Data tables include: 1) insect pest counts and management information (plant stand density, stem density, stand age, total alfalfa weevil insecticide sprays, total other sprays) dataframe across the growing season for different plots/fields (Table 1), and 2) daily weather parameters and calculated values (growing degree days and previous 7 days of precipitation) data compiled from local weather stations (Table 2). Table 2 was joined with Table 1 when conducting redundancy analyses.

Insect pest abundances varied across years and sites in southern Alberta (Figure 3), indicating that local scale differences are important for pest management. Insecticide management decisions made by individual farmers confound the differences in insect pest populations, yet even untreated areas had variable insect pests and yields across and within fields (Figures 3 and 4). This real-world variability makes it difficult to determine the impact of both insect pests and insecticide applications. Farmers used different insecticide treatments in both number of sprays and active ingredients used, making it difficult to parse out results, particularly with areas with insecticide resistance issues for alfalfa weevil [4,6]. Therefore, for examining regional weather predictors on insect pest communities and clustering of insect pest communities, analyses were conducted on unsprayed plots only. Sprayed plots were only used in analyses that related to insecticide application practices. Lastly, paired insecticide sprayed and unsprayed plots were considered a block, therefore insect pest classes that were determined from unsprayed insect pest community data were assumed to be the same class for the corresponding sprayed plots given the proximity. 

Given this work is real on-farm data, there are limitations in interpretting insecticide controls due to the different number of applications, timings and mode of actions used. Further, there are other confounding effects that cannot be accounted for here, including yield losses due to other pests, such as pathogens and weeds, and damage from hail and adverse weather conditions. Lastly, other factors influence the survival and success of insect pests, including the ability of an insect to overwinter, changes in seasonal temperatures, availability of alternate hosts and surrounding crops, insect competition, beneficial predators and parasitoids, and insecticide resistant populations.