Control Options

Trapping

Artificial light is an attractant to midge and other flying insects and has been used at some Perth wetlands to lure midges to electric insect killers. In trials at Lake Monger between 7-11% of emerging adult midges (primarily Polypedilum nubifer) were estimated to have been captured per night, which may be enough to decrease the severity of nuisance midge swarms in the local area (Davis, 1990). Light traps are currently used at Bibra Lake, Yangebup Lake and Lake Joondalup however the effects of these have not been monitored. Lund et al. (2000) and Pinder (2001) suggested that the installation of more light traps at Lake Joondalup may help to reduce the nuisance level of midges at this lake.

The use of decoy lights to lure midges away from residential areas was investigated by Ali (1994) and was suggested by Pinder (2001) and Lund (2003) as a strategy worth investigating at Lake Joondalup. Lund (2003) suggested the implementation of a research project to examine how adult midges respond to light wavelength (colour), intensity and the most effective placement of decoy lighting with regards to local residents. Research by Ali (1994) showed that Chironomus salinarius was less attracted to light of higher wavelengths (red) than to white light or to light at the lower end of the spectrum (violet). Ali (1994) also found that attractiveness to white light was positively correlated with light intensity. Lund (2003) suggested that the use of floating platforms and metal-halide lights (such as those used by road workers at night) to attract adult midge could also be investigated for use at Lake Joondalup.

An innovative midge trapping technique using light and sound has been recently trialed in Japan. Hirabayashi and Ogawa (1999) used audio frequency to mimic the sound of female wingbeats to lure males into black light traps. The major results from this study were;

The majority of emerging adult midge (Chironomus plumosus) were male (94.6% ±SE).
Three types of traps were trialed using glue to trap adult midges. One with sound only, the second with light only and the third with light and sound.
The light-sound trap captured significantly more adults than either the light trap or the sound trap.

These data indicate that research into the use of this technique may have potential for midge control in Perth metropolitan wetlands. Although unlikely to reduce nuisance midge to acceptable levels in isolation, the traps may help to reduce numbers as part of an integrated strategy. The most effective audio frequency wavelengths for local nuisance midge species would need to be determined and species known to be resistant to Abate could be targeted. An advantage of this technique is that whereas standard black lights used in combination with insect zappers kill many non-target insects, the light sound technique may reduce non-target kills by using sound to lure male midges to the traps.

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