Persistent effects of aerial applications of disparlure on gypsy moth: trap catch and mating success

• Published in: Entomologia experimentalis et applicata Vol. 125; no. 3; pp. 223 - 229
• Main Authors: Thorpe, Kevin W., Tcheslavskaia, Ksenia S., Tobin, Patrick C., Blackburn, Laura M., Leonard, Donna S., Roberts, E. Anderson
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2007; Blackwell
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Control; flake; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Integrated pest control; Lepidoptera; Lymantria dispar; Lymantriidae; mating disruption; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; Protozoa. Invertebrates; Lymantriidae; Mating disruption; Insecta; Persistence; Trapping; Pest; Efficiency; Arthropoda; Lepidoptera; Breeding success; flake; Invertebrata; Integrated pest management; Aerial application; Lymantria dispar
• ISSN: 0013-8703; 1570-7458
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2007.00613.x

In forest plots treated aerially with a plastic laminated flake formulation (Disrupt® II) of the gypsy moth sex pheromone disparlure to disrupt gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae), mating was monitored the year of treatment and 1–2 years after treatment to determine the effects of the treatment on suppression of trap catch and mating success. In the year of treatment, there was a greater than 95% reduction in trap catch and a greater than 98% reduction in mating success compared to controls. One year after treatment at a dosage of 37.5 g active ingredient (a.i.) ha−1, trap catch was reduced by 46–56% and mating success was reduced by 60–79%. Both trap catch and mating success were significantly reduced compared to controls in plots treated 1 year previously at 15 g a.i. ha−1. Trap catch, but not mating success, was significantly reduced 2 years after treatment at 37.5 g a.i. ha−1. The efficacy of mating disruption (MD) treatments in the Slow‐the‐Spread of the Gypsy Moth program was significantly reduced 2 years compared to 1 year after treatment. No such reduction was observed in plots treated with aerial applications of Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki. The higher apparent efficacy of MD treatments 1 year after application may result to some extent from the suppression of moth capture in pheromone traps from the persistent effects of the previous year's treatment.