OPEN ACCESS AJPS Influence of Weather Factors on Seasonal Population Dynamics of Coelaenomenodera elaeidis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and Its Natural Enemies

Copyright © 2014 T. I. Aneni et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In accor-dance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2014 are reserved for SCIRP and the owner of the intellectual property T. I. Aneni et al. All Copyright © 2014 are guarded by law and by SCIRP as a guardian. The leaf miner (Coelaenomenodera elaeidis) is the major pest of the oil palm. Seasonality of C. elaeidis, its natural enemies and their relationship with temperature, rainfall and relative humidity were observed between January 2009 and December 2010 at the main station of the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research. Leaf miner popula-tion estimates were obtained from NIFOR entomology division from 1976-1980. This study analyses temporal patterns in leaf miner abundance, and elucidates general patterns and factors influencing leaf miner abundance. Multiple linear regressions were used to analyse the relationship between abundance of leaf miner, its parasi-toids and predators and the following climatic variables: maximum and minimum temperature (˚C), rainfall (mm) and relative humidity (%). Climate variables from the month of pest collection (control variable) or from the month before collection (delayed variable) were used. The abundance of leaf miner and predatory ants peaked in the dry season, while parasitoids were most abundant in the rainy season. Significant correlations (P