Differential responses of three Agriotes click beetle species to pheromone traps

Abstract

1 Previous work had suggested that adult male click beetles ( Agriotes spp.) show differential responses to species specific pheromone traps. This hypothesis was tested using mark -release -recapture methods to estimate the maximum sampling range and the effective sampling area of traps for three species. 2 Captured beetles of the species Agriotes lineatus , Agriotes obscurus and Agriotes sputator were marked to show the direction of release, the distance of the release point from the trap and the replicate. Analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences in recapture rates between species and release distances. There were no significant differences between release direction and replicates. 3 Calculated linear speeds suggested differences in movement rates in the order:A. lineatus > A. obscurus > A. sputator . There were also substantial differences between the species in the maximum sampling ranges and effective sampling areas of the traps. These placed the species in the same order. 4 The results are used to estimate the minimum cost of mass trapping programmes to prevent males from mating, giving values of € 165/ha/year ( A. lineatus ), € 247.5/ ha/year ( A. obscurus ) and € 2343/ha/year ( A. sputator ). 5 Implications for the use of pheromone traps in wireworm pest management are discussed. It is concluded that current U.K. recommendations based on the cumulative total catch of the three species over a sampling season can be improved by considering the spatial relationships between the adult trapping system and larval distribution. The current constraint to this is the general inability to separate wireworms into species.

Seasonal fluctuation of Agriotes lineatus, A. obscurus and A. sputator click beetles caught using pheromone traps in Poland

“…These values are comparable with those reported by Hicks and Blackshaw (2008) with total recaptures of 39% (A. lineatus) and 27% (A. obscurus). The development of insects is strongly affected by weather conditions (Hicks & Blackshaw 2008;Benefer et al 2012) and it is suggested that climate changes have the potential of affecting their future population dynamics and intensity in agricultural systems. In our study, no clear relationship between weather conditions and the first flight peak could be observed.…”

“…Its dominance was observed in 2011 and 2014. Both our own research (Jakubowska &Glauninger (2013) as well as Hicks and Blackshaw (2008) proved that weather conditions prevailing in the growing seasons have https://doi.org/10.17221/39/2016-PPS an important influence on the occurrence of the Elateridae. Moreover, according to different authors, the largest number of the caught species of the wireworms is affected by the position of traps in the fields of different vegetables and agricultural crops as well as in grassland surrounding the plantations.…”

“…The task of pheromone traps is to allow orientation in the number of beetles, which indirectly affects the number of larvae, as well as monitoring and preparation of control strategies in the future. The traps have been used successfully in a number of European countries (Germany, France, Belarus), the USa and Canada (Vernon & Tóth 2007;Hicks & Blackshaw 2008;Cannaert et al 2011;Vidal et al 2011;Trepashko & Ilyuk 2012).…”

“…Specific synthetic sex pheromones for male trapping have been developed (Toth et al 2003) to monitor the flight behaviour of these species and the recent development of YaTlOrf traps proved to be highly efficient in capturing male click beetle (Agriotes) species (Furlan et al 2001). However, Hicks and Blackshaw (2008) showed that there is a considerable variability in the performance of sex pheromone trapping systems and optimal trap spacing for several Agriotes species. In general, pheromone traps have been proven to be effective for monitoring and may have a potential to suppress low density populations.…”

Control methods and monitoring of Agriotes wireworms (Coleoptera: Elateridae)

“…However, Sufyan et al (2011) concluded the 10 m-distance as too short for an efficient mass trapping as it would require a dense network of pheromone traps. Hicks & Blackshaw (2008) estimated the minimum costs of mass trapping programmes to prevent males from mating, giving the amount of 165 € ha -1 year -1 (A. lineatus), 247.5 € ha -1 year -1 (A. obscurus) and 2 343 € ha -1 year -1 (A. sputator) based on experiments in the UK. Disrupting mating patterns will be easier for the short-lived adult populations of A. ustulatus and A. litigiosus due to protandry and due to a short and well-defined swarming period (Furlan 2005b).…”