Connecting crop phenology with the reproductive capacity of stink bugs in Georgia farmscapes

Stink bugs have become an economic pest in Georgia crop production and are one of the leading reasons for pesticide applications in Georgia corn, cotton and soybeans. Colonization of wild hosts and agricultural crops is linked with plant phenology, but it is unknown if stink bugs optimize their reproductive capacity by using a variety of host plants at different reproductive stages. We conducted a two-year pilot scale study to track the movement and reproductive status of stink bugs as they colonized corn, cotton, soybeans, and peanuts. Captured stink bugs were brought to the laboratory for species identification and dissected to assess reproductive status. Individual bugs were rated as reproductive, intermediate or non reproductive. Results show that stink bug populations in soybeans and cotton had a large number of newly emerged adults, which indicates that population peaks were associated with a generation of nymphs becoming adults. This trend of having more non reproductive adults persisted to the end of the growing season, suggesting that adults move out of the crop before becoming sexually mature. These results indicate that the majority of stink bug adults disperse from their nymphal habitat within several days of emergence and do not attain sexual maturity in the same patch or field. We hypothesize that adults may colonize wild hosts or other agricultural crops to complete reproductive development, thereby maximizing their reproductive capacity.