Micro-Infusion Technology to Improve Efficacy of Pheromone to Manage Spruce Bark Beetles

Spruce bark beetle epidemics are responsible for the destruction of millions of acres of forests, which threaten critical habitat for endangered species, campgrounds, and create fire hazards. Since insecticides are not practical for treating this insect in forests, pest management strategies have been developed using semiochemicals. However, inconsistent field performance has limited the success of this pheromone- based approach, attributed in large part to the poor emission rate control and reliability of conventional diffusion controlled dispensers. The proposed investigation will determine initial feasibility of using micro-infusion drug delivery technology to emit anti-aggregation pheromones to mitigate the effect of Spruce bark beetles in Utah and Arizona. By actively dispensing bark beetles pheromones from point sources at a continuous flow rate into the environment, the approach will more closely simulate how the beetles themselves emit their pheromones compared to conventional diffusion controlled methods used to emit semiochemicals in forest applications.