Gypsy moth mating disruption in open landscapes

• Published in: Agricultural and forest entomology Vol. 10; no. 3; pp. 175 - 179
• Main Authors: (Tcheslavskaia) Onufrieva, Ksenia S, Thorpe, Kevin W, Hickman, Andrea D, Leonard, Donna S, Mastro, Victor C, Roberts, E. Anderson
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2008; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: aerial application; Animal reproduction; Butterflies & moths; Disparlure; dose response; Entomology; forest trees; gypsy moth; insect control; Lymantria dispar; male-female distance; male-female proximity; mating behavior; mating disruption; mating success; Pest control; Trees; Virginia
• ISSN: 1461-9555; 1461-9563
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-9563.2008.00375.x

1 Aerial applications of Disrupt II, a plastic laminated flake formulation containing a racemic form of the gypsy moth sex pheromone, disparlure, achieved > 99% reduction of mating among females on individual, isolated trees surrounded by an area cleared of trees. 2 These results support the use of mating disruption to eradicate isolated gypsy moth populations in open landscapes, such as parks, residential areas and commercial settings. 3 Mating success in both treated and untreated areas varied with the initial distance between males and females. When the initial distance between males and females was < 5 cm in an area receiving a dosage of 37.5 g of racemic disparlure per ha, mating success was reduced by 27% compared with a similar deployment in an untreated area. Mating was eliminated in areas treated at the same dosage when males and females were initially deployed 1 m apart but on separate trees. 4 This suggests that mating disruption may not be an effective tactic for gypsy moth eradication in cases where the infestation is concentrated on a small number of trees and males and females are in close proximity in space and time.