UBC Undergraduate Research

Investigation and recommendation of pest population supression in artificial urban waterscape Yang, Nelson (Maki)

Abstract

In late 2003, the residential areas of Southern UBC campus, Hawthorn Place had a small pond about 8” deep installed at the lower end of a rain-fed artificial creek constructed with rocks over plastic membrane. Algae were found to be growing in the pond. The algae growth was assumed to result in insect reproduction and in combination with the residents pest complaints, the storm basin drain was lowered to prevent water accumulation thus removing the pond. This project is being proposed to examine the insect fauna in the Hawthorn Place Park pond once it is rewetted, and to recommend a biological-controlled program to suppress the pest population. The water features will be reintroduced by changing elevation of the drain outlet. Doing so will contribute to headwaters of the watershed that flows from Hawthorn Place through to the Botanical Gardens and then Trail 7 Creek within Pacific Spirit Park. The re-establishment of the headwaters as well as the watershed surface feature is believed to provide ecological services, slowing stormwater, reduce influx into sewage treatment and public amenities by means of a potential children’s park and waterscape feature. Based on the result of the experiment, an ecologically benefiting and sustainable method which will promote local species diversity as well as a chemical free pest management program will be suggested. The experiment will be composed of two phases. Phase one from Jan-April will be the literature stage where the local history of the water feature as well as the various pre-existing biopest protocols will be studied. Phase two from April-August will be the field application stage where a survey of the local pest population will be performed and the result findings of phase one will be put to test followed by a critical evaluation and a recommendation of future pest population suppression based on the tested result. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada