Tabanus abactor Philip responses to chaining and burning redberry juniper stands

Ground-level chaining and elevated chaining followed by fire were evaluated as methods to eliminate stands of redberry junipers (Juniperus pinchotti Sudw.) which provide a habitat for Tabanus abactor Philip. Adult captures on bucket and board traps and larval numbers in the soil were significantly influenced by year. When fly abundance was high in 1997, 1999, and 2002, numbers of fly captures were lower in both chaining treatments compared to captures in the untreated check. The five-year, post-treatment average indicated that ground-level chaining coupled with burning significantly (P=0.05) reduced the numbers of adult females captured by 67% compared with numbers captured in the untreated check. The site was dominated by mature juniper trees pre-treatment, and canopy cover was 32%. Chaining rates were not significantly different for the two chaining methods. In 2003, the juniper canopy cover percentage in the untreated check (50.8%) was significantly greater than that of the chain and bum treatments which were not different from each other (5.4% avg.). Juniper mortality decreased significantly over time, and there was no indication that elevated chaining plus burning increased mortality over ground-level chaining and burning. The addition of the fire treatment four years after chaining did not increase juniper mortality.