The Glassy-winged Sharpshooter (GWSS) is an invasive species that is threatening the California grape industry. GWSS thrive on many different hosts and can vector several diseases including Pierce’s Disease in grapes. Pierce’s Disease can kill a grape vine within 2 years, depending on variety susceptibility. In addition to vector management, reducing the reservoir of Pierce’s Disease is imperative to management, as diseased vines serve as sources of inoculum and must be removed quickly to prevent vine-to-vine spread. Currently, if vineyards are inspected for Pierce’s Disease, the survey is done visually from the ground by having crews walk each row to observe symptoms. Our goal is to determine whether airborne remote sensing technology can be utilized to locate Pierce’s Disease symptoms across the grape production areas in the Southern San Joaquin Valley in a short period of time. The objectives of this study were to build a spectral database of grape vines that are both healthy and infected in order to determine the spectral separability and to collect airborne hyperspectral data at different spatial resolutions to determine the capabilities of the instrument. Vineyards with known occurrence of PD were spectrally characterized using an ASD spectrometer during 2001 & 2002. Airborne data was collected using a CASI-2 hyperspectral sensor during the same time frame. Additional data was collected with a SpecTIR hyperspectral sensor during 2002. Preliminary results indicate that disease plants can be spectrally distinguished from healthy plants within the vineyard and can be classified using the airborne data.
Species 1: Homoptera Cicadellidae Homalodisca coagulata (glassy-winged sharpshooter)
Keywords: remote sensing, insect vector
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