Advances in insect phototaxis and application to pest management: a review

Abstract

Many insects, especially nocturnal insects, exhibit positive phototaxis to artificial lights. Light traps are currently used to monitor and manage insect pest populations, and play a crucial role in physical pest control. Efficient use of light traps to attract target insect pests is an important topic in the application of integrated pest management (IPM). Phototactic responses of insects vary among species, light characteristics and the physiological status of the insects. In addition, light can cause several biological responses, including biochemical, physiological, molecular and fitness changes in insects. In this review, we discuss several hypotheses on insect phototaxis, factors affecting insect phototaxis, insect‐sensitive wavelengths, biological responses of insects to light, and countermeasures for conserving beneficial insects and increasing the effect of trapping. In addition, we provide information on the different sensitivities to wavelengths causing positive phototactic behavior in > 70 insect pest and beneficial insect species. The use of advanced light traps equipped with superior light sources, such as light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), will make physical pest control in IPM more efficient. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

Impact of artificial light intensity on nocturnal insect diversity in urban and rural areas of the Asir province, Saudi Arabia

“…Nocturnal insects are highly sensitive to light and their behavioral responses like dispersal, foraging, defense against predation, location of food, hosts, oviposition sites, resting sites and mate searching are governed by vision [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. These behavioral responses of insects are very much related with light intensity (adaptation), circadian periodicity and photoperiodism [20,24]. Nocturnal behavior of insects, their growth and physiology can be disrupted by the use of https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242315.g004…”

“…artificial light at night (ALAN) [23,24]. However, the reason for this phototactic behavior, especially for ALAN in nocturnal insects remains unclear and may be driven by multiple factors [18,20,26]. The effects of environmental (e.g.…”

Is light pollution driving moth population declines? A review of causal mechanisms across the life cycle

“…Lethal light traps have been trailed as a method to directly control populations, with mixed success (Herms, 1947; Cantelo, 1974; Kim et al ., 2019). Unless a high density of traps is deployed over a large area, lethal light trapping might only be expected to have an appreciable impact on the populations of the least mobile species (Cantelo, 1974; Bowden, 1982; Vaisanen & Hublin, 1983).…”

2019 – A year of continued growth

“…Different aspects of how basic pest biology impacts pest management was reviewed in two papers. How insect phototaxis can be exploited for insect management was discussed . The impact of insect hybridization, as influenced by biological invasions, expansion of agriculture and climate change, on insect pest management was analyzed …”

“…How insect phototaxis can be exploited for insect management was discussed. 24 The impact of insect hybridization, as influenced by biological invasions, expansion of agriculture and climate change, on insect pest management was analyzed. 25 Several papers considered regulatory aspects of pest management.…”