The invasive vinegar fly, spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura), has become a severe economic pest in lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton). Lowbush blueberry is a valuable native economic crop in Maine, and SWD has the potential to cause revenue losses exceeding $6.8 million per year. In this talk, we will present data on the development of risk-based action thresholds and the exploitation of SWD perimeter behavior to reduce insecticide inputs in Maine's lowbush blueberries. We compared new trap designs that can increase SWD trapping efficiency and retention rates, thus enhancing the accuracy of existing action threshold models. We determined the potential for attractants to increase the uptake of insecticides. Additionally, we investigated the spatial and temporal dynamics of infestation by SWD in lowbush blueberry fields. Our results provide insights on how to improve the timing of insecticide applications, exploit border insecticide applications, and the efficacy of phagostimulants and attract-and-kill strategies as methods to reduce the impact of this pest.
