Colacci Marco, Tabilio Maria Rosaria, Lolletti Daniele, Ferrante Patrizia, Ceccaroli Claudio, Bernabei Guido, Sciarretta Andrea
Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, 86100, Campobasso, Italy.
Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, CREA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, 00134, Rome, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jun 4;15(1):19584. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-04369-7.
The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata, is a key pest for fruit production in the Mediterranean and other areas of the world. With the aim of contributing to knowledge on the management of this pest, the present study analyses the spatial distribution of medfly sterile males released during a pilot application of Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) in a multi-varietal fruit farm in Central Italy. The spatio-temporal distribution was analysed with the Spatial Analyses by Distance Indices (SADIE) methodology. The wild male population and the released sterile males showed an aggregate distribution in the field, even though the latter were released uniformly in the experimental farm. Furthermore, the spatial dispersion of sterile flies mirrored that of the wild flies throughout the entire release period of the sterile males, which lasted about 4 months. This aspect is critical for the correct application of the SIT. These results provide useful insights on the application of sterile males to control medfly populations.
地中海实蝇（Ceratitis capitata）是地中海地区及世界其他地区水果生产中的一种关键害虫。为了增进对这种害虫管理的认识，本研究分析了在意大利中部一个多品种果园进行不育昆虫技术（SIT）试点应用期间释放的地中海实蝇不育雄虫的空间分布。采用距离指数空间分析（SADIE）方法对时空分布进行了分析。野生雄虫种群和释放的不育雄虫在田间呈聚集分布，尽管后者是在实验果园中均匀释放的。此外，在不育雄虫约4个月的整个释放期内，不育蝇的空间扩散反映了野生蝇的扩散情况。这一点对于正确应用不育昆虫技术至关重要。这些结果为应用不育雄虫控制地中海实蝇种群提供了有用的见解。
