Roberts Natalie S, Jones Madelyn, Shah Farooq, Butt Tariq M, Allen William L
Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
J Insect Sci. 2025 May 9;25(3). doi: 10.1093/jisesa/ieaf049.
Colored sticky traps are used for management of many common agricultural insect pests. Several recent studies have shown that traps can be improved by systematically considering properties of color vision for the target species. In the current study, we extend this approach to spatial vision, using information about the interommatidial angle of an agriculturally important insect pest, western flower thrips Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), to predict spatial resolution capabilities for a yellow flower pattern across a range of viewing distances. We tested the hypothesis that pattern sizes matching the spatial resolution capabilities of western flower thrips at a given viewing distance would outperform traps with mismatched pattern sizes by measuring the number of western flower thrips caught on sticky traps containing differently sized flower patterns resolvable at 5, 10, or 20 cm. We found an interaction between pattern size and viewing distance, with significantly more western flower thrips caught on traps when the predicted resolvable distance of the pattern matched the distance traps were placed from a central release point. We further tested the range over which trap patterns are effective in more complex viewing environments using commercial polytunnels. In polytunnel trials, we found that increasing the resolvable distance of patterns increased western flower thrips capture up to approximately 26 cm, after which western flower thrips capture decreased up to the maximal visible range tested (50 cm) in the absence of additional sensory cues. Together, these results show the utility of considering spatial vision in improving trap performance and offers functional insights to improve pest management in visual trap design.
彩色粘虫板被用于多种常见农业害虫的防治。最近的几项研究表明，通过系统地考虑目标物种的色觉特性，可以改进粘虫板。在本研究中，我们将这种方法扩展到空间视觉，利用一种重要农业害虫西花蓟马Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) 的小眼间角信息，来预测在一系列观察距离下黄色花朵图案的空间分辨率能力。我们通过测量在含有不同大小花朵图案且在5厘米、10厘米或20厘米处可分辨的粘虫板上捕获的西花蓟马数量，来检验这样一个假设：在给定观察距离下，与西花蓟马空间分辨率能力相匹配的图案尺寸的粘虫板，其捕获效果将优于图案尺寸不匹配的粘虫板。我们发现图案尺寸和观察距离之间存在相互作用，当图案的预测可分辨距离与粘虫板从中央释放点放置的距离相匹配时，粘虫板上捕获的西花蓟马数量显著更多。我们还使用商业塑料大棚在更复杂的观察环境中进一步测试了诱捕图案有效的距离范围。在塑料大棚试验中，我们发现增加图案的可分辨距离会使西花蓟马的捕获量增加，直至约26厘米，之后在没有额外感官线索的情况下直至测试的最大可见范围（50厘米），西花蓟马的捕获量会下降。总之，这些结果表明在改进诱捕性能时考虑空间视觉的实用性，并为改进视觉诱捕器设计中的害虫管理提供了功能方面的见解。
