EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE AND WIND-SPEED ON PINK-BOLLWORM (LEPIDOPTERA, GELECHIIDAE) MOTH CAPTURES DURING SPRING EMERGENCE

Numbers of pink bollworm moths, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), c aptured daily in California's Pale Verde Valley during spring emergenc e were recorded in 6 data sets: 1985 emergence cages; 1986, 1987, and 1989 pheromone traps in cotton fields; and 1986 and 1989 valleywide ph eromone survey traps. For 5 of the 6 data sets, numbers of moths were positively correlated with mean temperature for the interval 1800-2200 hours and minimum temperature for the interval 1800-0600 hours, and n egatively correlated with mean wind speed for the interval 1800-2200 h ours and the time at which wind speed fell below and stayed <2.7 m/s f or the remainder of the night. Multiple regression was used to relate numbers of moths captured to these 4 weather variables. With nonsignif icant variables deleted from each regression model, R(2) ranged from 0 .86 to 0.96. Observations combined over data sets showed that numbers of moths captured were greatly reduced at temperatures < 18.1 degrees C, were reduced at intermediate temperatures only on windy nights, and were less affected by wind at temperatures > 22 degrees C. Although t emperature and wind affect dispersion of the pheromone plume, there ap pears to be a direct effect on the moths themselves because regression model parameters were similar in nonpheromone-baited emergence cages and in pheromone traps.