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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Lentic Ecology
MIDGES, COOTS, AND CONDOS: TROUBLE IN PARADISE! PART I. THE PROBLEM AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN.
R.W. Merritt1, M.B. Berg2, and A. Ali3. 1Departments of Entomology and Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, 2Department of Biology, Loyola University, Chicago, IL 60626, 3Mid-Florida Research and Education Center, IFAS, University of Florida, Apopka, FL 32703
Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge was established in Maui to preserve, restore, and manage an essential foraging and resting wetland for two endangered waterbirds: the Hawaiian stilt and Hawaiian coot. The seasonal flooding and eutrophic conditions along with shallow depths in Kealia Pond have created a favorable environment for the proliferation of exotic, spotted windged midges (Polypedilum nubifer). Although these midges likely are an important food resource for these birds on the refuge, swarms of emerging adult midges represent a nuisance to nearby condomium residents and businesses. Consequently, we conducted a management study to evaluate efficacy of control methods for midges and assess short-term effects to non-target invertebrates on and off-treated sites in the Pond. Our 7 week study, which coincided with the peak emergence of midges, compared two insecticides: a spore-producing bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) and methoprene (StrikeŽ), a juvenile hormone analog. The specific objectives were to: (1) determine the short-term effects of Bti and methoprene on larval densities and adult emergence of nuisance midges, respectively; (2) determine the effects of methoprene and Bti on non-target invertebrates; and (3) determine the effects of methoprene on non-target invertebrates at sites downwind of treated areas resulting from drift.
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