دکتر عباسعلی زمانی

Oak trees (Quercus infectoria) are one of the main components of forest communities in western Iran and play a vital role in preserving water and soil in this region. Oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) cause gall on different parts of oak trees. This research was conducted to investigate the concentration of some plant metabolites in different tissues of oak trees and some leaf galls formed by gall wasps and their changes during the growing season in the Javanroud region. For this purpose, four types of galls (Neuroterus numismalis Geoffroy, Neuroterus quercusbaccarum L., Cynips divisa Harting, and Cynips quercusfolii L.), leaves containing gall, and healthy leaves were collected as a sampling unit from oak forests in Javanroud city. This study measured the concentration of some food compounds and secondary metabolites, such as soluble and insoluble sugars, total phenol, total tannin, and condensed tannin. The results of the variance analysis of the data showed that the concentration of different metabolites during the season in four different types of gall and the two investigated tissues were significantly different. The results showed that the peak concentration of carbohydrates and starch in all four types of galls and two types of plant tissue occurs in October, while the highest amount of total nitrogen and crude protein is found in September. Because gall tissue is considered the only food source for the gall-producing wasps, the quality of its food seems very important to them.

Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) (Fabaceae) is one of the most cultivated plants of legumes in most countries. Several of insects with piercing-sucking mouthparts such as thrips, leafhopper, aphids, and plant bugs are as pest on beans. Thrips can attack beans from the seedlings emerge through to flowering, but it is the damage some do during flowering that has the greatest impact. Thrips tabaci Lindeman 1889, the onion thrips is a cosmopolitan species. It has hundreds of host plants but of these, the economically most important crop plants are onion, cabbage, tobacco, pepper, bean and tomato. Here, population fluctuation and spatial distribution of thrips was investigated in the bean fields of Sanandaj county (Kurdistan province, west of Iran).

Sampling was done from bean leaves from two leaves stage until ending growing season  in the bean fields (bean Canyon variety) located in Arandan village (N 35° 23' 10.96", E 46° 54' 53.16", alt. 1660 m), Sanandaj county during the years 2022 and 2023. Bean leaf was selected as sampling unit. Sampling was done weekly and four rows were sampled each time. A systematic sampling pattern was used to collect the samples. In this way, in the selected rows, 24 plants at the beginning and end of each row were ignored, and the 25th plant of each row was the first plant on which thrips were counted. After that, 24 plants were left and counting was done on the 25th plant after the first plant. In this way, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, 250, 275, 300 and 325 plants were sampled in each row. Weekly sampling was done in a similar style, but each time, different rows of crops were selected for sampling. Sampling was done weekly, and for this purpose lower, middle and upper leaves were selected from each bean and the leaves were shaken on a white tray and then the thrips were put into Eppendorf containing ethyl alcohol 75%. In order to accurately count thrips, by using a stereomicroscope, some samples were separated and microscopic slides were prepared from some samples and finally the number of samples was recorded. Spatial distribution of adults of thrips was estimated using Taylor’s power law and Iwao’s patchiness regression methods.

The results showed that the population of onion thrips was observed from July and gradually increased and in 2022 its maximum was in the first week of August with an average of 11.65 ± 0.14 thrips and in 2023 its maximum was in the end of week of August with an average of 11.29 ± 0.23 thrips at the sampling unit. In addition, the highest mean number of onion thrips was observed with a significant difference in the lower leaves compared to the middle and upper leaves. The results of the spatial distribution of the pest showed that based on the variance-to-mean ratio, Taylor’s power law and Iwao’s patchiness regression methods, the spatial distribution of onion thrips was clumped, randomized and clumped, respectively. In general, the results showed that the peak of population of onion thrips reaches in early of August. Furthermore, based on goodness of fit, the Iwao’s patchiness method was more suitable than the Taylor’s power law method for estimating the spatial distribution of the pest.

