BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF ARTHROPOD PESTS AND WEEDS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1002727
• Multistate No.: NE-1332
• Project Start Date: Apr 21, 2014
• Project End Date: Jan 25, 2018
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS
(N/A)
AMHERST,MA 01003

Performing Department
Environmental Conservation

Non Technical Summary
For over a century biological control has provided a safe and effective control method for many arthropod pests and weeds in the USA and throughout the world. Realizing that pests and management efforts cross state boundaries, the four regional associations of State Agricultural Experiment Stations have long maintained multi-state research projects in biological control of arthropods and weeds. Biological control refers to applied efforts to manage pest problems through importation, conservation or augmentation of natural enemies, and it is generally distinguished from natural control, which is provided by unmanaged indigenous natural enemies in the native or introduced range of a pest species.Non-native plants and insects introduced into North America generally come without the natural enemies that keep them in check in their native habitats. Freed from these natural controls, these species often increase in numbers and distribution, adversely affecting the environment, the economy, and human health . Classical Biological Control, a deliberate process whereby these pests are reunited with their effective natural enemies, offers a potential for permanent control of these pests over widespread areas. On a world-wide basis, we are approaching 200 pest species controlled through biological control, with economic benefits estimated at $30 to $100 for each dollar invested . Biological control, used singly or in combination with other management options, should be the centerpiece of successful pest management programs. In recent years, researchers in the northeast have worked with many types of biological control agents including insects, mites, parasitoids, and pathogens in successfully managing key pests including gypsy moths, purple loosestrife, birch leafminers, mites on apples and vegetables, fruit moths, alfalfa weevil, Mexican bean beetle, whiteflies in greenhouses, imported cabbageworm, euonymus scale, etc. and are currently working against such critical forestry pests as hemlock wooly adelgid and emerald ash borer.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

50%

Applied

50%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
214	3110	1130	100%

Knowledge Area
214 - Vertebrates, Mollusks, and Other Pests Affecting Plants;

Subject Of Investigation
3110 - Insects;

Field Of Science
1130 - Entomology and acarology;

Keywords

biological control

natural enemies

host range evaluation

safety

parasitoids

Goals / Objectives
Introduction of new natural enemies against invasive plants Introduction of new natural enemies against invasive insects

