Location: Subtropical Horticulture Research
Project Number: 6038-22000-007-015-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: May 1, 2024
End Date: Apr 30, 2028
Objective:
To apply automated detection algorithms to identify and detect tephritid fruit flies that threaten U.S. subtropical agriculture. Target pests include fruit flies that threaten to invade or have established in South Florida such as, but not limited to, Caribbean fruit fly and other Anastrepha spp., Oriental fruit fly, and Mediterranean fruit fly that cause significant damage to fruit crops.
Approach:
Algorithms will be used as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) approach to automatically detect and identify invasive species of tephiritid fruit flies of fruit crops that have established locally or pose significant invasive potential. Strategies will include development of smart trap system that incorporate AI-driven system that trained to detect and identify tephritid fruit flies, and field validation of developed trapping system with attractants/lures in small field or field cages. The models in AI-driven system will be trained with algorithms by a series of pest images. Research include comparing multiple smart trap designs at varied test scales in lab and field, lab bioassays, electrophysiology experiments, toxicology experiments, and chemical analyses of bioactive substrates in traps, as appropriate for each target species and IPM component.
