Spring Pheromone Trap Forecast

Since 1995, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Florida Forest Service (FFS) has participated in an annual Southern Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis, or SPB) spring trapping survey. This survey monitors numbers of adult SPBs and their clerid predators captured in pheromone-baited flight traps during the SPB primary spring dispersal phase. The results are used as an early-season prediction of SPB population trends and activity levels, allowing forest managers to identify areas of potential SPB activity in advance of aerial detection flights. The survey also provides data for monitoring SPB population levels from year to year. The survey technique and accompanying prediction model were developed by Dr. Ron Billings at the Texas Forest Service, have been employed throughout the Southeast since 1986, and have proven to be 75-85% accurate in predicting SPB activity at the county level for a given year. The Florida survey successfully predicted outbreak levels for several counties in 2001 as well as statewide low levels of activity from 2003 through 2014.

Summary of Florida SPB Pheromone Trap Surveys, Predictions, and Infestations: 1995-2016