Bimodal-Traps: from Basic Research to a Commercial Product

Alternative methods for pest control that substitute pesticides are urgent to reduce agricultural damages while safeguarding human health. One innovative method is the behavioral manipulation of insects by means of vibrations. This article resumes the developmental steps taken in designing the first device that uses vibrational signals as a lure for pest monitoring. The brown marmorated stinkbug, Halyomorpha halys (BMSB) was used as a model. In BMSB, intraspecific communication relies on pheromones, at long-distance, and on vibrational signals, at short distance, therefore we created a bimodal trap that combined pheromones with vibrations. In the first instance, we designed in the laboratory of biotremology an optimal attractive vibrational signal (namely FS2) that best elicited male attractiveness. Then, we created two traps with different shapes (jellyfish and pyramid) that were tested in semi-field conditions. The jellyfish shape showed higher capture efficacy and thus it was selected to test the duration of the vibration emission (12h vs versus 24h) in field conditions. The 24h emitting trap captured the highest number of BMSB. Overall, these findings allowed us to make an efficient trap for BMSB monitoring and to demonstrate how pest management can be optimized by coupling semiophysicals and semiochemicals.