EFFECTS OF DIFLUBENZURON ON THE LITTER SPIDER AND ORTHOPTEROID COMMUNITY IN A CENTRAL APPALACHIAN FOREST INFESTED WITH GYPSY-MOTH (LEPIDOPTERA, LYMANTRIIDAE)
Pj. Martinat et al., EFFECTS OF DIFLUBENZURON ON THE LITTER SPIDER AND ORTHOPTEROID COMMUNITY IN A CENTRAL APPALACHIAN FOREST INFESTED WITH GYPSY-MOTH (LEPIDOPTERA, LYMANTRIIDAE), Environmental entomology, 22(5), 1993, pp. 1003-1008
We searched for effects of diflubenzuron treatment on numbers and dive
rsity of two groups of litter arthropods-spiders (Araneae) and orthopt
eroid insects (Orthoptera and Dictyoptera)-in a West Virginia hardwood
forest infested with gypsy moth. We established sampling stations con
sisting of pitfall traps in treated and untreated plots (four each) an
d sampled for up to 75 d following spray. Variability in dependent var
iables (habitat differences) was reduced by performing principal compo
nents analysis on habitat variables and by introducing the principal c
omponents into the treatment effect models as covariates. A treatment
effect was apparent from 21 to 42 d after spray in both spider and ort
hopteroid insect abundance, although the effect was significant on onl
y two sample dates for orthopteroid insects. There was no treatment ef
fect on species diversity for these two groups.