Meaning and practical value of spatial analysis for protecting retail stores.

Abstract

The risks posed by chemical pesticides have prompted initiatives to reduce pesticide use, primarily through integrated pest management (IPM). Implementation of IPM for control of stored product insects in retail stores will require regular monitoring to know when, where, and what type of control measures to apply. This need can be met by a combination of trapping and contour analysis of numbers captured in each trap. The objective of contour analysis is to determine patterns of distribution and identify foci of infestation. The principal requirements for monitoring are that contours of trap catch honour the data, predict trap-catch values between traps, and reflect the spatial distribution of the insect population monitored. Trapping studies of Plodia interpunctella in a pet store and Lasioderma serricorne in a shed were used to determine how well these requirements could be met in practice. Contours of trap catch for P. interpunctella fit the data closely and predicted trap catch values between traps well enough to locate and define a major focus of infestation, but a smaller focus of infestation was missed. Contours of trap catch for L. serricorne reflected the spatial distribution of the beetle population. Numbers captured declined with increasing distance from the source of infestation.

Spatiotemporal Distribution of Insects and Mites in Horizontally Stored Wheat

“…Recent studies have emphasized the possibilities and constrains in the use of interpolation maps with a small number of sample points (Arbogast et al , 2003Nansen et al 2003). In our study, the number of points was limited by the reduced dimension of the horizontal storeroom, but the resulting contour maps indicate that insect and mite species that occur in bulked grain have a patchy spatial pattern, which is in agreement with previous work on several types of grains and facilities (Subramanyam and Harein 1990;Subramanyam and Hagstrum 1995;Buchelos and Athanassiou 1999;Athanassiou and Buchelos 2001;Athanassiou et al , 2003Nansen et al 2004).…”

“…During recent years, several studies have focused on the spatiotemporal distribution of stored-product insect species, in various stored-products and types of storage facilities (Arbogast et al 1998(Arbogast et al , 2000a(Arbogast et al , b, 2002(Arbogast et al , 2003(Arbogast et al , 2004Sciarretta 2002, 2004;Nansen et al 2003Nansen et al , 2004. In most of these studies, the spatial dynamics of stored-product insects was assessed by using trapping devices, whereas there are few relevant data for assessing these dynamics by using absolute sampling methods.…”