A preliminary experiment was conducted during the horn fly season at Blacksburg, Virginia from May through September, 1959, to determine the relationship of weather conditions to horn fly populations on 3 breeds of dairy heifers. Daily records of the fly populations on 10 animals selected at random from a mixed herd of Holstein, Guernsey, and Jersey yearling heifers were made. In addition, the daily minimum and maximum macrotemperatures and relative humidities, the approximate wind direction, and the amount of sunlight or cloud coverage were recorded.
Usually there was a significant difference between the number of horn flies on Holstein and that on Guernsey and Jersey heifers. Horn flies generally preferred the dark colored areas of bicolored cattle during the hours of daylight, and they preferred the black of the Holstein rather than the tan of the Guernsey. When the macrotemperature was above 85°F, many of the flies were found on the white skin of the belly and udder area of a heifer. During inclement weather the flies were observed on both the white and dark colored areas of all the heifers. Macrotemperature and relative humidity influenced the horn fly populations within the biocenose. Light rain and winds of less than 20 miles per hour were found to have a negligible effect on the number of flies in the populations; however, significant population decreases were attributed to heavy rain, wind in excess of 20 miles per hour. Often, when the macrotemperature was below 55°F, light rain or wind of low velocity influenced movement of the flies to more sheltered areas on the host. The apparently preferred macroclimate for horn flies was: temperature of 73 to 80°F; relative macrohumidity of 65 to 90%; scattered light showers; and no wind.
During the horn fly season of 1960, a second experiment was conducted to correlate the effect of the macro-environment on the micro-environment within the ½ inch mantle of the animal, and also to correlate the locations of horn flies within this mantle with various factors of the micro-environment. (Daily macro-environmental data, including air temperature, relative humidity, wind direction and velocity, amount of cloud coverage, and precipitation, were recorded as in the preliminary experiment of 1959.) Methods for measuring the micro-environment were devised, and the data obtained were analysed statistically and interpreted. Accordingly, the effects on horn fly populations of dark skin color, low temperature, and low humidity were highly significant at the 1% level; the effects on horn fly populations of high humidity and precipitation were significant at the 5% level; and the effect of high temperature on horn flies was not significant at the 5% level.
According to the results of the second experiment, the horn flies apparently sought certain micro-environmental conditions which were most commonly observed on Holstein heifers. Within the mantle of micro-environment, horn flies appeared to prefer an air temperature of about 85°F, a skin temperature of about 97°F, and a relative humidity of about 65%. When such conditions were not available to the horn flies on the sides and backs of Holstein heifers, the flies usually found near optimum conditions along the belly midline for each of the 3 breeds of heifers. / Ph. D.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/39682 |
| Date | 06 October 2009 |
| Creators | Morgan, Neal Oliver |
| Contributors | Entomology |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 87 leaves, BTD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | OCLC# 20376527, LD5655.V856_1962.M673.pdf |
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