Spectral preferences of arthropods: Behavioral responses to led lighting

Integrated pest management (IPM) is the preferred strategy for managing arthropod pests in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) due to the detrimental environmental and health effects of conventional pesticides and their negative impacts on biological control agents. There is increasing interest in how technologies such as artificial lighting impact pest population growth and biological control efficacy in CEA and how supplemental lighting can be utilized to enhance IPM programs. This research determined the most attractive and/or unattractive wavelengths of supplemental LED lighting for major horticultural pests and their natural enemies of these pests. Multiple choice tests were conducted for insect preferences to different wavelengths using flight cages containing light traps representing twelve different wavelengths (385, 405, 425, 450, 470, 500, 530, 550, 575, 590, 615 and 650 nm). Wavelength preferences were tested for the prey species Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and Echinothrips americanus (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Predator preferences tested included those for Eretmocerus emericus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) and Franklinothrips vespiformis (Thysanoptera: Aeolothripidae). The findings from this study will be discussed.