It can be concluded that, at the beginning of the growing season of beans in the field, a low population of onion thrips was activated, and gradually with the warming of the weather and the change of the growing stages of the beans, the population of the pest in the field increased, so that the largest population of onion thrips were observed in the first week of August. In addition, based on the sampling, the highest average number of onion thrips was observed in the lower leaves of beans compared to the middle and upper leaves. The relationship between population fluctuations of onion thrips with average positive temperature was obtained. In examining the spatial distribution pattern with the Iwao’s patchiness method, it was found that the spatial distribution of onion thrips is uniform. Considering the high activity and damage caused by onion thrips on various crops, especially on beans, it is necessary and important to conduct more studies on its various characteristics in various regions and crops of Kurdistan province so that a suitable management plan can be developed to control this pest.

In this research, the fauna of thrips associated with Judas trees (Cercis siliquastrum L.), and the population fluctuation and spatial distribution of Judas thrips (Thrips vulgatissimus Haliday) were studied in the Arghavan Strait located in Ilam city (west of Iran) during the years 2022-2023. In each sampling, 20 trees and four branches of 20 cm on each tree in different geographical directions were selected as the sampling unit. Sampling was done every three days; the branches of Judas trees were shaken on a white plastic tray, and then the thrips were transferred into an Eppendorf tube containing 75% ethyl alcohol. A total of 10 thrips species were collected and identified. The results showed that the Judas thrips have two population peaks. The first population peak was observed on the first day of April 2023. The highest population density was obtained in the first peak with an average of 30.60 ± 6.23 thrips per sampling unit, and the highest density in the second peak with an average of 73.75 ± 7.64 thrips per sampling unit. The results of the spatial distribution based on Taylor’s power law methods showed that the spatial distribution was aggregated. In addition, geographical directions had no significant effect on the density of Judas thrips. Based on the goodness of fit, the Taylor’s power law method was more suitable than Iwao’s patchiness method for estimating the spatial distribution of this species.

The use of modern technologies for detecting and measuring pest population density can be an important step in facilitating the implementation of integrated pest management programs and achieving more precise and effective control. In this study, the deep learning technique and convolutional neural network with AlexNet architecture were used for the automatic detection and counting of the tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Myrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), which is one of the key pests of tomato plants in Iran. To collect images of adult T. absoluta insects, 15 delta traps were installed in two hectares of tomato farms at the Campus of Agricultural and Natural Resources, Razi University. The Sony DSC-WX100 camera with an effective sensor resolution of 18 megapixels was used to capture the images. The performance of the convolutional neural network with the AlexNet architecture was evaluated using the parameters of average accuracy, accuracy, and recall. For counting performance, the linear regression curve and coefficient of determination were used. The average accuracy (98.0), accuracy (100), and recall (100) parameters indicate the high performance of the convolutional neural network in detecting the tomato leaf miner, and the coefficient of determination (0.98) indicates the network's high accuracy in counting this pest. Overall, the results demonstrate that the neural network can provide a practical solution for the accurate detection and counting of this pest on tomato plants using captured images

The mortality of forest species, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, has been considered the main challenge of diverse ecosystems. The aim of this study was to compare the mortality status of Iranian oak and Mt. Atlas mastic tree in the Zagros forests in western Iran. To carry out this study, whole forests in the Gilan-e Gharb were considered. For this purpose, the entire surface was divided into equal parts with a sampling grid of 3000 x 3000 m2. Ninety two sample plots with an area of 0.25 ha considered for sampling at the intersection of the lines in the forests. Sampling of all the were trees in the plots was done 100%. Based on objective observations, the ratio of dried branches to the whole tree branches was used to determine the dryness ratio of the studied trees. The results showed that the frequency of 1st mortality in different species shows that its highest frequency is 83.4% in Iranian oak (Quercus brantii Lindl.). Other species in the region, such as Prunus lycioides C.K.Schneid., Pistacia atlantica mutica Desf., Acer monspessulanum L., and Crataegus sp. L., had 5.1%, 4.4%, 3.2%, and 2% of 1st mortality, respectively. The frequency of 2nd mortality in Persian oak was 84.4% and in other species in the region, such as P.atlantica, Crataegus sp, and P.lycioides C.K.Schneid., it was 9.8%, 2.25%, and 2%, respectively. Similarly, the highest frequency of trees with mortality grade 5 included Iranian oak,  P. atlantica mutica Desf., and P. lycioides C.K.Schneid. species with 94.2%, 2.8%, and 2.6%, respectively. From the total population of Persian oaks, 28% of them were healthy and 72% of them were dying in various degrees. In the wild plum species, 83% of the trees were healthy and 17% were dying. Furthermore, in the wild pistachio species, 23% of the trees were alive and healthy and 77% of them were dead. Based on the results, supporting measures will include monitoring the structure of stands for better protection of forests, maintaining the mix of stands and stimulating structural complexity and heterogeneity, that are valuable tools to reduce the risks associated with increasing tree dieback, and other new disturbance regimes in line with the resilience strategy.

