Effect of release rate and enantiomeric composition on response to pheromones of Megaplatypus mutatus (Chapuis) in poplar plantations of Argentina and Italy

2013 ◽  
Vol 103 (5) ◽  
pp. 564-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hernán Funes ◽  
Eduardo Zerba ◽  
Paola Gonzalez-Audino

AbstractMegaplatypus mutatus (=Platypus sulcatus Chapuis) is an Ambrosia beetle native to South America, which was recently introduced in Italy and its presence there is causing severe damage to the local poplar plantations. The male M. mutatus pheromone is composed of (S)-(+)-6-methyl-5-hepten-2-ol [(+)-sulcatol], 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one (sulcatone) and 3-pentanol. A series of field trials testing dose, blend and enantiomer composition performed in Argentina and Italy evaluated attraction and found that the optimal release rate of pheromone components as baits in cross vane baited traps (CIPEIN-CV) was 6, 6 and 30 mg day−1 of sulcatone, (+)-sulcatol and 3-pentanol, respectively. It was also determined that racemic sulcatol is as effective as the pure (+)-isomer for the purpose of beetle catch, due to the inert nature of the (−)-isomer allowing the usage of low cost racemic sulcatol instead of highly expensive (+)-sulcatol. The results of our work contribute to the development of pheromone-based local technologies with low environmental impact and low cost for control or monitoring of an important pest.

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-498
Author(s):  
Rosa Cecilia Aldana-De La Torre ◽  
Luis Guillermo Montes-Bazurto ◽  
Alex Enrique Bustillo-Pardey

Abstract Rhynchophorus palmarum (L.) (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae) is an important pest in oil palm plantations, and its populations are monitored through rhynchophorol pheromone-baited traps. To optimize the release of rhynchophorol in high-density polyethylene diffusers, five calibers (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) were evaluated. The experiment was conducted under a completely randomized design with 15 repetitions, recording daily weight loss of pheromones. Release rate of pheromone under laboratory conditions (30.2 ± 0.1°C; 70.8 ± 0.8% relative humidity [RH]) varied between 2.2 and 10.4 mg/day. Three diffusers with 2.4 ± 0.4, 3.6 ± 0.9, and 8.5 ± 1.3 mg/day of release rates, were selected for testing in three palm-growing zones. Adults of R. palmarum captured in traps with different diffusers were counted as well as pheromone weight loss. In two of three plantations, statistical differences were found in the capture of R. palmarum adults among the diffusers that presented different pheromone release rates (Eastern: F = 8.27; df = 2, 9; P = 0.0028; Central: F = 10.79; df = 2, 9; P = 0.0008; Southwestern F= 2.20; df = 2, 9; P= 0.1402). The diffuser with the release rate of 2.4 mg/day was selected because, after remaining 4 mo in the field, the traps with this diffuser registered catches statistically equal to those that had traps with newly installed diffusers. We concluded that the release rate of the pheromone of 2.4 mg/day is optimal for the capture of adults of R. palmarum during a period of 4 mo.


Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Robin Veasey ◽  
Maria Cordoba ◽  
Andrew Colton ◽  
Leonard Fujimoto ◽  
Christine Dodge ◽  
...  

Invasive slugs and snails are among the most damaging pests of agriculture in temperate and tropical regions of the world. Control options, however, are limited and there is a heavy reliance on chemical molluscicides of variable efficacy. There is an ongoing need to improve management methods. Here, we show that a simple fermenting bread dough formulation (flour, water, and yeast) was effective in attracting pest mollusk species in laboratory tests, and in multiple replicated field trials in Hawaii, Oregon, and Montana. The dough attracted substantially more terrestrial pest gastropods, including invasive species of major economic importance such as Cornu aspersum, Deroceras reticulatum, Ambigolimax valentianus, Xerolenta obvia, Lissachatina fulica, and Parmarion martensi, than water controls. The dough remained attractive for at least 8 days and was significantly more attractive than a widely used metaldehyde-based bait, Deadline® M-Ps™. Thus, fermenting bread dough represents a nontoxic, generic, and effective tool to aid in managing pest gastropod infestations, either using baited traps or in attract-and-kill approaches. Given its simplicity, low cost, and the ready availability of its ingredients, the dough also has potential to be used in developing countries where access to commercial molluscicide baits is limited by cost.


