Allen University, Columbia, South Carolina, Junior, major: Biology

Mentor: Terry Arbogast

Efficiency of Baited and Non-baited Pitfall Traps in Capturing Lasioderma serricorne

Abstract:  The cigarette beetle, (Lasioderma serricorne) is a major pest of stored products.  It feeds on a variety of products including spices, flour, cereal, dry mixes, and almost anything stored in homes, stores, and warehouses. These pests are so hard to control because of the large number of eggs that they produce and the vast number of items that they attack.  In an attempt to use control methods to minimize the use of pesticides, and also determine and compare the trap efficiency of baited and nonbaited traps, pitfall traps were set up at the CMAVE shed.  The experiment consisted of releasing 2000 beetles into the shed and recording the number of beetles captured.  In addition to recording the number of beetles, temperature was also measured at each trap position and release position.  Each treatment was replicated three times.  The data collected were then entered and analyzed in an Excel spreadsheet.  The information developed from this experiment, will help us in estimating how many beetles were captured, thus making it better for us to minimize the number of pests found in homes, stores and warehouses.  This will also help limit the use of pesticides.

Deonna Young counts cigarette beetles captured in a pitfall trap.

Deonna is analyzing trap catch and temperature data using spreadsheet and statistical programs.