Lure Monitoring for Mediterranean Fruit Fly Traps Using Air Quality Sensors.

Effective pest population monitoring is crucial in precision agriculture, which integrates various technologies and data analysis techniques for enhanced decision-making. This study introduces a novel approach for monitoring lures in traps targeting the Mediterranean fruit fly, utilizing air quality sensors to detect total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) and equivalent carbon dioxide (eCO). Our results indicate that air quality sensors, specifically the SGP30 and ENS160 models, can reliably detect the presence of lures, reducing the need for frequent physical trap inspections and associated maintenance costs.

Shadow Effect for Small Insect Detection by W-Band Pulsed Radar.

In radar entomology, one primary challenge is detecting small species (smaller than 5 cm) since these tiny insects reflect radiation that can be poorly observable and, therefore, difficult to interpret. After a literature search on radar entomology, this research found few works where it has been possible to sense insects with dimensions smaller than 5 cm using radars. This paper describes different methodologies to detect Mediterranean fruit flies with 5-6 mm sizes using a pulsed W-band radar and presents the experimental results that validate the procedures.