Recreational firewood collected from campers in Mississippi State Parks was investigated for factors associated with insect presence and their diversity. Insects were found in 20% of firewood and evidence of past feeding was found in 64.8%. Representatives of 35 families of insects were reared from collected firewood. These included representatives of Buprestidae, Cerambycidae, Curculionidae, Formicidae, and Rhinotermitidae. The effects of firewood age, moisture content, and source were also examined as effects on insect presence in firewood. At the same time, a survey of campers’ beliefs and attitudes about non-native woodborers was conducted. Exposure to public awareness campaigns had the strongest association on reported sources of firewood and support for regulations on firewood movement. However, no association was found between attitudes and beliefs and camper firewood habits. No association was found between camper responses to survey questions and biological factors from firewood collected from them.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-4739 |
| Date | 11 August 2017 |
| Creators | Thorn, Matthew John |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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