Although problems associated with the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), are not as dramatic as they were in 1992. they were still significant in 1993. Laboratory research in 1993 focused on defining the cues that result in migratory behavior, specifically host quality. In addition, field studies were conducted to learn more about timing, direction, and distance flown. Our goal is to develop a predictive model that can be used for forecasting whitefly movement. During our behavioral studies, B. tabaci was presented with two cues that lead to disparate behaviors. More than 70% of the whiteflies we tested ended their flights (within three presentations of the cue) when given a choice between settling on a 'host' (550 nm interference filter) and continued flight. Only 6% of the individuals we tested, demonstrated what would be considered to be true migration Both endogenoous and exogenous factors can play an important role in determining when insects will fly. Finally, although the oogenesis-flight syndrome is thought to be a strong component of insect migratory activity, whiteflies do not appear to postpone egg production until after they have engaged in flight. In the field marked whiteflies were also collected in the most distant of these traps. These field results support our hypothesis that most whitefly movement in the fall in the Yuma Valley is in a SW direction (prevailing winds are from the NE). Within a 3 hr time frame whiteflies can travel as far as 2.2 miles from the source field. We examined the effects of female flight distance and eggload. We found significant differences in the eggload of field collected whiteflies versus whiteflies collected in traps at all distances from the source field. There was no relationship between distance flown and eggload. These results may indicate that dispersing individuals are capable of delaying egg laying until a suitable host plant is located
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/214731 |
| Date | 09 1900 |
| Creators | Byrne, David N., Blackmer, Jackie, Rathman, Robin |
| Contributors | Oebker, Norman F. |
| Publisher | College of Agriculture, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Article |
| Relation | 370097, Series P-97 |
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