Interruption of response ofDendroctonus brevicomis to attractive pheromone by release of pheromone at several rates and spacings

Abstract

The number of western pine beetles,Dendroctonus brevicomis, trapped at the center of three 90 × 90-m plots was reduced during a 16-hr period after surrounding an attractive source ofexo-brevicomin, frontalin, and myrcene with 16, 48, or 168 sources of the same attractant. Compounds were released from the center of the plot at 1 mg/16 hr/compound, and from the surrounding sources at 4–280 mg/16 hr/compound. About half of these amounts was released between 1530 hr and 1930 hr, the period of peak beetle flight. No treatment differences were apparent in reduction of catch within the range of release rates and spacings tested. When compounds were released continuously from 168 stations for 17 days, catch at the center of a plot was generally lower than catch before or after this period, but fluctuated daily. More beetles were caught on traps hung on ponderosa pines within a plot and the number of these traps catching beetles was greater when compounds were released from all stations than from only the center station. Beetles caught on traps were attracted into the plots from the surrounding forest, but appeared to be dispersed within the plot when compounds were released from many stations.D. brevicomis attacked at least 91 trees in the plots, of which 25 were killed during two summers.