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Mating disruption of a grapevine pest using mechanical vibrations: from laboratory to the field

Journal of Pest Science volume 89, pages 909–921 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Mating disruption using mechanical vibrations is a novel idea for integrated pest management of insect pests. We present results of research on using artificial vibrational noise to prevent mate recognition and localization mediated by vibrational signals in the grapevine pest Scaphoideus titanus. Building on the proof of concept published previously, mating trials were set up in laboratory to determine the amplitude threshold for playback efficacy and reveal the mechanism of its function, while field trials were performed to validate this threshold and explore the possibility of reducing energy use by exploiting the diel pattern of this species’ mating activity. The threshold obtained in laboratory trials—15 μm/s peak amplitude—was confirmed by measurements of attenuation and insect mating in field cages at successive distances from the source. We also discovered that shutting off the disruptive noise between 1000 and 1800 h did not reduce efficacy of the method in the field, allowing energy saving in this period. The noise had an all-or-nothing effect on S. titanus mating behaviour, and we were unable to ascertain the exact mechanism of the communication breakdown, but the approach appears robust enough to merit large-scale testing in the future.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Luca Nicoletti and Dr. Santosh Revadi for technical help with insect rearing and field trials, and Dr. Rodrigo Krugner for critical reading of the manuscript. This research was supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under the Grant agreement no. 265865.

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Author notes

  1. Anna Eriksson

    Present address: Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, TN, Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems and Bioresources Department, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all’Adige, TN, Italy

    Jernej Polajnar, Anna Eriksson & Valerio Mazzoni

  2. Department of Entomology, National Institute of Biology, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Meta Virant-Doberlet

Authors
  1. Jernej Polajnar
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  2. Anna Eriksson
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  3. Meta Virant-Doberlet
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  4. Valerio Mazzoni
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Correspondence to Valerio Mazzoni.

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Communicated by D. C. Weber.

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Polajnar, J., Eriksson, A., Virant-Doberlet, M. et al. Mating disruption of a grapevine pest using mechanical vibrations: from laboratory to the field. J Pest Sci 89, 909–921 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-015-0726-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-015-0726-3

Keywords

  • Scaphoideus titanus
  • Integrated pest management
  • Vibrational noise
  • Mating disruption
  • Hemiptera
  • Vineyard