Project Methods
Obj. 1 (Effects of exotic species on ecosystem function)The addition of flowering insectary strips has successfully increased natural enemy abundance in ornamental systems. Moreover, flowering insectary strips have resulted in higher predation or parasitism rates and lower pest populations in some systems. Currently, Tallamy , Shrewsbury and Raupp are examining the effects of exotic plants on ecosystem function including conservation biological control. Raupp is also researching the role of systemic insecticides in disrupting the activity of natural enemies in landscapes in New York and Maryland.Maine and New Jersey are involved in assessing the natural enemy communities in blueberry production and developing pest management tactics that conserve the dominant natural enemies of Onion thrips (Thrips tabaci) and other pests. The research also evaluates the susceptibility of the more abundant natural enemies to currently registered and new insecticides that have potential for registration (Yarborough and Drummond 2007). In addition, strategies such as within-field spatially based management are being developed for the conservation of natural enemies in blueberry.Natural ecosystems are under evaluation at Cornell where the inter-relationships among garlic mustard, deer, earthworms, salamanders, and slugs are studied in long-term plots with various manipulations Maerz et al. 2009, Nuzzo et al. 2009).Obj. 2. (Release and evaluation of augmentative biocontrol agents)The NJ Phillip Alampi Beneficial Insect Rearing Laboratory will continue rearing and releasing the parasitoid Pediobius foveolatus against the Mexican bean beetle. Augmentative releases of Trichogramma ostriniae have been made in MA, VA, PA, ME, and in Quebec against the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis). Releases have been made in sweet corn, sweet peppers and potatoes. Augmentative biological control is also attempted in nursery and landscape settings, using lady beetles, lacewings, predatory mites, and entomopathogenic nematodes to control aphids, lace bugs, caterpillars, and phytophagous mites. T.Obj. 3. (Biocontrol of Weeds)Phragmites australis.For this project Cornell has taken the lead in regional surveys for native and exotic Phragmites australis populations and their herbivores while URI has measured impact of native and exotic herbivores on these plants. Both groups have funded and directed the efforts of CABI in Switzerland to identify and evaluate potential biological control agents. This program is now completing host range testing at URI and CABI while Cornell is addressing decision making about possible releases over the next several years.Swallow-worts. A program directed against swallow-worts (Vincetoxicum nigrum and V. rossicum) has URI and USDA/ARS scientists surveying Europe for potential natural enemies. CABI is assisting in conducting surveys and field tests that can only be done in Europe. Host range testing is nearly complete at URI for two agents and well-underway on a third by ARS scientists at Cornell and Montpellier, France and pre-and (potential) post-release sites are under study.Mile-a-minute weed. Present efforts focus on continued release of the weevil Rhinoncomimus latipes in mile-a-minute populations that have not yet been colonized, evaluation of impact on the target weed and associated plant community under different environmental conditions, and development of integrated weed management strategies incorporating the weevil.Garlic mustard. This cooperative effort involving scientists at Cornell, University of Minnesota and CABI Switzerland, has completed host range testing of potential biological control agents, but monitoring of long-term plots in many states has shown garlic mustard populations to decline dramatically in less than a decade.Knotweeds.Knotweeds are widespread pests throughout the Northeast and are the focus of a cooperative biocontrol project . Anticipating the eventual release of a biological control agent from research underway by cooperators Fritzi Grevstad (Oregon) and Dick Shaw (CABI Great Britain), a monitoring protocol was developed and pre-release monitoring is underway in NY & MA. A release petition is under consideration by USDA/APHIS.Additional Weed Problems. In addition to the above-mentioned projects that are well underway, scientists across the region are collaborating on other projects with application for northeast, ncluding tree of heaven (Alianthus altissima), water chestnut (Trapa natans), glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus), St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum), and Asiatic bittersweet.Obj. 4. (Classical Biological Control of Insects)Emerald ash borer. Three parasitoids were approved by USDA for environmental release and were released in 2007. Since then at least two of these species have become established in one or more locations and releases continue, supported by an APHIS mass rearing laboratory in Brighton, MI. Life table evaluation plots of the impacts of introduced parasitoids and native natural enemies began in 2008 and are continuing in MI.Hemlock woolly adelgidhas been the subject of extensive cooperative biological control efforts over the past decade. While several groups of predators have been studied and several species introduced, most current efforts are focused on release and evaluation of the western US species, Laricobius nigrinus, and starting in 2013, L. osakensis from Japan. Additional research is underway at the University of VT to evaluate the entomopathogen Myriangium spp. against the HWA.Winter mothis another new pest in the northeastern USA. Based upon past biocontrol successes in Nova Scotia and the Pacific Northwest, scientists at UMass. are evaluating releases of the tachinid parasitoid Cyzenis albicans. Cyzenis albicans was released in 6 sites in Massachusetts and one site in Rhode Island in 2011. It is now established in at least 5 sites.Brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB). Foreign exploration, combined with host range testing and continuing monitoring of existing natural enemies is underway to determine the need and potential for biological control of the BMSB. Research is also underway to determine if BMSB can be managed with sprays of B. bassiana. Surveys of existing natural enemies of BMSB in ornamental plant and other cropping systems in MD and other northeast states continue. BMSB eggs are surveyed for causes of mortality, along with active stages of BMSB. Parasitoids and other natural enemies are being identified and their potential for biological control evaluated.Additional Pests. The New Jersey the Phillip Alampi Beneficial Insect Rearing Laboratory is working on further distributio of Peristenus relictus, a parasitoid of the tarnished plant bug (Lygus lineolaris).Scientists at Cornell are testing entomopathogenic nematodes against the Alfalfa Snout Weevil (Otiorhynchus porcatus) and evaluating the persistence and effectiveness of NY strains against endemic populations of plum curculio in both organic and conventionally grown apple orchards.

