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Q&A ViewAttendees 6

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Grad P-IE: Biocontrol - Predators

Development of an attract and reward strategy for predators of flower thrips in Florida fruiting vegetables

Monday, November 1, 2021
10:30 AM – 10:42 AM MT
Location: Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room 203
In-Person Student Competition
Flower thrips are major economic pests and pose considerable threats as vectors of viruses that result in major crop losses. Conservation biological control, specifically of the minute pirate bug, Orius insidiosus Say, is an effective, sustainable method to control thrips populations. The addition of flowering plants to monoculture crops aids in the attraction of natural enemies by providing key resources including refuge and alternative food sources. However, those predators tend to disperse only a short distance from the flowering resources. To address this issue, flowering plants were combined with semiochemical lures as an ‘attract and reward’ method to increase recruitment and retainment of O. insidiosus in tomato and pepper fields. Flower thrips were significantly decreased with the combination of the flowering plants and lures, but not by the flowers alone. Surprisingly, Orius spp. populations were not affected by the treatments. These preliminary results indicate a potential for managing flower thrips in fruiting vegetable crops and can provide understanding of the complex relationships among flowering plants, insect pests, and natural enemies.