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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #129293
Title: EFFECT OF SYNTHETIC PHEROMONE ON GYPSY MOTH (LEPIDOPTERA: LYMANTRIIDAE) TRAP CATCH AND MATING SUCCESS BEYOND TREATED AREAS

Author
item SHAROV, A - VIRGINIA TECH
item Thorpe, Kevin
item TCHESLAVSKAIA, K - VIRGINIA TECH

Submitted to: Environmental Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/12/2002
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The gypsy moth is a serious pest of hardwood forests in northeastern United States. Since its introduction into Massachusetts in 1869, it has spread to Virginia and North Carolina in the south, Indiana and Illinois in the west, and Wisconsin in the north. To slow its spread, more than 200,000 acres of forests are treated annually with the gypsy moth sex pheromone, disparlure, to disrupt mating. An important advantage of this method is unlike most other control methods available for this pest, mating disruption only affects the gypsy moth and therefore, has no unintended environmental impacts. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent mating is disrupted beyond the edges of treated areas. If mating is disrupted at some distance from the site of application, then it would be possible to leave gaps in the coverage without loss of effectiveness. The results of this study show that, in most cases, effects from mating disruption treatments can be observed up to 250 m from treated areas. In one instance along a narrow valley the effects were seen up to 600 m. These results show that uniform coverage of mating disruptant treatments is not necessary, and some gaps in coverage will not result in treatment failure. Further work is planned to determine how wide gaps in coverage can be without reducing treatment effectiveness. The information presented in this report will help government agencies, gypsy moth control specialists, and other persons interested in gypsy moth mating disruption programs understand how to best use this tactic to manage gypsy moth populations and slow the rate of population expansion.

Technical Abstract: Racemic disparlure sprayed at doses of 37-75 g/ha AI for mating disruption of gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar (L.)) interfered with male moth search behavior outside of treated plots. Counts of feral male moths in pheromone-baited traps and the number of recaptured moths from a released laboratory strain gradually increased with increasing distance from treated dareas. In most cases this effect was observed up to 250 m from treated plots. However, in one location it was extended to 600 m along a narrow valley. The proportion of tethered females that mated during a 1-day exposure also increased gradually with increasing distance from treated plots. The relationship between male moth capture rates in pheromone traps and mating success of tethered females near treated plots was the same as observed in previous studies in pheromone-free areas.