The false chinch bugs, Nysius cymoides (Spinola) (Hem., Lygaeidae) is a polyphagous and cosmopolitan distributed and it causes damage as the most important pest in canola fields in Kermanshah province in the recent years. In the present study, population fluctuations and spatial distribution of the pest were investigated in canola fields of Kermanshah province during 2020 and 2021 years. The results of this study showed that the first group of the false chinch bugs populations in 2020 and 2021 were observed on the 8 and 11th of April, respectively.The second population peak of the pest in 2020 and 2021 with an average of 372.22 ± 66.31 and 126.45 ± 4.58 was obtained on 22 and 19th June, respectively. The highest population density of nymphs in 2020 and 2021 with an average of 1263.50 ± 125.19 and 206.00 ± 3.91 was obtained on 23th June. The results of spatial distribution showed that in 2020, the spatial distribution of males, females and adults of the N. cymoides was recognized as aggregated based on Taylor’s power law method and as random based on Iwao’s patchiness regression method. In general, the results of this study showed that N. cymoides had two population peaks. Also, based on goodness of fit, the Iwao’s patchiness method was more suitable than the Taylor’s power law method for estimating the spatial distribution of the pest.

The oak decline phenomenon, causes drying of crowns, decreasing the radial growth and eventually the death of oak trees. The first step in conduction a management program for control of this phenomenon is. Identification of the factors which are related to oak decline, is the first step in management of this phenomenon in Zagros oak forests. The aim of this study was collecting and identifying the oak borer beetles in the forests of Gilane Gharb region in southwestern of Kermanshah province. The required data were obtained by direct observation and field sampling. The samples were collected based on a systematic sampling pattern in 90 square plots (50 × 50 m) and all trees were surveyed in each plot. The borer beetles were collected by splitting the dried branches, cutting the trunk and branches and keeping them in proper condition. In this study, the damage symptoms of the borer beetles were observed on 61.3 percentage of oak trees. The collected buprestid borer beetles on the oak trees were identified as following:Acmaeodera (Acmaeotethya) degener (Scopoli, 1763), Acmaeodera (Acmaeotethya) ottomana (Frivaldszky von Frivald, 1840), Acmaeodera (Acmaeotethya) undulata (Abeille de Perrin, 1891), Acmaeodera (Acmaeodera) wethloi (Obenberger, 1940), Acmaeoderella (Carininota) impunctata (Abeille de Perrin, 1891), Capnodis anthracina (Fischer, 1830), Capnodis cariosa hauseri (Obenberger, 1928), Chalcophorella (Stigmatophorella) bagdadensis (Laporte & Gory, 1836), Chalcophorella (Stigmatophorella) escalerae (Abeille de Perrin, 1904), Perotis lugubris longicollis (Kraatz, 1880), Svatactesis johanidesi (Bílý, 1997). The most abundant species were P. lugubris, C. cariosa, A. undulata and A. wethloi, respectively.

Anastatus acherontiae is the native egg parasitoid of Streblote siva and Acherontia atropos in Bushehr, southern Iran. The life table parameters and demography of A. acherontiae was studied on S. siva based on the age-stage, two-sex life table under laboratory conditions (a light/temperature cycle of L16h/26°C, D8h/18°C and 65±5% RH) using TWO SEX-MS Chart program. The mean and standard errors of the life table parameters were estimated using paired bootstrap method with 200,000 iterations. Results showed that A. acherontiae was able to complete its development on S. siva eggs. The intrinsic rate of increase, the finite rate of increase, the mean generation time and the net reproductive rate of A. acherontiae on host eggs were 0.059 day-1, 1.06 times per day, 65.48 days and 47.72 offspring per generation, respectively. The valuable data gained on the life table parameters of A. acherontiae can be consider as a candidate classical biological control agent with inundative release for some key pests.

