Ozone is a highly unstable allotropic form of oxygen that oxidizes organic compounds. In entomology, ozone has been evaluated as an alternative insecticide of stored product pests and to determine double/triple bond positions in hydrocarbons of insect pheromones. My research sought to explore the insecticidal characteristics and sub-lethal interactions of ozone on the model organism, Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae). Laboratory evaluation of gaseous ozone concentration-time (CT) response curves found male and female flies experienced similar LCT 99 products of approximately 1.13 x 105 ppm-min and 1.55 x 105ppm-min, respectively. The LCT 50 of males and females were similar when exposed to 14,600 ppm ozone treatments, but males showed elevated mortality in comparison to females at 30,100 ppm ozone treatments. Aqueous ozone (180303.52 ppm) exposure demonstrated no difference in toxicity on aqueous ozone treated flies from controls. Thus, gaseous ozone shows insecticidal potential of D. suzukii, while aqueous ozone does not. Sub-lethal ozone exposure on flies reduced unsaturated cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), which correlated to a reduction in desiccation resistance within one hour of ozonolysis. Unsaturated CHCs recovered over 108 hours along with desiccation resistance. The ozonolysis methodology presented in this thesis may be adopted to modify CHC profiles, characterize CHC regeneration and further describe the physiological function/s of unsaturated CHCs.
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