2000 ◽  
Vol 132 (6) ◽  
pp. 877-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.S. Lindgren ◽  
S.E.R. Hoover ◽  
A.M. MacIsaac ◽  
C.I. Keeling ◽  
K.N. Slessor

AbstractThe effects of lineatin enantiomer ratios, lineatin release rate, and trap length on catches and the flight periods of three sympatric species of Trypodendron Stephens were investigated in field bioassays using multiple-funnel traps. The ambrosia beetle, Trypodendron betulae Swaine, was caught in similar numbers in baited traps and blank control traps, showing that this species does not respond to lineatin. Our results confirmed that Trypodendron lineatum (Olivier) is attracted only to (+)-lineatin. Trypodendron rufitarsus (Kirby) and Trypodendron retusum (LeConte) were shown to utilize lineatin and like T. lineatum were caught only when (+)-lineatin was present. These results indicate that lineatin does not govern reproductive isolation among these three species. There was no effect by (+)-lineatin release rate within the range tested. The flight of T. rufitarsus commenced earlier and ceased before the peak of the T. lineatum flight, suggesting that temporal separation may be an important component of reproductive isolation between these two species. The flight period of T. retusum was similar to that of T. lineatum. Host odours may aid in reproductive isolation of these two species. Enantiomer blend did not significantly affect sex ratio in any species; however, sex ratio differed among species, indicating that different species responded differently to the traps or that natural sex ratios differ. Catches of T. rufitarsus and T. retusum increased with trap length when pheromone release per trap was held constant and when release was held constant relative to trap length. Trap length and release rate did not affect sex ratio.


2003 ◽  
Vol 1819 (1) ◽  
pp. 338-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Oloo ◽  
Rob Lindsay ◽  
Sam Mothilal

The geology of the northeastern part of the province of KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa, is predominantly alluvial with vast deposits of sands. Suitable gravel sources are hard to come by, which results in high graveling and regraveling costs brought about by long haul distances and accelerated gravel loss. Most gravel roads carry fewer than 500 vehicles per day of which less than 10% are heavy vehicles. The high cost of regraveling has led to consideration of upgrading such roads to surfaced standard, even though traffic volumes do not justify upgrading. Traditional chip seals are expensive and cannot be economically justified on roads that carry fewer than 500 vehicles per day. The KwaZulu–Natal Department of Transport is actively involved in efforts to identify cost-effective alternative surfacing products for low-volume roads. Field trials were conducted with Otta seals and Gravseals, which have been used successfully in other countries, as low-cost surfacing products for low-volume roads. The Otta seal is formed by placing graded aggregates on a relatively thick film of soft binder that, because of traffic and rolling, works its way through the aggregates. Gravseal consists of a special semipriming rubberized binder that is covered by a graded aggregate. Both Otta seals and Gravseals provide relatively flexible bituminous surfaces suitable for low-volume roads. Cost savings are derived mainly from the broad aggregate specifications, which allow for the use of marginal materials.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Bajones ◽  
David Fischinger ◽  
Astrid Weiss ◽  
Daniel Wolf ◽  
Markus Vincze ◽  
...  

We present the robot developed within the Hobbit project, a socially assistive service robot aiming at the challenge of enabling prolonged independent living of elderly people in their own homes. We present the second prototype (Hobbit PT2) in terms of hardware and functionality improvements following first user studies. Our main contribution lies within the description of all components developed within the Hobbit project, leading to autonomous operation of 371 days during field trials in Austria, Greece, and Sweden. In these field trials, we studied how 18 elderly users (aged 75 years and older) lived with the autonomously interacting service robot over multiple weeks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a multifunctional, low-cost service robot equipped with a manipulator was studied and evaluated for several weeks under real-world conditions. We show that Hobbit’s adaptive approach towards the user increasingly eased the interaction between the users and Hobbit. We provide lessons learned regarding the need for adaptive behavior coordination, support during emergency situations, and clear communication of robotic actions and their consequences for fellow researchers who are developing an autonomous, low-cost service robot designed to interact with their users in domestic contexts. Our trials show the necessity to move out into actual user homes, as only there can we encounter issues such as misinterpretation of actions during unscripted human-robot interaction.


