Vibrational mating disruption of Empoasca vitis by natural or artificial disturbance noises

Abstract

Background The green leafhopper, Empoasca vitis, is a polyphagous pest of grapevine and tea plants. To date population density is controlled primarily by insecticides and there is a demand for more sustainable controls. To develop a vibrational mating disruption method, the natural occurrence of a ‘disruptive signal’ was investigated. Further, the efficacy of natural and artificial ‘disruptive signals’ was determined. Results With behavioral trials we described male rivalry and recorded a species‐specific disruptive signal (DP). The DP, a single pulse overlapping the competitor male call, interfered with the rival's ability to locate the female. Laboratory playback disruption trials revealed that the pair formation process was prevented by artificial disturbance noises that included the following features: E. vitis DP, Scaphoideus titanus disturbance noise, and a pure tone (250 Hz). Among these, the pure tone was most efficient at preventing mating. Conclusion Results support development of a vibrational mating disruption method as a control strategy for E. vitis. To simultaneously disrupt the mating of E. vitis and S. titanus, the possibility of applying the S. titanus disturbance noise combined with the pure tone is discussed. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry

Application of vibrational signals to study and manipulate an insect vector: the case of Philaenus spumarius (Hemiptera: Aphrophoridae)

“…Further research could assess whether P. spumarius uses the MMS as form of aggressive/alarm signal when coming into contact with individuals of other species as well, especially predators and parasitoids, since similar information could finally unravel its role. In a previous study, we hypothesized that the MMS could underlie a rivalry signal aimed at interfering with an ongoing duet, as observed in other auchenorrhynchans 17,24,30,35,36 . Even so, a similar behavior was not observed in P. spumarius , as in our trials males did not produce signals to hinder the communication between the female and the rival, and even the continuous transmission of the MMS in test 3A did not prevent mating.…”

Anthropogenic noise and the bioacoustics of terrestrial invertebrates

“…Interestingly, a handful of studies on substrate-borne noise and mating were motivated by the potential to use noise for pest management in agriculture (Polajnar et al, 2015). For example, researchers found that playing substrate-borne noise to mask the mating calls of leafhoppers results in reduced mating (Mazzoni et al, 2009;Eriksson et al, 2012;Nieri and Mazzoni, 2018). In addition, Hofstetter et al (2014) reported reduced reproductive success, movement and survival of pine bark beetles in the presence of substrate-borne noise that spectrally overlapped with beetle signals.…”

Vibrational playbacks and microscopy to study the signalling behaviour and female physiology of Philaenusspumarius

“…Increasing our knowledge in this respect would contribute to a better comprehension of the species phenology and of the potential to apply biotremology techniques to control this pest. This emerging field of discipline aims at using vibrational signals to modify the behaviour of insect pests, as shown in the field against the grapevine leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), and in the laboratory against other two species, Empoasca vitis (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) and Homalodisca vitripennis (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae; Gordon & Krugner, 2019; Mazzoni et al., 2009; Nieri & Mazzoni, 2019).…”