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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Vegetable Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #295850
Title: Flight synchrony among the major moth pests of cranberries in the Upper Midwest, USA

Author
item Steffan, Shawn
item SINGLETON, MERRITT - University Of Wisconsin
item SOJKA, JAYNE - Lady Bug Integrated Pest Management
item Chasen, Elissa
item DEUTSCH, ANNIE - University Of Wisconsin
item Zalapa, Juan
item GUEDOT, CHRISTELLE - University Of Wisconsin

Submitted to: Insects
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/21/2017
Publication Date: 2/26/2017
Citation: Steffan, S.A., Singleton, M.E., Sojka, J., Chasen, E.M., Deutsch, A.E., Zalapa, J.E., Guedot, C. 2017. Flight synchrony among the major moth pests of cranberries in the Upper Midwest, USA. Insects. 8(1):26. doi: 10.3390/insects8010026.

Interpretive Summary: This paper translates years of trapping records into pest prediction models. We provide the cranberry grower community with the degree-day accumulations associated with the beginning of the mating flight, as well as the peak flight (half-way point), for the three most important pests of cranberries in Wisconsin. The initiation and peak of the male flight represent key stages for the pests and thus are commonly used as important benchmarks for the timing of pest control strategies. Having degree-day values for these key biological events effectively creates unambiguous “targets” for the major pest species of cranberry. Knowing the developmental status of an insect population in the field allows pest management professionals to assess the stage and densities of pests without exhaustive sampling of the crop. These are the types of technologies that shape how cranberries will be managed in the future.

Technical Abstract: The cranberry fruitworm (Acrobasis vaccinii), Sparganothis fruitworm (Sparganothis sulfureana), and black-headed fireworm (Rhopobota naevana) are major insect pests of the American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) in Wisconsin. While much is known of their natural histories, relatively little has been documented regarding the temperature-mediated developmental thresholds of these pests. Accordingly, there have been no associations between degree-day accumulations and key biological events (e.g., egg hatch, initiation of flight, peak flight). Here, we use the developmental thresholds of the cranberry plant as a proxy for the insect species. We tallied pheromone-based trap-catch data across seven years to determine the initiation of flight and general flight dynamics. We then associated these events with the corresponding degree-day accumulations generated using the cranberry plant’s developmental thresholds. Finally, we modeled the peak flight of the three main lepidopteran pest species in cranberry in the central Wisconsin growing region. Understanding the relationship between moth flight and temperature will improve the timing of scouting efforts and pest management tactics.