Movement and distribution of Sitophilus zeamais adults and relationship between their density and trapping frequency in wheat bulks under different grain temperatures and moisture contents

Abstract Movement and distribution of Sitophilus zeamais adults and relationship between their trapping frequency and insect density were determined in one tonne wheat with 11.5 ± 0.2, 12.5 ± 0.1 and 13.5 ± 0.2% moisture contents (wet basis) inside cylindrical bins at 20, 25 and 30 °C. The introduced adult densities were 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 adults/kg wheat (A/kg). Inside each bin, 15 probe traps were vertically installed in three layers. In each layer, five traps were installed at the center and half radii of the bin individually. The trapped adults were counted daily up to 7 d, and then 15 kg wheat was sampled at each trap location. The insect number in each sample was counted. The recovered adults in the top layer were less than that in the middle layer, while no significant difference between at middle and bottom layers. In each layer, adults preferred the center location at 0.5 A/kg, while this trend was unidentified at other densities. There was an autocorrelation of insect densities at adjacent locations at ≥ 1.0 A/kg, while no autocorrelation in the vertical direction. The adults had an aggregation distribution at any temperature, moisture content and adult density. The normal and Poisson model could not be used to describe the distribution of the count frequency of the adults in the samples, while the negative binomial model could describe this distribution in 18 out of 27 sampling sets at ≤ 1.0 A/kg. The trapping frequency was strongly influenced by the trapping period and increased with the increase of insect densities. The relationship between adult densities and trapping frequencies at the sampling locations had a significant difference at different grain temperatures, while no difference at different moisture contents, grain depths, and locations.