone et al. (2011) allows focusing on AM design, implementation and preliminary achievements. The AM framework was concluded to be adequate for dealing with high uncertainties associated with the complexities of the S. titanus population system and the design and implementation of an IPM program