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Field survival analyses of adult Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

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Abstract

The western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera; Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is a major maize pest in North America and Europe. For developing population models to better understand this key pest, survival rates need to be known. In contrast to the reported field survival of eggs, the three larval instars, and pupae, the survival of the adults had not been assessed under field conditions. Weekly survival of adults was studied in large walk-in gauze cages in two fields in Hungary between 2009 and 2011. Each cage contained a combination of maize with two out of nine other crops. The number of adult beetles rapidly decreased with time following an exponential-like survivorship curve, with a weekly mortality varying between 31 and 61 %. This is in contrast to laboratory experiments, where populations decreased with time following a linear-like curve. The average lifespan was only 19 days with a maximum of 84 days. After 14 days, 55 % of adults had died, thus, having had no chance to lay eggs because of the pre-oviposition period required. Maize appeared to be the most appropriate crop for survival. Combining maize with other crops that could serve as alternative food did not enhance survivorship, and many combinations were in fact disadvantageous. Crop and weed coverage played a minor role in influencing survival, and only few weeds appeared slightly advantageous. It is argued that the role of alternative food sources for D. v. virgifera adults might be overestimated. Survivorship equations are suggested to support modelling of population dynamics of this pest and to support timing of direct control measures against the adults to prevent their egg laying and therefore damage to maize roots the following year.

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Acknowledgments

This work was possible due to the hospitality and technical support of the Plant Health and Soil Conservation Directorate of Csongrad County in Hodmezovasarhely in Hungary, offered by Ibolya Hatala-Zseller, Laszlo Hodi, and others. We gratefully acknowledge Antje Kunert (Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture, Freising, Germany), Udo Heimbach and Kristin Schwabe (JKI, Braunschweig, Germany), Török Dénes (OMNI Seed registration institute, Szekkutas, Hungary), Judit Papp-Komaromi (Szent Istvan University, Godollo, Hungary) as well as H. Gräpel and Karl Lauer (Banat University, Timisoara, Romania) for helpful comments during the planning of experiments. Field space was provided by Michael Hatala (Hodmezogazda RT, Hodmezovasarhely, Hungary). We thank our students, Rajmond Stuber and Ferenc Koncz (Hodmezovasarhely, Hungary), Natalia Sahin (University of Szeged, Hungary), Mario Schumann and Sophie Stattegger (University of Gottingen, Germany), Franz Wesley Simon (University of Fraser Valley, Canada) and Nikolin Karapancsi (AGRINET Foundation, Korce, Albania) for their help in field work. We thank Melanie Bateman and Steve Eddington (CABI) for reviewing the text. This study was primarily funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry (Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Forsten (StMELF)) through the Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture in Freising, Germany, and partly through Research Centre of Excellence - 17586-4/2013/TUDPOL Hungary.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chinese Ministry of Agriculture - CABI Joint Laboratory for Biosafety, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yuanmingyuan Western Road 2, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Toepfer Stefan

  2. CABI, Rue des Grillons 1, 2800, Delémont, Switzerland

    Toepfer Stefan & Kuhlmann Ulrich

  3. Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture, Lange Point 10, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Zellner Michael

  4. Plant Protection Institute, Szent Istvan University, Pater K. u. 1, Godollo, 2100, Hungary

    Szalai Mark

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  1. Toepfer Stefan
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  4. Kuhlmann Ulrich
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Correspondence to Toepfer Stefan.

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Communicated by M. Traugott.

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Toepfer, S., Zellner, M., Szalai, M. et al. Field survival analyses of adult Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). J Pest Sci 88, 25–35 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-014-0575-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-014-0575-5

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