Pistachio is one of the most important and economical agricultural products of Iran from the standpoint of exportation. Iran is the first largest producer of pistachio in the world. Due to expansion of pistachio orchards in Kermanshah province, this research was done in 2017, 2018 and 2019 to identify the pests of these trees. Different sampling methods such as direct collection, rearing in laboratory, sweep in net, white tray, light trap, aspirators were used to collect insects. Finally, 13 species of insect pests including Sulamicerus stali Fieber, Agonoscena pistaciae Burckhardt and Lauterer, Forda hirsuta Mordvilko, Anapulvinaria pistaciae Bodenheimer, Lepidosaphes pistaciae Archangelskaya, Acrosternum heegeri Fieber, Polydrosus davatchii Hoffman, Anthaxia judinae Stepanov, Carphoborus perrisi Chapuis, Recurvaria pistaciicola Danilewski, Eurytoma plontnikovi Nikolskaya were reported on pistachio trees in pistachio orchards. Labidostomis luristanica Warchalowski (Col .: Chrysomelidae) was first report from Kermanshah province and Thrips minutissimus Linnaeus (Thy .: Thripidae) is reported for the first time on pistachio trees.

 The oak trees are considered the most important plant species in western forests of Iran and cynipid wasps create various galls on different parts of the oak trees. There are two oak species including Quercus brantii Lindl. and Q. infectoria Oliv. with different distribution in the forests of Kermanshah province. The present study aimed at investigating the biodiversity of oak gall wasps in different regions of Kermanshah. The oak galls were collected from six regions of Paveh, Javanrood, Gahvareh, Ghalajeh, Chalabeh, and Sarmil during 2011 and 2012 and the diversity indices were calculated based on the obtained data. In this study, a total of 30 different sexual and asexual galls were collected from catkin, buds, fruits, and leaves of Q. brantii (16 galls) and Q. infectoria (14 galls). Neuroterus lanuginosus Giraud, Dryocosmus israeli (Sternlicht), and N. saliens (Kollar) were recognized as the most abundant species and Andricus coriariformis (Melika), A. megalucidus (Melika), A. istvani Melika, Pseudoneuroterus macropterus (Hartig), and Synophrus olivieri (Kieffer) as rare species, respectively. Also, N. lanuginosus, N. saliens and Aphelonyx persica (Melika) were found from all regions and recognized as the dominant cynipid gall wasps species of the oak forests of Kermanshah. The calculated values for the Shannon-Wiener diversity index revealed that the diversity of cynipid wasps in Javanrood (1.878) and Gahvareh (1.870) was greater than Chalabeh (0.873), Paveh (0.681), and Ghalajeh (0.188). Also, the species diversity of gall wasps on Q. infectoria (1.573) was more than Q. brantii (0.574) based on the Shannon-Wiener Index. The greatest diversity of cynipid wasps was obtained at an altitude of 1500-1800 meters. Overall, 17 parasitoid wasp species (Chalcidoidea) were collected from 13 different galls on both oak species which were belonged to Torymidae, Eurytomidae, Ormyridae, Eupelmidae, Eulophidae, and Pteromalidae.

Anastatus acherontiae Narayanan, Subba Rao & Ramachandra is the native egg parasitoid of Streblote siva (Lefebvre) and Acherontia atropos (L.) in Bushehr of Iran which can considered as with potential candidate biological control for agent inundative releases. The A. acherontiae colony was originally established in 2017 from mass eggs of S. siva. These rearing containers were placed in an incubator set at a light/temperature cycle of L16h/26°C and D8h/18°C. The body of the egg is 0.654±0.004 mm and it is ellipsoidal and bears a stalk. The wasp has five larval instars. The average length of the female wasp is 2.678±0.014 mm. There was a significant difference between the lifetime of females fed with honey water solution (109.25±1.47 days) with females provided only with water and host (21.63±0.34 days). The egg development was 3.80±0.12 days. Development from larva to adult was 25.40±0.58 days. The pupal stage lasted 9.80±0.26 days. From the oviposition of A. acherontiae to the emergence of adult was 37.3±0.30 days. The mean of eggs laid was 60.56±1.74. A. acherontiae was able to complete 2 to 3 overlapping generations. In early October, the adult’s wasps appear gradually and this trend continued until December. The second generation of the parasitoid wasp appeared in March and it attacked to the host's spring generations. The overwintering was as prepupa into host egg and adult wasp. The valuable data gained on the biology and population dynamism of A. acherontiae can be help to develop a release strategy of this parasitoid against S. siva.

