Lesson 3: Conducting a Pest Survey
Topic 1: Selecting Traps and Lures
Conducting a pest survey requires you to find and observe pests. The most common method for doing this is to set traps. This topic introduces you to the process for selecting an appropriate trap and lure.
Objectives:
- Know where to find accurate information about traps and lures
- Be able to correctly use the information to select an appropriate trap and lure
Imagine that Importland wants to begin exporting barumba berries to the country of Concord. The NPPO of Concord has asked to see your monitoring records. You provide the NPPO with all the information from your general surveillance efforts and last year’s survey records. However, the NPPO requires more specific and current survey information on the fire moth before deciding whether to allow barumba berries from Importland into Concord.
To fulfill this requirement, you need to continue and expand Importland’s survey program for the fire moth. This involves identifying an appropriate trap and lure. There are many types to choose from. The different trap types are not effective for all pests—each is designed to be effective for only specific pests. For the scenario in this module, the trap needs to be effective for the fire moth.
Where can you find accurate information on traps and lures? Click on the boxes below to explore some reliable resources. After you read the information, you will be asked which trap to use for the fire moth.
Use information from the resources you just explored to answer the following question.
Next, you must find the most appropriate lure for the fire moth. This requires looking through the literature and using trustworthy websites to help locate accurate information. Many suppliers have good information about lures. Here are some example websites that APHIS uses regularly, with no preference for any supply company:
http://www.scentry.com/images/ScentryCatalog Regular.pdf
http://www.greatlakesipm.com/
After deciding on the appropriate pheromone, you must work with a supplier to see if the pheromone is available, and to have the septa manufactured for your survey.
No matter which trapping method is used, equipment and supplies must be maintained adequately. Your method of trapping the fire moth should also be widely accepted by other experts in the field, or technically valid. You will learn more about professionally manufactured traps in the upcoming workshop. Visit the resource section if you would like to view a demonstration of constructing some common pest traps.
To continue, select Topic 2 from the Topics menu above or click here.