TY - JOUR
T1 - Appropriateness of probit-9 in the development of quarantine treatments for timber and timber commodities
AU - Schortemeyer, Marcus
AU - Thomas, Ken
AU - Haack, Robert A.
AU - Uzunovic, Adnan
AU - Hoover, Kelli
AU - Simpson, Jack A.
AU - Grgurinovic, Cheryl A.
PY - 2011/6/1
Y1 - 2011/6/1
N2 - Following the increasing international phasing out of methyl bromide for quarantine purposes, the development of alternative treatments for timber pests becomes imperative. The international accreditation of new quarantine treatments requires verification standards that give confidence in the effectiveness of a treatment. Probit-9 mortality is a standard for treatment effectiveness that has its origin in fruit fly research, and has been adopted by the United States Department of Agriculture for fruit flies and several other pests. Following this, the probit-9 standard has been adopted as a benchmark for many quarantine treatments worldwide. This article discusses aspects of the application of this concept for a range of timber pests. Problematic issues include the often small pest populations available for testing, the limits of modeling pest responses to a treatment in the absence of sufficient numbers for treatment verification, the species diversity of pests and host materials and the physical and chemical conditions of host material or treatment conditions. Where treatment verification by killing large numbers of individuals is impossible, data collected from small populations or under specific conditions must be interpreted with caution. We discuss possible alternative approaches to probit-9 as a treatment efficacy standard.
AB - Following the increasing international phasing out of methyl bromide for quarantine purposes, the development of alternative treatments for timber pests becomes imperative. The international accreditation of new quarantine treatments requires verification standards that give confidence in the effectiveness of a treatment. Probit-9 mortality is a standard for treatment effectiveness that has its origin in fruit fly research, and has been adopted by the United States Department of Agriculture for fruit flies and several other pests. Following this, the probit-9 standard has been adopted as a benchmark for many quarantine treatments worldwide. This article discusses aspects of the application of this concept for a range of timber pests. Problematic issues include the often small pest populations available for testing, the limits of modeling pest responses to a treatment in the absence of sufficient numbers for treatment verification, the species diversity of pests and host materials and the physical and chemical conditions of host material or treatment conditions. Where treatment verification by killing large numbers of individuals is impossible, data collected from small populations or under specific conditions must be interpreted with caution. We discuss possible alternative approaches to probit-9 as a treatment efficacy standard.
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U2 - 10.1603/EC10453
DO - 10.1603/EC10453
M3 - Article
C2 - 21735886
AN - SCOPUS:79960378380
SN - 0022-0493
VL - 104
SP - 717
EP - 731
JO - Journal of economic entomology
JF - Journal of economic entomology
IS - 3
ER -