Developing a Bioacoustic Method for Mating Disruption of a Leafhopper Pest in Grapevine

Widespread use of substrate-borne vibrational signals by insects presents a unique opportunity to develop alternative methods of pest control, enabled by better understanding insect behav-iour and advances in technology. One such method is currently under development for use against the invasive leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus, a vector of Flavescence dorée in Europe-an vineyards. A bottom-up approach was used, starting from basic understanding of the vec-tor’s sexual behaviour and exploiting naturally occurring antagonistic interactions between males to develop playback that functions by obscuring signal characteristics important for ma-te recognition and localization. Thus, it represents acoustic noise that can be characterized, adjusted and broadcast using modified acoustic technology. Steps in development of this technology to maximize reliability and energy efficiency are outlined, as well as plans for large-scale field testing and future perspectives. While several specific factors work in favour of using vibrational disruption in the system S. titanus (pest) and grapevine (host) and possibil-ities of direct transfer to other systems are limited, success of this approach is nevertheless hoped to stimulate development of vibrational playback in general for control of other insect pests.