Pesticides alternative strategy for Replacement of Insect (Hylobius abietis, Large pine weevil)
Subject Keywords
Pesticides, Chemicals
Sponsors
Description
Identifiers
Code
Effective date
Review year
Alternative Strategy
Entomopathogenic nematodes are being applied to tree stumps on coniferous clearfell sites in Europe for inundative biological control of the large pine weevil (Hylobius abietis; Coleoptera: Curculionidae), a major forestry pest. We investigated the risk that two nematode species, Steinernema carpocapsae and Heterorhabditis downesi (Nematoda: Rhabditidae), present to longhorn beetle Rhagium bifasciatum (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), a service-providing, non-target saproxylic insect on clearfell sites. On six clearfell sites sampled one to twelve months after S. carpocapsae had been inundatively applied to tree stumps for suppression of pine weevil, <10% of deadwood logs contained infected R. bifasciatum and <4% of 1989 R. bifasciatum individuals in logs were infected. Infection was recorded a year after nematodes had been applied, however, suggesting that nematodes were recycling within logs in the field. Incidence of R. bifasciatum infection decreased significantly with increasing distance between a log and the nearest treated tree stump. Thus, our results indicate that entomopathogenic nematodes can infect and recycle in R. bifasciatum, but that the risk to this and other saproxylic non-target insects is limited by the targeted application of nematodes to tree stumps.
Alternative Type
Specific strategy - Biocontrol
Pest Type
Insect
Alternative Trial
No
Coverage Country
Method
Replacement