Since the mid-1990s, western corn rootworms (WCR) have begun to lay eggs outside of cornfields in east central Illinois, causing crop rotation to fail as a pest management practice. From 1998-2002, adult movement from corn into soybeans was monitored with cucurbitacin vial traps which were installed in adjacent corn and soybean fields. Trap lines were established near Urbana (Champaign Co.) in east central Illinois and at four remote University of Illinois Field Research Centers (located in DeKalb, Warren, Pike, and Pope Counties) where WCR problems in first-year corn had not been previously reported. Cooperators deployed sets of five traps in late June, each set in a pair of adjacent corn and soybean fields. Production of WCR adults in these non-problem areas was assured by selecting cornfields that had been planted to corn the previous year. Throughout the study, adult WCR were numerous in Urbana soybean fields (exceeding captures in corn) and scarce in soybean fields at Warren, Pike, and Pope Counties. The DeKalb County site differed from the other remote sites in 1998 in that the soybean border trap caught nearly as many beetles as individual traps in corn. Total WCR capture in soybeans equaled that in corn at DeKalb in 1999-2002. High WCR abundance in soybean fields continues to distinguish problem from non-problem areas. Adult WCR movement patterns from corn into soybeans in DeKalb County now matches those of problem areas. Warren, Pike, and Pope Counties are currently unaffected by the new strain and crop rotation remains an effective pest management practice.
Species 1: Coleoptera Chrysomelidae Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (western corn rootworm)
Keywords: oviposition
Back to Ten-Minute Papers, Section Cd. Behavior and Ecology, Cf. Quantitative Ecology
Back to Ten-Minute Papers, Section Ca, Cb, Cc, Cd, Ce, and Cf
Back to The 2003 ESA Annual Meeting and Exhibition