Geostatistical Analysis of Leafhopper (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) Colonization and Spread in Deciduous Orchards

The spatio-temporal dispersion patterns of adult leafhoppers (sampled with yellow sticky-boards) in deciduous orchards, apple, Malus silvestris Miller, and nectarine, Persica vulgaris Miller, were studied using spatial autocorrelation statistics. Leafhoppers were absent from the orchards before mid-May. Both, Asymetrasca decedens (Paoli) and Edward-siana rosae L., colonized the orchards following the blooming of trees. The 2 species were abundant in the apple orchard, producing 2 generations within the orchard. A. decedens dominated in the nectarine orchard, developing at least 1 generation within the orchard. Both species showed an aggregated spatial pattern at the edge of the orchards during the colonization wave. The spatial pattern of A. decedens in both orchards changed from aggregated to random with each successive generation, and the population of E. rosae maintained aggregated patterns during the entire season. We suggest that the change in the aggregative pattern of A. decedens resulted from the outward spread of the growing populations. Maintenance of the aggregative pattern by E. rosae was probably related to both the outward spread of the population with each reproductive pulse and the successive colonization waves from the surrounding vegetation.