Removal trapping to control Artioposthia triangulata |
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Authors: | R P BLACKSHAW J P MOORE R ALSTON |
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Institution: | Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland;The Queen's University of Belfast, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, Northern Ireland, UK;Eden Plants, Rossinver, Co. Leitrim, Ireland |
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Abstract: | Removal trapping was used to try and reduce numbers of the predatory planarian Artioposthia triangulata in polythene tunnels on a nursery and a grass field. Ten months of trapping in the tunnels failed to have any impact upon flatworm numbers but weekly catches reduced over a period of 12 weeks' trapping in grassland. The calculated residual population in the grassland (40 ha-1) was small in comparison with that estimated from formalin sampling (940 × 1288 ha-1). A separate field study examined the effect of trap density on catch by spacing traps at 2.5, 5, 10 and 20 m intervals. This showed that the numbers of planarians caught was inversely related to the logarithm of trap spacing. It is concluded that removal trapping is too demanding of resources to be a viable control option for this pest in commercial and agricultural situations. |
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Keywords: | Artioposthia triangulata New Zealand flatworm refuge traps removal trapping contoral |
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