invasive species, bark beetle, citizen science

Bark and ambrosia beetles are among the most damaging forest pests worldwide, and monitoring is essential to damage prevention. The goal of this study was to test a simple, effective trap that can be made and deployed by anyone interested in collecting bark and ambrosia beetles. Three trap types made from 2-liter soda bottles and, separately, four attractants were compared. A comparison of attractants in two-window traps found that 95% ethanol attracted the highest number of species but that Purell hand sanitizer (70% ethanol) and then Germ-X hand sanitizer (63% ethanol) were also effective. Overall, >4,500 bark and ambrosia beetles, including 30 species were captured, representing a third of the regional species diversity. These results suggest that simple one-window soda bottle traps baited with ethanol-based hand sanitizer will be effective and inexpensive tools for large-scale monitoring of bark and ambrosia beetles.