Establishing the behavioral basis for an attract-and-kill strategy to manage the invasive Halyomorpha halys in apple orchards

Abstract

Halyomorpha halys (Stål), the brown marmorated stink bug, is an invasive, polyphagous insect that causes serious economic injury in particular to specialty crops in the United States. Growers have been forced to respond by increasing the frequency of broad-spectrum insecticide (e.g., neonicotinoid, pyrethroid, and carbamate) applications. One strategy to reduce reliance on insecticides is known as ''attract-and-kill'' whereby the targeted insect is attracted to a spatially precise location to be eliminated by a killing agent such as an insecticide. This approach can substantially reduce the amount of insecticide used by sparing alternate row middle or whole block sprays. For apple orchards, we propose baiting select border row trees with the H. halys aggregation pheromone and synergist and subsequently treating these baited trees with effective insecticides to kill H. halys throughout the growing season. To evaluate the behavioral basis of this approach, we conducted orchard trials with black pyramid traps, harmonic radar, and trials using baited apple trees sprayed weekly to quantify H. halys arrestment area, retention time, adult and nymph annihilation, and fruit injury in and near these attract-and-kill sites. The arrestment area for H. halys was confined to a 2.5 m radius around the pheromone-and pheromone synergist-baited trap regardless of pheromone dose (84 or 840 mg), while the retention capacity of adults was significantly increased by pairing the aggregation pheromone and synergist with a fruiting host plant compared with non-host sites. Damage to fruit harvested from baited attract-and-kill trees was high, but minimal in surrounding unbaited neighboring apple trees. Our results suggest attract-and-kill may be an effective strategy for managing H. halys season-long.Keywords Integrated pest management Á Brown marmorated stink bug Á Behaviorally based management Á Harmonic radar Á Invasive species Á Pheromone Á Hemiptera Á Pentatomidae Key messages• Halyomorpha halys management relies on repeated insecticide applications to susceptible crops. • We evaluated the behavioral basis for a proposed attract-and-kill strategy in apple as a means to reduce insecticide inputs. • We found that attract-and-kill holds promise as H. halys activity was confined to a small arrestment area around a pheromone source, and the use of harmonic radar showed that retention time at these sites was greatest when a host plant (apple) was present. • High kill of H. halys was achieved in baited attract-andkill apple trees season-long with minimal damage on adjacent unbaited trees. Communicated by T. Haye.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Lethal and sublethal effects of long‐lasting insecticide‐treated nets on the invasive bug Halyomorpha halys

“…Moreover, the UV source was also used as an insect lure, as preliminary laboratory trials showed an unsatisfactory performance of pheromones/semiochemicals in rearing cages. In fact, BMSB has a too large of an arrestment area around an attractive source (2.5 m around a pheromone source) to be applied in the laboratory (Morrison et al., ). No food source or water was provided in the cages during tests, to standardize and avoid any interference of the attract‐and‐kill unit.…”

Density and Egg Parasitism of Stink Bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in Elderberry and Dispersal Into Crops

“…baited trap compared with plants at 5 and 10 m (Leskey and Hogmire 2007). Additionally, significantly more Halyomorpha halys (Stål), Euschistus spp., C. hilaris , and N. viridula adults were captured in a centrally baited (lure with aggregation pheromone of H. halys and synergist) trap compared with those captured in nonbaited traps 2.5 m from the baited one; trap capture was not significantly different for nonbaited traps 2.5, 5, and 10 m from the baited trap (Morrison et al 2016). …”

Coupling Traditional Monitoring and Citizen Science to Disentangle the Invasion of Halyomorpha halys

“…The number and density of adults from trap catches during fall (13 reports; 5 were >50 insects) were far greater than those generated in spring (3 reports of individual insects) and summer (5 reports; none were >50 insects). It has been previously noted that all BMSB life stages are attracted to the pheromone season-long [61]. Our observations of increasing numbers and catch density during fall can probably be explained either by a rising population, or that BMSB sensitivity might be higher during this season, given that their ability to aggregate in suitable shelters during that period directly affects their winter survival.…”

“…The overlap between these two notions is particularly alarming, given the ubiquity of late-season apple orchards throughout the Trentino territory, raising the need to control this pest before harvest time to minimize losses. A possible means of control would be the exploitation of the behavioral ecology of this insect, through the adoption of a border-based attract-and-kill technique [61]. The latter enhances the strong 'edge-effect' exhibited by BMSB (the tendency to inhabit trees at the orchard perimeter), by baiting select border row trees with pheromone traps, and subsequently treating them with effective insecticides.…”