Stethorus gilvifrons is one of the most important monophagus predators of Tetranychus urticae. In this study, demographic parameters of S. gilvifrons were compared between solitary and group (5 pairs of the predator) rearing systems feeding on different developmental stage of T. uricae at 27±1°C temperature, 60±10% RH and a photoperiod of 16:8 h. L:D. In order to start experiments, 120 eggs (< 24 h. old) were selected randomly from the laboratory culture of S. gilvifrons for each treatment. The data were analyzed based on the age-stage, two-sex life table theory. Developmental times of the incubation period, larval, pupal, and total immature stages of S. gilvifrons were 3.92±0.08, 6.52±0.14, 2.98±0.06, 13.59±0.14 days, respectively, in solitary rearing system. In the case of group rearing, developmental time of S. gilvifrons for the mentioned developmental stages were 3.51±0.06, 6.85±0.21, 2.85±0.11, and 13.18±0.21 days, respectively. Moreover, estimated values of intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ), mean generation times (T), net reproductive rate (R0) and Gross reproduction rate (GRR) were (0.1219; 0.1455 day-1), (1.1297; 1.1567 day-1), (30.23; 19.88 day-1), (39.92; 18.08 offspring/individual), (265.38; 88.37 females/female/generation), respectively in solitary and group rearing systems. According to the obtained results, demographic parameters of the S. gilvifrons were affected by the number of the individuals in the arena, and population growth was less in the group rearing system, in comparison with solitary rearing condition. These findings can be useful for improving mass rearing of S. gilvifrons and biological control programs of Tetranychids.

Intelligent systems have received considerable attention as a modern modeling methods in recent years. These models is used for prediction and classification in situations where the classic statistical models are not able due to their constraints. This study is aimed to compare the ability of ANFIS and multi factor linear regression models for predicting density of all growing stages of Sunn pest. The data population fluctuation of Sunn pest in the years 2015 and 2016 on a farm with an area of one hectar in chadegan city was obtained. Predictor variables including variables sampling date, average temperature, average relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall, height from sea level and degree- day were processed as input data to achive an output of number of developmental stages as response variable. In the ANFIS model, 70% of the data was assigned to training and 30% for validation. After network training and assessment of the best structure according to type, number of membership function and related rules with the use of MATLAB software, the appropriate model was selected based on statistical indices of, root mean square error (RMSE) and coefficient of determination (R2). After sensivity analysis the results showed that ANFIS method (RMSE= 0.051, R2= 0.97) had higher accuracy than multi linear regression (RMSE= 0.26, R2= 0.47) and better predicts the population fluctuation of Sunn pest Eurygaster integriceps.

The Sunn pest, Eurygaster integriceps Put. is one of the main pests of wheat and one of the most important plant protection problems in Iran. Multiple linear regression models have been used to predict the fluctuation of various pest populations by using environmental variables. Using intelligent systems to better estimate insect population fluctuations can lead to better results. Therefore, the current study was conducted to predict population fluctuation of the Sunn pest by using a neuro adaptive fuzzy inference system, a response surface method and multiple linear regression. This study was done during in 2015 and 2016 on two wheat farms each one with an area of one hectare in the Chadegan county. In these models, average temperature, average relative humidity, rainfall, wind speed and direction, sampling date, degree- day and altitude from sea level were used as response variables. The collected data randomly divided in two categories of training (70%) and testing (30%) and they used for train and test of ANFIS and response surface methodology. The accuracy of the prediction was evaluated by R2 and RMSE. The higher performance of the ANFIS model (R2= 0.93, RMSE= 0.0614) and RSM (R2 = 0.88, RMSE= 0.0836) resulted comparing to the multiple linear regression (R2 = 0.23, RMSE= 0.34). Also the results of sensitivity analysis indicated that the average of temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and date of sampling were the most important parameters for predicting density of adult Sunn pest.

The sour oranges is a horticultural crop in Iran and planted as ornamental trees all over the world (except polar regions) such as the north of Iran. The citrus cottony scales Pulvinaria aurantii Ckll. feeds on the foliage and stems of citrus trees and cause tree dieback in heavy infestation. In order to estimate the seasonal population fluctuations in Babol (Mazandaran province, Iran), sampling were done at the height of 1.5 to 2.5 meter of citrus trees  and samples were collected from four  geographical directions and three points including initial, medial and apical 40 cm of the branches. Further information such as daily temperature, relative humidity, and the amount of rainfalls simultaneously were recorded in each sampling date. The maximum number of population was observed in the January of 2014. We found that this species completes four generations per year. Based on the results of this study the best time for managements of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation of P. aurantii Ckll. in Babol is May, September, and to spot spraying in November and December, respectively. Pruning can be usefull too. In this study, natural enemies’ minority were observed which may be related to the insecticide treatments, absence of intermediate host and also the environmental pollution. Our results could lead to improve integrated pest management for P. aurantii Ckll.populations in the north of Iran.

The Sunn-pest, Eurygaster integriceps Put., is the most important insect pest of wheat and barley in Chadegan city, in Isfahan province. This study was conducted on a farm with an area of one hectare in 2015 and 2016 in Chadegan county. In this research with sampling regular population fluctuation and spatial distribution nymphal stage different by using Taylor’s power law and Iwao’s patchiness regression was calculated. Based on the results of Taylor’s power law in 2015 (except 5 nymphal stage) and 2016 the spatial distribution of nymphal instars different, was determined aggregated. In Iwao’s patchiness regression, the spatial distribution of nymphal stages different in 2015, was determined aggregated and in 2016 the spatial distribution except 3 and 4 nymphal instars, was determined aggregated. Upon the results of this research, appearance date 1st to 5th nymphal instars in 2015 were observed in 10th, 16th, 16th, 19th and 26th May respectively. appearance date 1st to 5th nymphal instars in 2016 were observed in 18th, 21th, 23th, 31th May and 4th Jun respectively. Maximum density population 2nd nymphal instar that is the best time for control sunn pest was observed in 2015 and 2016, 30th may (2.43±0.65) and 4th Jun, respectively

The Jujube lappet moth, Streblote siva (Lefebvre) (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae), is one of the most important polyphagous pest in ornamental and forest communities’ species including Conocarpus erectus, Ziziphus spp. and Acacia ampliceps in southern provinces of Iran such as Bushehr, Khuzestan and Hormozgan. This insect was not a significant economic damage in the past, but since huge planting of imported C. erectus tree in urban and industrial areas in these regions, it has become a serious threat to urban open spaces.This study was conducted to determine morphology, biology and dynamism of S. siva.
Mateials and The region of Bushehr was chosen in order to study the population dynamics and biology of S. siva following the stratified random sampling program.
The results showed that the eggs of the insect are large white-brown. The surface of the eggs is brown spotted and they are denser on the egg's poles. S. siva has 6 instars larva. The pupae are in thin sturdy silk cocoons on the branches and trunk of their hosts. According to the results, S. siva spends May to September which is a very hot period in the region, as pupae begins their oversummering and overwintering. In early October, the adult's moths appear gradually and after mating, they start laying eggs on leaves and branches. The insect has two autumnal and a spring generation in cool winters and one autumn and one spring generation in cold winters. The autumn first generation had a clear pick point and the average population gradually declined to the lowest amount in early November. The spring generation adults appeared gradually since the middle of March.
Forests conservation, protection and urban open spaces are very important due to the extreme climates, dust and environmental pollution of the southern regions of Iran. In these circumstances, Conocarpus erectus has been planted in wide areas because of extreme compatibility, resistance to environmental stress and its rapid growth. The results of this research can provide the basic information necessary for the pest management (IPM) of S. siva.

