Assessment of the USDA biomass harvest trap device as an insect harvest and mosquito surveillance tool

Authors: LADO, PAULA - Oak Ridge Institute For Science And Education (ORISE); ROGERS, D. CHRISTOPHER - University Of Kansas; CERNICCHIARO, NATALIA - Kansas State University; SWISTEK, SABRINA - Mississippi State University; VAN NEST, KORTNEE - Kansas State University; Shults, Phillip; Ewing, Robert; OKESON, DANELLE - Rolling Hills Zoo; Brabec, Daniel - Dan; Cohnstaedt, Lee

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/22/2024
Publication Date: 7/6/2024
Citation: Lado, P., Rogers, D., Cernicchiaro, N., Swistek, S., Van Nest, K., Shults, P.T., Ewing, R.D., Okeson, D., Brabec, D.L., Cohnstaedt, L.W. 2024. Assessment of the USDA biomass harvest trap device as an insect harvest and mosquito surveillance tool. Journal of Economic Entomology. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toae095.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toae095

Interpretive Summary: Insects can be a source of protein and are likely have a role in the future of animal farming. The main way insects are produced is farming them but this method is not scalable at this time. To aid in the transition of using insects as animal feed, insect harvesting was suggested and this is collecting insects in massive quantities from naturally abundant areas around intensive agriculture. The United States Department of Agriculture -Biomass Harvest Trap (USDA-BHT) device was invented to harvest insects for food. This manuscript evaluates the trap performance and defines the limitations of using it such as the impact on beneficial insects and when to use it during the day.

Technical Abstract: Insects are a promising source of high-quality protein, and the insect farming industry will achieve a more sustainable agriculture once it overcomes issues pertaining to scaling up, cost effectiveness, and automation. In contrast to insect farming, wild insect harvest where agricultural pests are naturally abundant, may constitute a short-term sustainable strategy. Enough insect biomass needs to be collected while simultaneously avoiding the collection of nontarget insects, including beneficial insects for wild harvest to be successful. We assessed the performance of the novel USDA Biomass Harvest Trap (USDA-BHT) device to collect flying insect biomass and as a mosquito surveillance tool. The USDA-BHT device was compared to other suction traps commonly used for mosquito surveillance (Centers for Disease Control light traps, Encephalitis virus surveillance traps, and Biogents© Sentinel traps), which are industry standards for assessing mosquito abundance and diversity. We focused on nontarget insect collections to determine the traps effect on beneficial insects. Significantly more insect biomass was harvested in the USDA-BHT than the other traps and mosquito collections between traps were not significantly different. The USDA-BHT did not collect a significant number of nontarget beneficial species. Nocturnal, compared to diurnal, use minimized beneficial insect collection and maximized biomass collection. The sorting time to separate the mosquitoes from the other collected insects (bycatch) was significantly longer for the USDA-BHT, suggesting that the use of this device as an insect biomass collector conflicts with its use as an efficient mosquito surveillance tool.