ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF Forest Entomology & Integrated Pest Management: practice questions

1 · Defoliators: teak defoliator and other major defoliators · hard

Studies at the Kerala Forest Research Institute on protecting teak from defoliation showed that:

1. Protected plantations had substantially higher volume increment
2. Defoliation had no effect on growth, because teak simply refoliates
3. Protection reduced growth by removing beneficial insects
4. Defoliation increased wood density and timber value

2 · Bark beetles and wood borers · hard

The wood wasp Sirex noctilio damages pines by:

1. Laying eggs with a symbiotic fungus that, with its mucus, weakens and kills the tree
2. Defoliating needles in spring with chewing larvae that feed in large colonies
3. Sucking sap from shoots and spreading viruses
4. Forming galls on roots that block water uptake

3 · Sap-suckers, gall-formers and shoot borers · medium

Which pest spread across Asia in the 1980s and devastated plantings of Leucaena leucocephala?

1. The eucalyptus gall wasp, Leptocybe invasa
2. The teak defoliator, Hyblaea puera
3. The leucaena psyllid, Heteropsylla cubana
4. The emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis

4 · Sap-suckers, gall-formers and shoot borers · hard

The hemlock woolly adelgid is an example of:

1. A native defoliator of teak in South Asia
2. An invasive sap-sucker that has killed large numbers of eastern hemlock
3. A beneficial predator released in North America to control aphids
4. A seed chalcid of Douglas-fir

5 · Seed and cone insects · hard

Cold storage helps protect stored tree seed from insects mainly because it:

1. Slows insect development and activity
2. Kills all insect stages instantly at any temperature below 15 °C
3. Makes seed coats impenetrable to all insects
4. Increases seed moisture, drowning insect larvae

6 · Seed and cone insects · hard

Seed bugs (Hemiptera) damage tree seeds by:

1. Chewing seeds into flour with their mandibles
2. Sucking the contents of developing seeds through their stylets
3. Boring tunnels through cones as larvae and eating many seeds each
4. Laying eggs inside seeds where larvae pupate

7 · Nursery pests and termites · hard

Why are older persistent soil insecticides no longer recommended against termites in many countries?

1. They have been banned or restricted for persistence and toxicity
2. Termites have become immune to every chemical ever used against them
3. They were found to increase termite growth
4. They dissolve seedlings' roots

8 · Population dynamics and outbreaks · medium

Life tables help identify:

1. The stages and factors that drive population change
2. The age of the oldest tree in a stand
3. The timber value of a compartment
4. The number of species in a forest

9 · Population dynamics and outbreaks · hard

Invasive pests often cause sustained outbreaks in their new range mainly because:

1. They lose the ability to reproduce in the new range
2. Native trees always lack any resin defences
3. Their populations become density-independent
4. They escape their natural enemies

10 · Pest surveillance and quarantine for forest products · easy

The International Plant Protection Convention was first adopted in:

1. 1914
2. 1951
3. 1992
4. 2003