Promote a greater interest and understanding of the principles and practices concerning the management of agricultural systems; with primary regard to the management of herbivorous and entomophagous arthropods. Increase the ability of the students to articulate these concepts.

The course will provide up-to-date coverage of principles of agroecosystem management, and will be oriented to provide students from a range of agricultural disciplines an understanding of quantitative techniques used in agricultural management. Attention will focus on the study and development of environmentally compatible and economically sound management systems. The material presented in this course will be of value to graduate students from a range of agricultural disciplines including agronomy, entomology, horticulture, and plant pathology.

Schedule

The course will be offered every Fall Semester, and will have three lecture/discussion periods per week.

Completion of either Ento 401, 402, or 424, or consent of instructor.

First exam 15%, Second exam 25%, Presentation 5%, Discussion Involvement 5%, Paper 20%, Final 30%. The grade received in the course will be determined using the following criteria; A (100-87), B (<87-77), C (<77-67), D (<67-57), F (< 57).

The first exam will cover the lecture and discussion material presented during the first third of the semester. The second exam will similarly cover the material presented during the second third of the semester. The final exam will be comprehensive but ca. 40% will be based on the material presented during the last third of the semester. Exams (except for finals) will be comprised of a short answer-problem solving section to be complete in class, and a take home open book section. The take home section will be comprised of 1/2 to 2 page essays and a few problem solving questions. The take home section must be double-spaced and typed (except for equations and graphs which may be hand written), and be turned in by the following lecture. Five percent will be deducted from an exam grade for each day that the student is late in turning in the take home exam. An additional 10 percent will be deducted for hand written take home exams.

During each lecture period, student will be asked questions relating to the information presented during the lecture, or relating to assigned reading. In addition, approximately five class meetings will involve student participation on selected problems. Each problem set will be assigned one week in advance of their due date. Problem sets are due at the start of the period. Each student will be requested to explain to the class how they answered one or more of the questions

Each student will write one 15-30 page paper. Each student must turn in a typed outline of their paper by the fourth week of class. For the appropriate format, students are referred to the Information for Contributors page of either Environmental Entomology or Journal of Economic Entomology (JEE), and any recently JEE publication. The paper will be graded on the thoroughness of the review (60%), clarity of writing (20%), and adherence to the indicated format (20%). If you have not previously written a peer-reviewed journal article, please come and see the instructor who will provide you with details on how to obtain information on journal formats. All papers are due two weeks before the end of the semester. Papers turned in at least 7 days before the due date will be reviewed by the instructor, returned to the student, and the student allowed to improve the paper if the revised version is returned by the due date. Five percent will be deduced from a papers grade for each day the paper is turned in late.

If a student has a question as to how best to cite published or previously written material, please discuss the matter with the instructor. Submission of someone else's term paper or answer to an essay question as part of a take home exam or take home problem set constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism can result in an automatic failing grade for the semester. Additional penalties may be imposed by the College or University.

Selected readings. References for about 2-3 papers are provided each week. In addition, the following books are suggested as general references.

Horn, D. J. 1988. Ecological approach to pest management. Guilford Press, New York, N. Y., USA, 285 pp.