Optimising sticky traps for Western Flower Thrips and Whitefly using visual modelling.
Lead Research Organisation:
Swansea University
Department Name: College of Science
Abstract
This project tackles the major agricultural pests Wester flower thrips (WFT, Frankliniella occiidentalis) and Greenhouse Whitefly (GW, Trialeurodes vaporariorum) by developing optimised sticky traps for improved monitoring and mass trapping. We will apply a design process that measures a pest's-eye-view of trap appearance to identify the most attractive and stimulating trap design. We will develop designs that use colour and pattern to target multiple pests simultaneously. Proposed designs will be evaluated in lab and field trials in crops of strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers. Finally we will identify biodegradable papers, inks and glues to develop a low-cost low-waste solution. Optimised designs and carefully selected controls will be tested in experimental field trials.
Technical Summary
This project tackles the major agricultural pests Wester flower thrips (WFT, Frankliniella occiidentalis) and Greenhouse Whitefly (GW, Trialeurodes vaporariorum) by developing optimised sticky traps for improved monitoring and mass trapping. We will apply a design process that uses visual modelling of trap appearance from the pests' perspective to optimise the attractiveness of traps. Specifically, we will develop designs that use colour and pattern to target multiple pests and identify biodegradable materials to develop a low-cost low-waste solution. Optimised designs and carefully selected controls will be tested in experimental field trials in crops of strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers.
Through more accurate monitoring of pest populations, the project improves pest detection and forecasting. By trapping target pests at a higher rate than current sticky traps, the product developed could also be used for environmentally friendly mass trapping control using sustainable low-impact materials. There is future potential too for a highly efficient multi-pest trap becoming a key component of an integrated pest management solution that provides automated monitoring for prediction and targeted control.
Through more accurate monitoring of pest populations, the project improves pest detection and forecasting. By trapping target pests at a higher rate than current sticky traps, the product developed could also be used for environmentally friendly mass trapping control using sustainable low-impact materials. There is future potential too for a highly efficient multi-pest trap becoming a key component of an integrated pest management solution that provides automated monitoring for prediction and targeted control.
Publications
Santer RD
(2024)
Optimising the colour of traps requires an insect's eye view.
in Pest management science
| Description | Insect damage to commercial crops has widespread economic and environmental implications. Coloured sticky traps are a key tool in monitoring and control in integrated pest management approaches, reducing use of costly and polluting insecticides by enabling targeted application. While colour preferences of common crop pests have been extensively studied, most studies to date rely on large-scale trial-and-error for trap design. A more effective solution being spearheaded by our research group is to use general principles of arthropod vision and visual modelling techniques to generate colour stimuli optimized for the visual properties of target species. Our prior work has demonstrated this pipeline can double trap effectiveness for a single species, however growers typically aim to monitor multiple pests simultaneously. In the research conducted as a result of the award, we develop our approach for multi-pest traps by asking whether colours predicted to be highly visually stimulating via visual modelling capture more insects than unoptimized colours for two economically important crop pests; greenhouse whiteflies (Trialeurodes vaporariorum) and Western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis). We find that optimizing chromatic stimulation via a previously hypothesized blue-green opponent mechanism improves trap catch for both species and that maximizing the contribution of green relative to blue sensitive photoreceptors allows for effective monitoring of both species simultaneously. This offers a major advancement to current methodologies, which generally rely on different colors to individually target either T. vaporariorum or F. occidentalis. Further, we show that visual modelling results are robust across different environmental settings, highlighting the general applicability of visual modelling techniques in pest management strategies. Further we conducted additional pilot experiments that demonstrated how visual modelling is also useful for optimising the patterns of sticky traps, given variation in pest acuity. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings are being utilised by our commercial partner Razbio Ltd in design of sticky traps. This may lead to commercial IP and Patents. More generally the publications that will result further demonstrate the utility of using visual modelling techniques to optimise the design of products that interact with animals. This has impact in pest control, but also other applications (animal welfare, deterrence, sensory pollution etc.). |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink |
| Description | SWBio Rothamsted-Swansea-Razbio |
| Organisation | Rothamsted Research |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Co-supervision of PhD student, access to facilities. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Co-supervision of PhD student, access to facilities. |
| Impact | Entomology, visual ecology, integrated pest management |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Fruit Focus |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Natalie Roberts presented research as a poster in the BBSRC exhibit at industry conference 'Fruit Focus'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.fruitfocus.co.uk/ |
| Description | New Integrated Pest Management 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Team members 1.) chaired a session, 2.) gave a talk and 3.) presented a poster on the project research at 'New Integrated Pest Management 2023' conference 5th -7th September 2023. This initiated several discussions with potential academic and industry partners. To date this network expansion has led to an Innovate UK funding application. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.swansea.ac.uk/bioscience/research-and-impact/natural-products-biohub-project/naturalprod... |
| Description | Oriel Science Exhibit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The project team developed and installed an exhibit in Oriel Science, Swansea's city-center science gallery as part of their 'Imaging' exhibition. The exhibit invites the audience to take a photo, which is then processed to represent the view of different animal species, and displayed alongside information about how scientists study non-human vision. At the exhibit opening, the work was presented to Swansea University's Senior Leadership Team, increasing visibility of work internally. Since opening the exhibit has been attended by 1000' of members of the general public and 60+ school groups. School group feedback has indicated that many pupils were inspired by the exhibit, leading to follow-up activities and increased interest in biological vision. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| URL | https://www.orielscience.co.uk/ |