Abstract
The spatial distribution effects on pests and natural enemies will be investigated by developing spatially explicit models based on theoretical concepts, laboratory and field experimentation and data obtained from the literature, in order to study how the landscape ecological patterns, including those with Bt crops, influence the spatial distribution and population dynamics of pest insects. The models will define species' habitats within a grid-like arrangement by Cellular Automata and Coupled Map Models. The compiling geographic information system (GIS) will also be used to evaluate the model in real agriculture scenario, represented by the agricultural landscape from the West region of the state of Bahia, and compared with field data collected in this area. The study will be developed by applying mathematical modeling at two levels, individual and population. The models proposed at individual level are discrete dynamics systems, whose behavior is specified in terms of local relation among neighbors, defined upfront, given by a single procedure. The Coupled Map Lattices will be employed to study the problem at population level, with models characterized by a network that is not only dependent on the neighbor cells, but also on the connections of the focus cell with all other patches in the landscape. The theoretical simulations will be used to define strategies to reduce pest population damage on crops and their expansion across agricultural landscapes. (AU)
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