Case studies in the effectiveness and use of sentinel traps for parasitoids of phytophagous pest insects including spotted-wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii)

Biological control agents can be highly effective in controlling invasive phytophagous pest insects in agricultural and other ecosystems. Often scientists have few resources to determine the impacts of parasitism of such populations soon after invasion has occurred. One such tool includes the use of sentinel traps containing the host insect. Such a sentinel trap can be used to determine for the presence of resident parasitoids that may co-occur during such early colonization. Here we will present several case studies of the use of sentinel traps as a tool for such pest populations. Often, an import component of a sentinel trap is the choice or media that the pest insect can use to complete their lifecycle. For hemimetabolous insects, such media might provide options where biocontrol impacts can be determined for a wide range of life stages. For holometabolous insects, such options do not always provide a complete picture of biocontrol impact of a range of life stages. Here we will look at examples, advantages, and disadvantages of a range of sentinel trap designs, and data generated from these. We will present data of early D. suzukii sentinel trap designs in the USA.