This study aimed to predict population fluctuation of sunn pest in the field using artificial neural network and multiple linear regression was performed. The data on population fluctuation of Sunn pest in years 2015 and 2016 on a farm with an area of one hectare in the city Chadegan was obtained. In this model of the variables sampling date, the average temperature, average relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall as the input variables and population changes mother Sunn pest was used as the outcome variable. The network was used of type Multilayer Perceptron with back propagation algorithm and was learning method Levenberg Markvart. Results showed between these two models, artificial neural network with coefficient of determination 0.96 better than regression with coefficient of determination 0.40 population density of mother Sunn pest was predicted. After sensitivity analysis model for easier and factors more effective extraction, four factors: the number of days of the year, temperature, humidity and wind speed were selected. Neural network model was trained again using the four factor model and a model with 11 hidden layer gave the best result. The coefficient of determination testing stepe was 0.97 that was showed high accuracy relative to the multiple linear regression model with the coefficient of determination 0.43.

Streblote siva (Lefebvre) (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) is one of the important potential pest of Conocarpus erectus L., Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) Willd. and Acacia ampliceps Maslin at Bushehr, Khuzestan and Hormozgan provinces. The life table parameters of S. siva was studied on C. erectus and Z. spina-christi based on the age-stage, two-sex life table at 27±2 ºC, 65±5% RH, and a photoperiod of 12:12 (L:D) h under laboratory conditions using TWO SEX-MS Chart program. The mean and standard errors of the life table parameters were estimated using paired bootstrap method with 200,000 bootstraps. Results showed that S. siva completed its development on every two hosts. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) of S. siva on C. erectus and Z. spina-christi was 0.081 and 0.068 d-1. The finite rate of increase (λ) revealed that the population of S. siva increased as 1.08 and 1.06 times per day on C. erectus and Z. spina-christi, respectively. The mean generation time (T) was 56.24 and 62.74 days on C. erectus and Z. spina-christi, respectively and this difference was statistically significant. The net reproductive rate (R0) of S. siva was 94.83 and 62.93 offspring, respectively. According to the results, it seems that C. erectus is a more suitable host plant for this pest.

The Streblote siva (Lefebvre) (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) is an invasive defoliator of Conocarpus erectus, Ziziphus spina-christi and Acacia ampliceps in southern of Iran. The relationship between fecundity and body size, egg size, Mating as well as longevity in female insects was studied under laboratory conditions. Effect of host’s quality on growth and gain of S. siva was performed using hosts nitrogen content which was measured by the Kjeldahl technique. The strange data range of larva weight, pupae and adult female insects rose to crescendo of oviposition in order to using different nutrition on plant species. However, there were strange relationships among fecundity and pupal weight, adult weight, there was no significant difference in the egg size of the insect reared on different plants hosts (P

Considering the warm and dry climatic conditions of the southern regions of the country as well as dust and environmental contaminations, the conservation and development of forests and urban green spaces is of utmost importance. In these conditions, Conocarpus erectus has been planted in wide areas because of extreme compatibility, resistance to environmental stress, and its rapid growth.
Meanwhile, not paying attention to the importance of biodiversity in the development of plants and the lack of awareness of the consequences of large-scale cultivation of a non-native plant species have caused an outbreak of a harmless insect species called Streblote siva. This pest may also damage the native trees of the area and expensive costs are needed to harness it. In the past, the damage of S. siva was often seen sporadically and with a very small population on the Ziziphus spina-christi, but there are now high-density populations of this pest on the trees of C. erectus. Therefore, S. siva may be a key pest in the near future, threatening the development of Ziziphus, Acacia and Conocarpus forests.

Pales murina Mes. (Tachinidae) which is parasitoid of Jujube Lappet moth Streblote siva (Lefebvre) (Lasiocampidae) in south of Iran, deposits numerous very small eggs (microtype) on the foliages of their caterpillar hosts. Parasitization is successful when the S. siva larva swallow the eggs. To increase parasitization some factors are involved: choosing suitable plants, laying their eggs near the hosts, ingesting eggs by caterpillar host. The behavioral responses of P. murina were investigated to odors from its host and hosts plants infested with the fly’s host, S. siva, in an olfactometer and wind tunnel. It was studied to determine the factors which effect on orientation, searching and host-finding. In this way, they can be detected more readily than volatile cues emitted from herbivores, Semiochemicals infested plants (Conocarpus erectus and Calotropis procera) and frass. Results of olfactometer showed a significantly higher rate of landing of P. murina on caterpillar infested Conocarpus erectus than on rest (χ2=12.019, P=0.007, df=3). Also differences were detected between treatments fresh frass with the rests (χ2=9.940, P=.019, df=3). Results of bioassay of wind tunnel showed that there was significant difference between caterpillar infested and mechanically wounded C. erectus (χ2=14.40, df=1, P=0.000), caterpillar infested C. erectus vs. C. procera (χ2=18.667, df=1, P=0.000) and fresh frass vs. sand (χ2=4.90, df=1, P=0.027). The results show that P. murina exploits a different host- finding strategy to make use of specific Semiochemicals coming from suitable plant–herbivore interaction as odors and fresh frass of host in order to increase their parasitization success.

