5: Using the behavioral ecology of stored product insects to inform deployment of long-lasting insecticide netting in food facilities

Historically, long-lasting insecticide netting (LLIN) has been used as bed nets for vector control. Recently, we have been demonstrating the usefulness of LLIN for protection of postharvest commodities by investigating stored product insect behavioral ecology after exposure to netting. In this talk, I provide an overview of our work, including covering fundamental studies of movement and dispersal to novel food patches after exposure, as well as optimal deployment of LLIN in pilot-scale warehouses. We include a variety of brief (1 min), moderate (5 min), and long (10 min) exposures to mimic likely field scenarios, and determine movement and dispersal capacity afterwards. In warehouses, LLIN was either hung in front of a commodity (to mimic partition application), draped directly over the commodity (to mimic pallet applications), or intersected a PVC pipe (to mimic insect immigration through a vent from the landscape). We found that insects move much less and much slower after even brief exposures to netting, while their dispersal ability was significantly impaired. We also found that the presence of LLIN, regardless of deployment method, was effective at preventing dispersal and stopping progeny production in goods. We place these results in context with work by other team members on the effect of multiple exposures to LLIN, and residual efficacy to paint a full picture of the incredible promise LLIN holds for diversifying IPM programs for food facilities.