1977 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. Stewart ◽  
E. L. Plummer ◽  
L. L. McCandless ◽  
J. R. West ◽  
R. M. Silverstein

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Umar Khan ◽  
Sonia Biccai ◽  
Conor S. Boland ◽  
Jonathan N. Coleman

AbstractThe development of low-cost ultrafiltration membranes with relatively high flow rate and selectivity is an important goal which could improve access to clean water in the developing world. Here we demonstrate a method to infuse mixtures of graphene nanosheets and Teflon nanoparticles into ultra-cheap glass fibre membranes. Annealing the resultant composites leads to coalescence of the Teflon, resulting in very stable membranes with significantly enhanced mechanical properties. In filtration tests, while adding ~ 10 wt% graphene/Teflon to the glass fibre membrane decreased the flow rate by × 100, the selectivity improved by × 103 compared to the neat glass fibre membrane. This combination of selectively and flow rate was significantly better than any commercial membrane tested under similar circumstances. We found these membranes could remove > 99.99% of 25–250 nm diameter SiC nanoparticles dispersed in ethanol, transmitting only particles with diameters < 40 nm, performance which is superior to commercial alumina membranes. Field trials on dirty canal water showed these composite membranes to remove aluminium to a level × 10 below the EU limit for drinking water and reduce iron and bacteria contents to below detectable levels.


Plant Disease ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 103 (9) ◽  
pp. 2212-2220
Author(s):  
Jhonatan P. Barro ◽  
Maurício C. Meyer ◽  
Claúdia V. Godoy ◽  
Alfredo R. Dias ◽  
Carlos M. Utiamada ◽  
...  

White mold, caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is a yield-limiting disease of soybean in Brazil. Uniform fungicide trials have been conducted annually since 2009. Data from 74 cooperative field trials conducted over a 10-year period were assembled. We selected five fungicides applied two times around flowering: dimoxystrobin plus boscalid (DIMO+BOSC), carbendazim plus procymidone (CARB+PROC), fluazinam (FLUZ), fluopyram (FLUO), and procymidone (PROC). For comparison, thiophanate-methyl (TMET) applied four times was also included as a low-cost treatment. Network models were fitted to the log of white mold incidence (percentages) and log of sclerotia mass data (grams/hectare) and to the nontransformed yield data (kilograms/hectare) for each treatment, including the untreated check. Back-transformation of the meta-analytic estimates indicated that the lowest and highest mean (95% confidence interval [CI]) percent reductions in incidence and sclerotia mass were 54.2 (49.3 to 58.7) and 51.6% (43.7 to 58.3) for TMET and 83.8 (79.1 to 87.5) and 87% (81.9 to 91.6) for CARB+PROC, respectively. The overall mean (95% CI) yield responses ranged from 323 kg/ha (247.4 to 400.3) for TMET to 626 kg/ha (521.7 to 731.7) for DIMO+BOSC, but the variance was significantly reduced by a binary variable (30% threshold) describing disease incidence in the untreated check. On average, an increment of 352 kg/ha was estimated for trials where the incidence was >30% compared with the low-disease scenario. Hence, the probability of breaking even on fungicide costs for the high-disease scenario was >65% for the more effective, but more expensive fungicide (FLUZ) than TMET. For the low-disease scenario, profitability was less likely and depended more on variations in fungicide cost and soybean price.


1985 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. G. A. Coombs ◽  
R. B. Lawrence ◽  
R. M. Davies

The most developed of the possible prosthetic options available consists of a hollow tapered column having inserts at each end by which it is clamped through alignment couplings to the socket and foot respectively. For a below-knee application, the complete tapered column prosthesis weighs typically 1 kg. Static and fatigue testing of representative samples by the simultaneous application of compressive and bending loads to the maximum values specified by international standards exposed no failures by the time a million cycles had been reached. This method of fabrication has the merit of being capable of implementation locally on an “as required” basis. Additional advantages include the low cost of the mould tooling and the flexibility to mould a variety of shapes. Prosthetic feet are a possibility as are special shoes and orthotic parts. These may require other materials and experimentation is proceeding using structural and resilient foams. This paper discusses the place of rotational moulding in the provision of prosthetic shanks and shank sections. It covers the selection of thermoplastic material, the moulding conditions and their automation in a machine process, and the development of a suitable range of moulds. Also covered is the question of interfacing between the moulded shank sections and other limb components, fatigue strength as tested to date and early results of patient field trials.


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