VIth INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM

ON INVERTEBRATE PATHOLOGY

AND MICROBIAL CONTROL

INCORPORATING

THE IInd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

ON BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS

AND

THE XXVIIth ANNUAL MEETING OF THE

SOCIETY FOR INVERTEBRATE PATHOLOGY

PROCEEDINGS

VOLUME I

Montpellier, France 28 August - 2 September, 1994

The Colloquium is organized under the auspices of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology

TECHNOLOGY OF APPLICATION OF MICROBIALS IN AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS: USE OF BTI AGAINST BLACK FLIES IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS

Daniel P. Molloy

Biological Survey, New York State Museum, Albany, NY 12230, USA

The end goal of research on aquatic biopesticides is their successful incorporation into operational control programs. This paper presents a case study to illustrate that the development of sound application methodologies is a critical and essential step toward realization of this goal. Specifically, the development of treatment strategies for operational control programs using Bti; Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, against blackfly larvae (Simuliidae) in the Adirondack Mountains will be reviewed. New York State communities have now been successfully using this biopesticide against blackflies for ten years.

By 1981, extensive lab and small-scale stream trials had confirmed the environmental safety and efficacy of Bti against blackfly larvae. It thus seemed logical that a ground program using Bti in the Adirondack Mountains would eventually be adopted as an alternative to the traditional approach of aerial application of chemical adulticides. While interested in using environmentally safer control agents, these mountain communities were unsure of the technical and economic feasibility of using .this biopesticide. Their concern was well founded because clearly defined methods for conducting large-scale, ground-based programs in an area with small mountainous streams actually did not exist. As a consequence, our laboratory initiated an "application methods" research project - one that defined the characteristics of effective formulations and spelled out the techniques that applicators should follow. In addition, our research outlined the costs involved in executing such large-scale Bti programs. These efforts essentially served as the technology transfer bridge between the scientific community and the communities needing protection.

By reviewing this research project, I wish to show how we learned that constructing an "application methodology" was much more than defining the hardware involved in applying a biopesticide to stream water ; it also involved developing procedures that would have to be followed both before and after the actual stream treatment. The point of this presentation is not to teach how to apply Bti. for blackfly control, but rather to show that unless we take the time to develop clear, practical application methodologies, some promising biopesticides may never see much use in the real world or, if incorporated into operation control programs, may fail to achieve the efficacy and economic feasibility they inherently could. Given our human predisposition to resist change, I am convinced that without the methodology research that was conducted in the early 1980s, Adirondack Mountains communities would still be using broad spectrum chemical insecticides today for their blackfly problems.