**1. Introduction**

With increasing public concern about the use of toxic pesticides to control insects and other pestiferous organisms, resource managers are turning toward other techniques of integrated pest management. Some of these techniques are common-sense approaches, such as com‐ pleting sanitation or clean-up activities before the season when the damaging stages of an insect pest are present. Other tools are more "hi-tech", such as the use of odors called semio‐ chemicals, and in particular, pheromones, to manipulate the behavior of insect pests. With these non-toxic and biodegradable chemicals, insects can be lured into traps or foiled into wasting energy that they normally need for locating food and mates. Semiochemicals are chemical signals that are produced by a plant or animal and are detected by a second plant or animal and cause a response in the second organism. Many species depend on these chemical signals for survival.

Pheromones are a class of semiochemicals that insects and other animals release to com‐ municate with other individuals of the same species (Witzgall, 2001). The key to all of these behavioral chemicals is that they leave the body of the first organism, pass through the air (or water) and reach the second organism, where they are detected by the receiv‐ er. In insects, these pheromones are detected by the antennae on the head. The signals can be effective in attracting faraway mates, and in some cases, can be very persistent, remaining in place and active for days (Witzgall, 2001). Long-lasting pheromones allow marking of territorial boundaries or food sources. Other signals are very short-lived, and are intended to provide an immediate message, such as a short-term warning of danger or a brief period of reproductive readiness. Pheromones can be of many different chemi‐ cal types, to serve different functions. As such, pheromones can range from small hydro‐ phobic molecules to water-soluble peptides. Over the last 40 years, scientists have

© 2013 Laznik and Trdan; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2013 Laznik and Trdan; licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

identified pheromones from over 1,500 different species of insects. With insects, though, pheromones have found wide application in the fields of agriculture, forestry, and urban pest management, and there are companies that specialize in the discovery, manufactur‐ ing, and sales of pheromone-related products (Thomson, 1997).

**Species Host plant Monitoring**

stored cereals and their products

stored cereals and their products

*Agrotis segetum*

*Agrotis segetum*

*Agrotis segetum*

*Agrotis segetum*

*Anagasta kuehniella*

*Anagasta kuehniella*

*Clysia ambiguella*

*Contarinia nasturtii*

*Contarinia nasturtii*

*Contarinia nasturtii*

*Contarinia nasturtii*

*Cydia pomonella*

*Grapholita funebrana*

*Grapholita funebrana* **Location (Coordinates and elevation) Year Reference(s)**

Research on Seasonal Dynamics of 14 Different Insects Pests in Slovenia Using Pheromone Traps

2004 Zalokar (2006)

2004 Selišnik (2007)

2007 Florijančič (2010)

2004 Trdan et al. (2005a)

2004 Walland (2007)

006

2004-2 005

Trdan et al. (2008)

Humski et al. (2005) Humski (2007)

Trdan and Jeršič (2008)Jeršič (2009)

Trdan et al. (2010)

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53186

147

2004-2 005

maize Veliki Slatnik (1): 45°47′41″N, 15°13′39″E, 208 m 2007 Srebernjak (2009)

fodder beet Podobeno (2): 46°8′40″N, 14°11′6″E, 431 m 2010 Dolenec (2012)

maize Pungert (3): 46°9′23.52″N, 14°20′13.08″E, 340 m 2008 Kalan (2010)

cabbage Gobovce (12): 46°16′30″N, 14°19′4″E, 374 m 2006 Bohinc (2008)

cabbage Ljubljana (13)\* 2006 Trdan and Bobnar (2007)

apple Prigorica (18): 45°42′47″N, 14°44′38″E, 485 m 2010 Bartol (2011)

plum Dolenja vas (19): 45°42′24″N, 14°45′12″E, 493 m 2007 Pogorelc (2008)

sugarbeet Cvetkovci (4): 46°24′44″N, 16°3′50″E, 202 m

Želimlje (7)\* Obrije (8)\* Jable (10)\*

191 m

m

Rakitnica (14)\*

Zakl near Braslovče (15)\*

*Cossus cossus* apricot Pišece (17): 46°0′12″N, 15°38′53″E, 232 m 2005-2

plum Gabrnik (20): 46°28′17″N, 15°57′19″E, 221 m

Latkova vas (21): 46°14′48″N, 15°5′46″E, 270 m Dol pri Hrastniku (22): 46°8′33″N, 15°7′1″E, 331 m

cabbage Ljubljana (13)\*

Rakičan (5): 46°39′4″N, 16°11′53″E, 186 m Kranj (6): 46°14′37″N, 14°21′21″E, 388 m

Želimlje (7): 45°55′0″N, 14°34′14″E, 336 m Obrije (8): 46°03′N 14°30′E, 298 m Lipovci (9): 46°37′33″N, 16°13′43″E, 180 m Jable (10): 46°9′45 ″N, 14°34′5″E, 316 m

grapevine Gaberje pri Ajdovščini (11): 45°50′20″N, 13°53′10″E,

Rakitnica (14): 45°41′35″N, 14°45′29″E, 490 m Zakl near Braslovče (15): 46°15′45″N, 15°3′14″E, 284 m Škocjan near Koper (16): 45°31′52″N, 13°46′30″E, 48

cabbage Ljubljana (13): 46°03′N 14°30′E, 298 m

There are three main uses of pheromones in the integrated pest management of insects (Witzgall, 2001). The most important application is in monitoring a population of insects to determine if they are present or absent in an area or to determine if enough insects are present to warrant a costly treatment. This monitoring function is the keystone of integrated pest management. Monitoring is used extensively in urban pest control of cockroaches, in the management of stored grain pests in warehouses or distribution centers, and to track the nationwide spread of certain major pests (Thomson, 1997).

A second major use of pheromones is to mass trap insects to remove large numbers of insects from the breeding and feeding population. Massive reductions in the population density of pest insects ultimately help to protect resources such as food or fiber for hu‐ man use. Mass trapping has been used successfully against the codling moth, a serious pest of apples and pears.

A third major application of pheromones is in the disruption of mating in populations of in‐ sects. This has been most effectively used with agriculturally important moth pests (Wald‐ ner, 1997). In this scenario, synthetic pheromone is dispersed into crops and the false odor plumes attract males away from females that are waiting to mate. This causes a reduction of mating, and thus reduces the population density of the pests. In some cases, the effect has been so great that the pests have been locally eradicated (Thomson, 1997).

In summary, pheromones are species-specific chemicals that affect insect behavior, but are not toxic to insects. They are active (e.g. attractive) in extremely low doses (one millionth of an ounce) and are used to bait traps or confuse a mating population of insects. Pheromones can play an important role in integrated pest management for structural, landscape, agricul‐ tural, or forest pest problems (Witzgall, 2001).

The aim of our research was to study the seasonal dynamics of different insect pests in Slov‐ enia to acquire the informations which are important for improving the control strategy of the pests based on environmentally friendly friendly concepts.
