Estimating the effective sampling area of an alcohol-baited trap for monitoring the coffee berry borer

ABSTRACT Here, single-trap, multiple-release-recapture field experiments were used for the first time to estimate the trap sampling area and absolute population density from trap catches for the coffee berry borer (CBB) Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari). Fluorescent-dusted CBBs were released at several distances at all four cardinal points from an ethanol-methanol-baited multifunnel trap. Only 2.6 % of released beetles were recaptured, and recaptures decreased significantly with increasing release distances. The recapture analyses revealed that CBB moves randomly in the field and disperses at a maximum of 22.2 m. Despite the short plume of the trap (1.3 m), the calculated trap sampling area was 0.17 ha, with an overall catch probability of 0.01. Therefore, capturing 100 CBBs trap –1 ha –1 at the early filling stage of coffee beans reflects a 20.2 million borers ha –1 population at harvest. This results in a projected bean loss of 60.3 kg ha –1 . The findings shed light on improvements in using semiochemical traps and interpretations of catch data to enhance the CBB integrated management. Future studies on the performance of attractants and trap designs in different coffee farmscapes are encouraged to adopt the present methodology.