First use of pheromones to detect phenology patterns and density relationships of pine sawflies in German forests

1 Monitoring studies of pine sawflies with pheromone traps were performed for the first time in Germany. Pheromone traps baited with species‐specific pheromone substances were installed in pine forests at different locations in Bavaria, Brandenburg and Lower Saxony during two years. 2 It was possible to track the flight phenology of Diprion pini, Gilpinia pallida and Neodiprion sertifer reliably and to get information about the number of generations of these species in 1997 and 1998. 3 A clear relationship between trap catch and population density could not be detected, but qualitative changes in trap catch caused by different density levels were observed. 4 For D. pini, trap catches were different among endemic populations of different forest types. Furthermore, catches of males reflected the results from the regular cocoon collections by foresters during the previous winter. 5 For N. sertifer, trap catches in endemic populations were well separated from trap catches on sites with higher sawfly densities. However, no significant correlation between trap catch and sawfly density or defoliation level could be found. These results suggest that the efficacy of the pheromone traps probably varied with biological features (sex ratio, density level, immigration) of the particular population.