FACT: Cyber-infrastructure for Landscape Impacts on Biocontrol

The goal of this project is to build an open-source, standardized data platform for pest control analysis and prediction, to enable scientific understanding and the development of decision-support tools to guide land managers and growers. This will be achieved by: expanding a pest control database developed by project PIs to vastly increase information on georeferenced pest and natural enemy distributions; acquiring relevant life history traits data matching major pests and natural enemies represented in the pest control database; acquiring Earth observations (EO) data of vegetation and climate for georeferenced locations of insect data; and developing the software infrastructure to automate the continued acquisition of insect, traits, and EO data and processing of these disparate data sources necessary for analysis. Better understanding and predicting how landscapes and insect life history interact to determine where and whether biocontrol can provide a reliable strategy for growers will enable improved land management that enhances crop yields, reduces reliance on pesticides, and mitigates the risk of pesticide exposure for growers.

Led by: Prof. Dr. Becky Chaplin-Kramer (University of Minnesota)

Team: Prof. Dr. Emily Poppenborg Martin

Year: 2020

Funding: USDA Coordinated Innovation Network

Duration: 01.09.2020-31.08.2024

More information: https://portal.nifa.usda.gov/web/crisprojectpages/1023888-fact-cyber-infrastructure-for-landscape-impacts-on-biocontrol.html