| Summary: | An understanding of insect olfaction allows for more specific alternative methods of pest control. We evaluated the responses of the western flower thrips (WFT, <i>Frankliniella occidentalis</i>) in a Y-olfactometer to estimate gas-phase concentrations of the aggregation pheromone neryl (<i>S</i>)-2-methylbutanoate and known kairomones such as methyl isonicotinate, (<i>S</i>)-(-)-verbenone, and <i>p</i>-anisaldehyde. The gas-phase concentrations of these compounds were obtained from the release rates measured in dynamic headspace cells. The compounds were collected from the headspace using dried solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges and analyzed with a triple quadrupole GC-MS/MS. We observed that the aggregation pheromone significantly attracted WFT females at doses of 10 and 100 µg, whereas methyl isonicotinate and <i>p</i>-anisaldehyde significantly attracted WFT females at the highest dose. Verbenone did not produce any significant results. A completely different picture was obtained when the gas-phase concentrations were considered. The minimal gas-phase concentrations of the pheromone required to attract WFT females was 0.027 ng/mL, at least 100 times lower than that of the other two compounds. The relevance and implications of our results are discussed in light of the insect’s biology and pest management methods.
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