AN NEXPENSVE SUCTON TRAP AND TS USE N AN APHD MONTORNG NETWORK' David Allison and K. S. Pike Washington State University lrrigated Agriculture Research & Extension Center Prosser \VA 99350 Abstract: An inexpensive casily constructed suction trap is described and depicted. Notes are included on its usc in a network for the detection and monitoring of nights of aphids injuriolls to crops. Key Words: Suction trap insecl~ aphid trap nehvork. J. Agric. Entomol. 5(2}: 103-107 (April 1988) n the early 1950's suction traps were first developed and shown to be an effective tool fol' sampling migrating insects (Johnson 1950a and 195Gb; Taylor 1951; Johnson and Taylor 1955). Since then traps with various modifications have been designed and used in insect surveys (van Ark and Pienasl' 1970; Taylor find Palmer L972; Takagi L978; Wainhouse 1980; Goodenough et a1. 1983; Bidlingmayer and Evans 1985; Kimsey and Brittnacher 1985; Taubert and Hertl 1985). n 1983 we began to set up a network of suction traps in eastern Washington State to monitor the seasonal distribution and abundance of aphids injurious to crops. The trap that we designed for this network is simple and inexpensive to build and can easily be erected without special equipment. Construction and erection of the trap require approximately 8300 worth of materials (1987 prices) and 20 mnn~hours of labor. Currently 17 of the traps are in use in the network; L3 in Washington State and four in Oregon Wyoming and California. An additional 36 are in use in several other networks in the western United States. Trap design (Fig. ). A fan draws air down an 8 m tube (sufficiently long to reach above most of the local insect populations [Taylor and Palmer 19721) and through a screen funnel where airborne arthropods are filtered out and collected in a jar of ethylene glycol. The housing consists of a 1.5 m section of 38 em diameter polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic pipe attached with a coupler to a 6 m high section of 30 cm diameter PVC pipe. The screen funnel made of aluminum or saran cloth (0.3 mm dia. strands 12 strands/ern) is 85 em long and has an upper opening of 38 em and a lower opening of 5 cm. The upper end of the screen is attached with flexible steel strapping to the housing of the trap. A canning jar ring is atulched to the base of the screen with silicon sealant and supported by brackets mounted on the housing. The ring holds a pint canning jar or a 500 ml plastic jar (Nalge #211i Rochester NY). Access to the sample jar is through a door in the housing (20 cm X 25 em). A 30 em 3-wing aluminum fan (Dayton #2C842 Chicago L) is mounted below the jar and is powered by an electl'ic motor (Dayton #3M568) with an output of 38 watts. Scientific pnper no. 7912 College of Agricuhure and Home Economics Research Center. Washington Slate University Pullman. Project no. 0337. Accepted for publiclltion 29 April 1988. 103
104 J. Agric. EntomoL Vol. 5. No.2 (1988) "" 13 4 2 2 2 '] 11 7 9/ 8 B 7 5 7 7 22" 2" Ground -.l 2 Level 14 14 6 '4 6 -. ' '7 Fig. 1. ] 25mm (1") mesh hardware cloth 12] 3 mm (1/8") aircraft cable (3) 2-15 mm X 6 mm (1/2" X 1/4") eye bolts w/ washers & nuts 141 Wire rope clips 15]Shaded pole motor Dayton #3M568 38 watt (1/20 HPJ output 16] 30 em (12") 3-wing aluminum fan blade Dayton #2C842 17[ 25 mm X 2 mm (1" X 1/16") strap steel (all steel should be painted) [8) 500 ml jar Nalge #2117 or 1 pt canning jar f9] Narrow mouth canning jar ring [10] Aluminum wire or Saran cloth..3 mm dis strands 12 strands/em (.012" 30 mesh) 111[ 25 mm X 30 mm (1-1/4") steel strapping 112] 1.5 m (60") length of low head 38 em (15") PVC pipe 113[ PVC reaucing coupler [14[ 10 em
ALLSON and PKE: Aphid Suction Trap 105 r il :. / r; - - - - ;----;--- ----22. / --- "r '. '-~-77" 23 X 10 em X 2.5 m (4" X 4" X 8') pressure treated posts 115J 18 em X 22 em (7" X 9") PVC door 1161 6 m (20') length of low head 30 em (12") PVC pipe [17J Turnbuckle 118J Concrete block 119J Spacer from scrap PVC 120J 120 mm X 10 mm (5" X 3/8") hex cap bolt w/washers & nut [211 115 mm X 10 mm (4 1/2" X 3/8") hex cap bolt w/washers & nut [22J 25 mm X 2 mm (1" X 1/16") aluminum st.rips [23J 3 mm (1/8") blind rivets 124] Silicon seal. screen extends 3 cm (1") below ring 1251 4 cm (1 1/2") hinges [26J 4.5 cm (1-3/4") turn buttons [27] Door frame
