|
November 2000. A request for information on movement patterns of pests in Pacific Islands produced several papers of interest.
Commerce and the Spread of Pests and Disease Vectors by Marshall Laird (1984) (ed.) Praeger Scientific, was considered dated, but includes some useful summaries on the subject up to that time.
Transport Services as an Aid to Insect Dispersal in the South Pacific by P S Dale, Maddison PA (1984), deals with dispersal of plant pests.
Another paper that might be helpful is in Plant Protection and Quarantine III, CRC Press (1989) Robert P Kahn (ed). It is entitled Plant Quarantine, a Pacific Island Viewpoint by P S Dale, McKenzie EHC. It summarises the methods of dispersal and some of the myths associated with them.
In general, scale insect dispersal between islands would only be by movement of crawlers in the airstream over distances of less than 500 kms, probably much less. The evidence would suggest that most scale insects are dispersed between islands by human agency, by sea or air transport, when their host plants are moved with the scales attached.
|
