One trap to rule them all: Do general attractants enhance capture of wooboring beetles by green multifunnel traps?

Monday, November 14, 2022

9:00 AM – 9:12 AM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 302/303

Presenting Author(s)

Olivia Bigham (she/her/hers)

MS student
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana

Co-Author(s)

Emily K. Franzen

Research Associate
Xavier University
Cincinnati, Ohio
Joseph A. Francese

Entomologist
USDA-APHIS
Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts
Jon D. Sweeney

Research Scientist
Natural Resources Canada
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
AR

Ann Ray

Xavier University
Cincinnati, Ohio

Invasive wood borers threaten the health and productivity of forests, and beetles in the subfamily Scolytinae and the families Buprestidae and Cerambycidae are of particular concern. Larvae of these taxa are concealed feeders, making them easily transported by commercial activities. Their concealment in packaging material has resulted in unintentional introduction and establishment around the world. Trapping surveys for non-native wood borers are critical to reduce impacts of incipient populations, however, many traps are only effective for a few taxa. Surveys use several different kinds of traps for detection of insects, which is inefficient and costly. There is a need to develop a single trap that could be used for multiple wood borer taxa, possibly by exploiting visual (color/shape) stimuli and chemical attractants. We hypothesized that adding ultra-high release ethanol and/or generic sex-attractant pheromones of cerambycids to green multifunnel traps would increase capture of scolytines and cerambycids as compared to unbaited traps. Further, we hypothesized that adding chemical attractants would not inhibit the response of buprestids as compared with unbaited control traps. We captured significantly more scolytines in traps baited with ethanol as compared to unbaited traps. Significantly more cerambycids were captured in traps baited with generic 2,3 alkanediols and 3 hydroxyalkan-2-ones than in any other treatments. The effect of attractant lures on capture of buprestids remains unclear. Our results indicate that green multifunnel traps may show promise for surveys of multiple wood borer taxa. However, additional work is needed to fully assess the cost/benefit of attractant lures.