Topics and Questions We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

The major goals of this assignment are to:
• Utilize given information about a pest to predict its population over the course of a year, including an action/economic threshold.
• Practice brainstorming cultural/ecological control tactics. Instructions:
1. Start by watching this linked video to learn about the biology of aphids:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVTitHBwpN0
2. Then read the text below about the European Asparagus Aphid (excerpted from https://tinyurl.com/y88knc7z)
  
Damage: Asparagus aphids cause damage to the plants by injecting a toxin when feeding and a few aphids per plant are enough to lead to economic injury. Aphids do not feed on the spear, but prefer to feed on fern, causing bushy, distorted branching, yield loss for next year’s crop, and, if damage is severe, the plant may be killed.
Biology: The asparagus aphid overwinters in the egg stage on the fern residue left in the field. Eggs hatch in the spring; nymphs and adults feed on the spears and fern. Their only host is asparagus. Throughout the summer, aphids reproduce live nymphs without mating with males. In established asparagus fields in Washington, aphids have two generations per season: one in August, followed by a second generation in September. Non-bearing fields and nurseries can have three or more generations in a season.
Management: Populations tend to build up later in the season in established asparagus after the field is in full fern. Young fields where spears are not picked, nurseries and volunteer plants outside the fields can be the sources of aphid infestation for later in the season.
    3. Scenario: You are growing a large crop of asparagus in the field behind your house. Based on the information given above, draw a line on the graph below that could represent the size of the aphid population in your field over the course of a year.

4. Next, consider, how many aphids are too many? At what population level would you want to take action to control the aphids? This would be your action/economic threshold. Explain what you decide and your reasoning in the space below. In addition – draw a horizontal line on your graph above to represent the aphid population level of this threshold. (see slides 13-14 of Lecture 4.2 for an example) (NOTE: You do not need to include anything about EIL. Only the economic/action threshold (ET)).
5. Brainstorm and describe two cultural/ecological methods of pest control that you could use against the European Asparagus Aphid.