ARS | Publication request: Spatiotemporal Distribution and Movement of Glassy-Winged Sharpshooters in a Citrus Orchard

Submitted to: National IPM Symposium
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: January 8, 2009
Publication Date: March 24, 2009
Citation: Krugner, R., Johnson, M.W., Hagler, J.R., Groves, R., Morse, J. 2009. Spatiotemporal Distribution and Movement of Glassy-Winged Sharpshooters in a Citrus Orchard. National IPM Symposium, Portland, Oregon, March 24-26, 2009.

Technical Abstract: A two-year field study was conducted in a citrus orchard to evaluate the influence of plant water stress on Homalodisca vitripennis dispersal and movement. Experimental treatments included irrigation at 100%, 80%, and 60% of the crop evapotranspiration (ETc). Movement of H. vitripennis among treatment plots was quantified through a mark and capture technique using protein markers (soy milk, whole milk, and egg white) and yellow sticky traps. Presence of protein markers on 5795 and 8612 insects captured on sticky traps in 2005 and 2006, respectively, was determined using ELISA. About 22 and 33% of the insects tested positive for at least one protein marker in 2005 and 2006, respectively. In 2006, 75, 78 and 63% of H. vitripennis captured in the 60, 80, and 100% ETc treatments, respectively, were insects that immigrated from the other two irrigation treatment plots. Based on estimates of population densities observed in visual and beat sampling, we hypothesize that in mature orchards H. vitripennis is unable to use visual or olfactory cues to search for a suitable host plant and thus, plant selection is determined after contact with the plant by chemosensory or mechanosensory stimulus after probing. Spatiotemporal distribution and movement H. vitripennis in the orchard will be discussed with emphasis on the host selection process.