Introduction Tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum Miller has a special place among agricultural products. A wide range of pests and diseases are causing damage to tomato. Tomato fruit worm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) 1809 and beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hubner) 1808 are two important pests of the Lepidoptera order, which aggress to the tomato. Biological control by predators and other natural enemies is an important components of a comprehensive pest management program (IPM). Among the natural enemies, parasitoids has special significance and can be used in biological control of pest plants. Habrobracon hebetor Say (Hymenoptera braconidae) is a cosmopolitan, gregarious, ectoparasitoid that attacks the larval stage of several species of Lepidoptera and is considered one of the best potential biological control agent. Study of pest density on different cultivars has an important role in choosing appropriate method and time control, and is basis of plant restance. Therefore in this study mentioned pest density and efficiency of h. hebetor was assessed.
Materials and Methods Population density and larval parasitism by H. hebetor was examined on twelve tomato varieties including, Rio fujio, AB2, Mariana, Gem pride, King ston, Super queen, 9704, 9706, 9553 and PS 6515 in field conditions during 2014. All experiments were conducted in a randomized complete block design. Five weeks after transplanting, sampling performed randomly. At three-days intervals, egg, larvae and parasitized larvae of each moth were collected on different cultivars of tomato. The whole of each tomato plant were checked for the presence of pests and the number of eggs. 400 and 570 wasps were released in two steps in june 24th and july 23th during 2014, respectively. Number of healthy and parasitized larvae of each pest were counted and recorded to calculate the parasitism percentage. The trichomes density of defferent varieties of tomato was assessed by a stereo microscope with a magnification of 70. The density of trichomes in the leaves after the terminal bud per plant (per square millimeter) were counted and recorded at three points around the midrib. Statistical analysis of data was carried out using Exel 2013 and SPSS 18.0 software.
Results and Discussion The results of the study showed that the pest density had no significant differences among different cultivars of tomatoes, while there were significant differences in different dates of sampling. The highest density of tomato fruit worm and beet armyworm larvae was observed on AB2 and Kingstone, respectively, while the lowest density of these larvae was obtained on the Kingstone and 6515 respectively. Also, the highest density of h. armigera was in 17 and 22 july 2014 that coincided with the ninth and tenth weeks after transplanting in the field. Parasitism percentage of tomato fruit worm and beet armyworm was significant among different dates of sampling but no significant differences were observed among different cultivars. The highest parasitism percentage of tomato fruit worm larvae was obtained in 22 and 27 july 2014. The highest density of pest was occured in 24 and 27 June and 3 July 2014 coincides with the sixth and seventh tomato growth. The highest larval parasitism of beet armyworm was observed in 17 July 2014, three weeks after bracon release. Study on tomato leaf trichomes density in different varieties with highest and lowest population of tomato fruit worm larvae indicated that, the highest density was observed in Kingston variety. Biological and behavioral differences of tomato fruit worm and beet armyworm are could be effective on host preference by these pests, in addition chemical compounds produced by different varieties of tomato (repellents and attractants) are effective on host selection for oviposition and influence pest population.
Conclusions Release of parasitoid wasp, H. hebetor to control the larvae of the tomato fruit worm and beet armyworm, plays an effective role as a biological agent and can be used in a management program of theses pest. According to the text, due to the compatibility of resistant cultivars with other control methods and environment, more study on the role of trichomes in plant resistance is recommended to introduce a resistant cultivars of tomato to mentioned pests.