Integrated Management of Japanese Beetle Popillia japonica

The Japanese beetle Popillia japonica is a highly polyphagous invasive scarab that inflicts foliar injury on turf, ornamental plants, broadacre and horticultural crops. Native to East Asia and now established in North America and parts of Europe, its larvae feed on grass roots and adults skeletonise foliage, causing yield loss, economic burden and reductions in aesthetic and ecosystem services. Integrated management combines monitoring, predictive modelling, cultural tactics, biological agents, physical barriers and judicious insecticide use to suppress populations while minimising non-target impacts. Key components include regular trapping and visual surveys, forecasting emergence and peak activity via thermal or mechanistic models, habitat manipulation such as weed management or mulching to deter oviposition, deployment of natural enemies (entomopathogenic fungi and nematodes, tachinid parasitoids), physical exclusion (netting, high-tunnel coverings) and strategic use of selective insecticides. Adaptive implementation of these measures, informed by phenological and spread models, underpins area-wide management and early-detection eradication programmes across diverse agroecosystems.

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Integrated Management of Japanese Beetle Popillia japonica publication trend

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Technical terms

Integrated Pest Management (IPM): A systematic approach combining multiple compatible control methods to manage pest populations below economic thresholds with minimal environmental impact.

Reaction–diffusion model: A mathematical framework describing spatial expansion of populations by combining local reproduction and dispersal processes.

Degree-day model: A phenological tool that predicts insect development and emergence based on accumulated thermal units above and below defined temperature thresholds.

Entomopathogenic fungi: Fungal species that infect and kill insect hosts, used as biological control agents.

Mass-trapping: The use of multiple baited traps to attract and remove large numbers of adult insects from a target area.

References

1. Predicting the spatio-temporal dynamics of Popillia japonica populations. Journal of Pest Science (2024).
2. Popillia japonica – Italian outbreak management. Frontiers in Insect Science (2023).
3. A degree-day model for forecasting adult phenology of Popillia japonica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in a temperate climate. Frontiers in Insect Science (2022).
4. Exclusion and Repulsion of Popillia japonica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) Using Selected Coverings on High Tunnel Structures for Primocane Red Raspberry. Insects (2022).
5. The establishment of the association between the Japanese beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and the parasitoid Istocheta aldrichi (Diptera: Tachinidae) in Québec, Canada. The Canadian Entomologist (2023).