Flight Tunnel Responses of Female Grape Berry Moth

Authors: Dong H Cha Stephen P Hesler Charles L Moser Satoshi Nojima Charles E Linn Wendell L Roelofs Gregory M Loeb

Publish Date: 2008/04/26

Volume: 34, Issue: 5, Pages: 622-627

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Abstract

Semiochemicals play important roles in mate and host recognition of herbivorous insects such as moths and flight tunnels have been an effective tool in the identification of these bioactive compounds However more work has been carried out on pheromones than on host plant cues and few examples exist where flight tunnel evaluations of host cues have resulted in a lure that is attractive under field conditions Our goal was to determine whether the flight tunnel could be used to evaluate the response of a specialist moth grape berry moth GBM to its host plant grapevines by incorporating ecological and physiological aspects of GBM biology We found grape shoot tips and mature leaves were more attractive to female GBM than unripe and ripe berries or flowers Under optimized flight tunnel conditions approximately 80 of tested females flew upwind and closely approached or landed on the most preferred target Mating status wind speed the time of day and the presence/absence of patterns that resemble grape tissues on the top of the flight tunnel all significantly affected the responses of female GBM Consideration of these factors in flight tunnel assays will aid in the development of a synthetic lure that can be used to monitor female moths in the fieldWe thank Sara Villani Eric Smith Shinyoung Park Rachel Tucker Mike Colizzi Jessica Worden and Kevin Conley for their support on various aspects of this research but particularly their efforts in maintaining the GBM colony and setting up mating cohorts This research was supported by USDA NRI grant no 2005–35302–16154 and USDA Viticultural Consortium

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