Flight Tunnel (flight + tunnel)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Extrafloral nectar from cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) as a food source for parasitic wasps

FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2006
U. S. R. RÖSE
Summary 1For many adult nectar-feeding parasitoids food and moisture are essential for survival in the field. Early in the season, when floral nectar is not yet available in cotton, extrafloral nectar (EFN) is already present on young cotton plants. 2The parasitoid Microplitis croceipes (Cresson) can use EFN cotton plants as an only food source. The longevity and reproduction of EFN-fed female wasps was comparable to wasps fed with honey and water provided on nectariless (NL) cotton plants, and was significantly higher compared with wasps kept on NL plants with no additional food source. 3Wasps that were given preflight experiences on EFN cotton plants choose EFN cotton over NL cotton plants in two choice experiments in the flight tunnel. The parasitoids are more willing to search on an EFN plant at their second and third encounter with a plant previously visited, compared with an NL cotton plant. 4Wasps can locate EFN from short distances by its odour alone, and find it almost as fast as honey, but much faster than odourless sucrose, which is only found randomly. Experience with EFN increased the retention ability of parasitoids on a flower model. [source]


Attraction and fecundity of adult codling moth, Cydia pomonella, as influenced by methoxyfenozide-treated electrostatic powder

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 9-10 2009
J. Huang
Abstract The attractiveness and responsiveness of adult codling moths, Cydia pomonella (L.), exposed to EntostatTM powder with or without the ecdysteroid agonist, methoxyfenozide, were investigated in a flight tunnel. Coating males with either EntostatTM powder alone or powder plus methoxyfenozide 1 or 24 h prior to flight tunnel assays did not influence the mean percentages of males successfully orienting to a female-equivalent lure relative to unexposed control moths. The fecundity of females paired with males exposed to EntostatTM powder plus methoxyfenozide was significantly lower than that for females paired with unexposed males. This reduction in egg output was similar to that observed when methoxyfenozide-treated females were paired with untreated males, indicating that males can successfully pass methoxyfenozide to their partners during copulation. However, EntostatTM powder alone carried by male moths did not affect female fecundity after mating. EntostatTM powder has the potential to carry pesticides for C. pomonella control by autodissemination. [source]


Orientational disruption of codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lep., Tortricidae), by concentrated formulations of microencapsulated pheromone in flight tunnel assays

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 9-10 2005
L. L. Stelinski
Abstract:, The effects of two formulations of microencapsulated pheromone (CheckMate CM-F), containing 14.3% (E,E)-8,10-dodecadien-1-ol (codlemone), on the behaviour of the male codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.), were evaluated in a flight tunnel after several periods of formulation ageing. The two treatments of CheckMate CM-F evaluated consisted of the label-recommended field rate of 50 g active ingredient (a.i.)/ha diluted in: (1) a standard 1000 l of water (low concentration 0.05 g/l), and (2) a low volume of 100 l of water (high concentration 0.5 g/l). The low-concentration treatment was formulated by diluting 0.071 ml of CheckMate CM-F in 500 ml of water and the high-concentration treatment contained 0.71 ml of CheckMate CM-F in 500 ml of water. Wax-paper strips (2.1 × 20 cm) were treated at 0.06 ml of solution/cm2. The mean (±SE) number of CheckMate CM-F microcapsules adhering to treated wax-paper strips in the high-concentration treatment (398 ± 38) was sevenfold greater than that (57 ± 5) counted on wax-paper strips treated with the low concentration. Both low- and high-concentration treatments prevented anemotactic orientation of male codling to an adjacent 0.1 mg codlemone lure for up to 24 h after application. These moths flew out of the release cages, but exhibited erratic and short flights not restricted to any plume and ending at the tunnel walls or the floor. This occurred with approximately 60 and 400 microcapsules per wax-paper strip in the low- and high-concentration treatments, releasing codlemone at approximately 0.15 and 1.5 ,g/h respectively. After 2 days of ageing, the low-concentration treatment no longer interfered with the ability of males to find the codlemone lure. However, the number of males contacting the lure was significantly reduced for up to 6 days with the high-concentration treatment relative to the control and low-concentration treatments. The high-concentration treatment no longer impeded normal orientational flight after 2,6 days of ageing; but, it diverted males from the codlemone lure by causing them to land on the adjacent treated wax-paper strips. This occurred at a release rate of approximately 0.7 ,g codlemone/h from approximately 400 microcapsules per wax-paper strip distributed as clumps of approximately 30 microcapsules per 14 mm2. We suggest that an initial but short-lived disruption mechanism like camouflage is followed by a longer period of false-plume following to clumps of microcapsules. The low-volume, concentrated application method for disseminating pheromone microcapsules warrants further investigation for moth codling, as well as other pests because this approach may improve the efficacy without the need for increasing the field application rate. [source]