Monitoring European pine sawfly population densities with pheromone traps in young pine plantations

Field trials utilizing pheromone traps were evaluated to develop a population monitoring and predicting system for the European pine sawfly (Neodiprion sertifer). Larval density was censused in a transect across each study site. Three traps per site were baited with 100μg of (2S,3S,7S)-3,7-dimethyl-2-pentadecyl (diprionyl) acetate. During a two-year period traps loaded with 1, 10 and 100 μg of diprionyl acetate were compared. Correlations and coefficients of determination between numbers of captured males and larvae of the same or successive generations were seldom high. Between-generation relationships were significant, when population density was increasing. Having years with increasing densities in a row, the present monitoring method might provide warning of an outbreak.