106 J. Agric. Entomol. Vol. 5 No.2 (1988) The trap is held 30 em above the ground by three 10 em X 10 em X 2.5 m rot resistant wooden posts bolted to the sides of the base. Three lengths of 3 mm aircraft cable are wound around and fastened to the top of the trap and anchored to concrete blocks buried 1 m deep 3 m from the posts. Turnbuckles are used to adjust cable tension. The volume of air sampled by the trap was calculated by measuring the airflow with a hot wire anemometer (Hastings-Raydinst #RA-l Hampton VA) inserted into the 30 em PVC pipe at a level 2.5 m above the fan. Measurements were taken at a number of different ambient wind speeds (0 to 5 m/sec) and the following linear relationship developed: air sampled (m 3 /rnin) = L4-22 X wind speed (ml sec) (r 2 =.82 df = 4 P =.95). Taking into account the average wind speed in this area (3.2 km/lu') the traps were estimated to sample ca. 570 m 3 /hour ca 1/5 of the 2960 m 3 /hr sampled by the traps used in the Rothamsted nsect Survey (Taylor and Palmer 1972). A sample of this size while easy to sort and identify may not be sufficient to characterize flights of aphid species that occur in small numbers; however it is adequate for monitoring many of the economically important species. nfonnation use. The traps are established on farms or agricultural research stations. The sample jars are changed weekly from Api;! to iovember and sent to the Washington State University Agricultw'al Research Center in Prosser. As the samples are received the aphids are removed and identified without further preparation using binocular microscopes of 12x- LOOx magnification. dentification is usually made to species level. All of the aphids from the saml}les are retained and representatives of each species are mounted on slides. Each week a report is prepared and sent to interested scientists extension personnel consultants and farmers. The report includes the current week's suction trap counts of economically important aphids comparisons of current flights with flights of previous years and at appropriate times field counts of certain aphid species especially grain infesting aphids. When available information on economic population thresholds of aphids on some crops is also included. The information acquired to date permits us to begin to characterize the night and population trends of the region's aphids allowing us to better interpret current information and to make observations and predictions of immediate value to fanners. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the many growers and other individuals who make this trap network possible and we thank the Washington Wheat and Barley Commissions nod the USDAlW-161 Western Region for grant support. REFERENCES CTED Bidlingmayer W. L. and D. G. Evans_ 1985. A telescoping collection Clip changer for insect traps. J. Amer. Mosq. Control Assoc. 1: 33-37. Goodenough J. L. P_ C. Jank L. E. Carroll W. L. Sterling E. J. Redman and J. A. Witz. 1983. Collecting and preserving airborne arthropods in liquid at timed intervals with a Johnson-Taylor-type suction trap. J. Econ. Entomol. 76; 960-963_ Johnson C. G. 1950n. A suction trap for small airborne insects which automatically segregates the catch into successive hourly samples. Ann. Appl. Bio. 37: 80-91. lohoson C. G. 1950b. The comparison of suction trap sticky trap and tow-net for the quantitative sample of small airborne insects. Ann. Appl. Bio. 37: 268-285.
ALUSO~ and PKE: Aphid Suction Trap 107 Johnson C. G.. and L. R. Taylor. 1955. The development of large suction t.raps for airborne insects. Ann. Appl. Bio. 43: 51 61. Kimsey R. 8. and J. G. Brittnacher. 1985. A simple electronic time for animal bait.ed intermittent suction insect traps. J. Arner. Mosquito Assoc. 1: 14-16. Takagi K 1978. Trap for monitoring adult parasites of the tea pest. JARQ (Tea Agron. Div. Nat. Res. nst. of Tea. Japan) 12(2): 99 103. Taubert S. and F. Hertl. 1985. A new portable battel)'-powered insect suction trap. Mitteilungen Deut. Gesellschaft Allgemeine u. Angewandte Entomol. 4(4/6): 433-437. Taylor L. R. 1951. An improved suction trap for insects. Ann. Appl. Bio. 38: 582-591. Taylor L. R. and J. M. P. Palmer. 1972. Aerial Sampling pp. 189-234. n H. F. van Emden led.1. Aphid Technology. Academic Press London & New York. van Ark H. and Leoni M. Pienaar. 1970. Some aspects of Quantitative sampling of insectpopulations by means of suction traps. Phytophylactica. 2: 121-128. Wainhouse. D. 1980. A portable suction trap for sampling small insects. Bull. Entomolo. Res. 70: 491-494.