There are insects that can feed on a great number of plants; a group commonly known as leaf hoppers is among others. Many persons have seen them in garden plants, either on ornamental or fruit trees or on smaller plants.

One of these insects, known in the scientific world asHomalodisca liturata, jumps from one tree to the other. We frequently see it on the floor at dawn because it is intensively attracted to light - lamps and light bulbs in public street lights. When these insects feed, they inject needles and suck plant fluids. When they are full, they eliminate fluid as very soft dew like rain, which seems strange because its form and color melts with the tree branches.

Knowledge of plant-insect interaction is very important because it has been demonstrated that several vector species make plants sick and even kill them because there are many microscopic organisms that are injected to the plants through their mouth in the form of needles. Mainly viruses and phytoplasma are among these pathogens.

This problem is particularly dangerous in cultivation fields because when insects jump from one plant to the other they infect them until they create a severe problem for farmers.

In Baja California Sur, there is scarce knowledge in this subject. Thus the reason for this project whose objectives are to support farmers of organic basil, tomato, and chili pepper, because these are the most important vegetable cultivations in the state. How can we achieve this? First, we need to know the species of leaf hoppers that have this quality because there are species that do not affect plants in this manner; we need to see if they are viruses and/or phytoplasma, and then identify their possible natural enemies to fight them avoiding as much as possible the use of pesticides that harm our field, wild species, and the sea.

This project is also being performed on fruit trees especially citrus to support orange farmers from  Valle. This is why we are collaborating with the Comité de Sanidad Vegetal de B.C.S. [Plant Health Committee of Baja California Sur] and with farmers from the valley of Ciudad Constitución.