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Insect traps are used to monitor or directly reduce insect populations. They typically use food, visual lures, chemical attractants and pheromones as bait and are installed so that they do not injure other animals or humans or result in residues in foods or feeds. Visual lures use light, bright colors and shapes to attract pests. Chemical attractants or pheromones may attract only a specific sex. Insect traps are sometimes used in pest management programs instead of pesticides but are more often used to look at seasonal and distributional patterns of pest occurrence. This information may then be used in other pest management approaches.
The trap mechanism or bait can vary widely. Light traps with ultraviolet attract certain insects. Designs differ according to the behaviour of the insects being studied. Grasshoppers and some beetles are attracted to lights at a long range but are repelled by it at short range. Farrow's light trap has a large base so that it captures insects that may otherwise fly away from regular light traps.[1][2] Flies and wasps are attracted by proteins. Mosquitoes and many other insects are attracted by bright colors, carbon dioxide, lactic acid, floral or fruity fragrances, warmth, moisture and pheromones. Synthetic attractants like methyl eugenol are very effective with Tephritid flies. Yellow pan traps are used to monitor aphids and some other sap-sucking insects. Pitfall traps are used for ground foraging and flightless insects such as beetles of the family Carabidae.
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[edit] Insect traps in practice
At present, several traps are used both in the commercial sector (e.g. commercial greenhouses) and by individual gardeners. The commercial sector primarily focuses on highly effective traps as pheromone traps, while gardeners tend to stay with low-tech, cheap traps based on foods or home-grown production.
[edit] Examples of food traps
Following traps are used extensively by gardeners [3][4] :
- eggshells: strewn on the ground; protects plants against snails
- sunflower-flowerbottoms: against mice and rats
- carrot disks: against click beetles and crane flies
- sawdust: against onion fly, carrot fly and cabbage flies
- flour grains: made from 3 parts flour, 2 parts chalc, and 1 part sugar, knid to a grain; against mice
- beer and regular pot traps: small pots, filled with 2 cm beer or without anything at all, dug into the soil; against snails and other insects
[edit] See also
- Malaise trap
- Insecticidal soap
- List of repellent plants
- List of beneficial weeds
- Organic farming
- Biological pest control
- Pheromone trap
[edit] References
- ^ Farrow, R. A. 1974 A modified light trap for obtaining large samples of night flying locusts and grasshoppers. Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 13:357-80.
- ^ Robinson, H S 1952 On the behaviour of night flying insects in the neighbourhood of a bright source of light. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A27: 13-21.
- ^ Some organic food traps used in pest controls
- ^ Another set of food traps for organic gardening/pest control
[edit] External links
- Insect Attractants and Traps R. Weinzierl, T. Henn, P. G. Koehler and C. L. Tucker University of Florida IFAS Extension
- Insect Traps in Conservation Surveys Dale Paul Kronkright waac Newsletter Volume 13, Number 1, Jan. 1991, pp. 21–23
- Integrated Pest Management
- A.Tereshkin Devices for Ichneumonidae collecting.
