Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
A sterile insect release may reduce the rate of reproduction in the pest population exposed but has no carry-over potential to succeeding generations. Serebrovskii (1940) suggested the use, in release programs, of semi-sterile insects of such genetic make-up that their reproductive potential is low. The advantage claimed is that this trait would be inherited and would lower the reproductive rate in succeeding generations (Curtis 1968; Rai et al. 1973; Knipling and Klassen 1976). The genetic factor most widely suggested for producing this type of continuing semisterility is the chromosomal rearrangement called a translocation (Fitz-Earle 1976; Robinson 1976). In laboratory and field cage tests, it has been demonstrated that chromosomal translocations reduced the reproductive rate in several insect species in the generation in which the translocation is introduced (Robinson 1976). However, in such experiments, the effect of a single release of individuals on population levels in subsequent generations has not, to date, been demonstrated.