MANAGEMENT OF NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE PESTS IN THE LANDSCAPE

This course will deal with modern landscape ecology applied to understand the spatial dynamics of pests and pathogens and to develop pro-active landscape management. The course will provide a landscape perspective to the students, integrating their knowledge on more traditional local management of pests and pathogens. The course will also provide an in-depth understanding of the ecology of exotic invasive pests and pathogens relevant for agriculture.

The course is structured in four units:
1) Landscape ecology: introduction and scale; causes of landscape pattern in agricultural landscapes; introduction to models; landscape metrics; spatial statistics
2) Tools in landscape ecology: available free GIS-tools
3) Invasion ecology of alien pests and pathogens: pathways, trends; establishment, spread; management
4) Pests and pathogens and landscape patterns: spatial dynamics and landscape management for sustainable control

During the course the students will develop a case study around a real pest or pathogen problem tackled with a landscape approach.