Progress 04/21/14 to 01/25/18

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Project has been terminated due to PI retirement

Publications

Progress 04/21/14 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Faculty and municipal or agency professionals interested in biological control of invasive pests. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 8. To develop an effective biological control program for the emerald ash borer (R. Van Driesche, UMASS, with K. Abell and federal cooperators J. Duan, L. Bauer, J. Gould) · Outputs (events, publications) A key paper (Duan et al., 2014) analyzes (2008-2014) seven years of life table data on the interaction between introduced natural enemies, other mortality factors, and emerald ash borer population growth rates. This analysis showed that the number of live EAB larvae per unit of phloem (bark surface area) had dropped between 2009 and 2014 in our Michigan plots by over 90%, driven by a rise in levels of parasitism, especially of the introduced species, especially Tetrastichus planipennisi (25-30%). A second paper (Abell et al., 20914) compared a new method to measure the impact of the egg parasitoid Oobius agrili to a previous method and found that levels of parasitism in our Michigan release plots is now relatively high (ca 20%) and appears to be rising. · Outcomes (change in status of system) Tetrastichus planipennisi is now widespread and abundant in study areas in MI and is causing significant (ca 25-30%) levels of larval mortality · Impacts (benefits) Emerald ash borer population growth rates in our study plots has now fallen nearer to the level of replacement (about 1.5), and the large (>90%) decline in live larval density shows that the population is now collapsing in that area. This is due to both reduction in the ash resource due to EAB-caused tree mortality and to increased mortality from natural enemies suffered by remaining EAB attacking remaining ash trees in plots. Objective 9. To establish and evaluate natural enemies of the hemlock woolly adelgid (J. Elkinton, UMASS; M. Mayer, New Jersey) · Outputs (see listed publications by Pezet on hemlock tissue chemistry and by Sussky on hemlock woolly adelgid population dynamics · Outcomes and Impacts. In 2014, the Elkinton lab collected 2500 Laricobius nigrinus beetles from North Carolina where they had been established by way of earlier releases of beetles collected in Seattle. Half of each of these beetles were released at two sites in Massachusetts. · The Elkinton lab initiated predator exclusion studies in Seattle and in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. The new postdoc Aaron Weed was the leader of this project. Much effort has been devoted to collect and release L. nigrinus at sites throughout the eastern United States. But this is the first time anyone has attempted to document the impact on naturally occurring adelgid populations in the Pacific Northwest. Adelgid populations are fairly high in city environments such as Seattle. We are working in Washington Park Arboretum where we can study adelgid populations and the impact of predators via bag exclusions trials on both eastern and western hemlocks in the park. In the Cascade Mountains, hemlock woolly adelgid is virtually absent from western hemlocks, which dominate the understory vegetation. We created adelgid populations on these trees and put on predator exclusion bags on half of them. We hope this work will lead to a new understanding of adelgid population ecology and the impact of predators on these populations · We have also joined with researchers in Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia to try and document the impact of L nigrinus on adelgid populations in the East. Again, the approache uses predator exclusion bags. The site we chose was at the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey in collaboration with Mark Mayer. That is the northernmost site where L nigrinus has been established in significant numbers. Objective 10. To establish and evaluate natural enemies of the winter moth (J. Elkinton, UMASS) · Outputs (events, publications). Three publications (see papers below by Elkinton, Gwiazowski, Simmons). Outcomes (change in status of system). The winter moth (Operophtera brumata: Geometridae: Lepidoptera) has continued to spread west and south across Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The insect has expanded along the coast of CT and ME. In 2014, we released 28,000 flies spread over fourteen sites. All the flies were mated and fed before we released them. At each of our Cyzenis release sites from previous years, and at other permanent non-release sites, we continued to monitor year-to-year changes in winter moth density. We collected approximately 16,000 winter moth larvae from these sites and reared them to the adult stage in order to document percent parasitism and establishment of C albicans. Impacts (benefits) We recovered C. albicans at all six of the pre-2011 release sites (and 11 of the 15 pre-2013 release sites. Parasitism from C. albicans has reached or exceeded 20% at several of these sites. Until 2012, we had recovered only a handful of flies and parasitism was less than 1%. We have been waiting for C. albicans to cause high levels of mortality, as it did in Nova Scotia in the 1950s, where parasitism surged from 0 to 10% to 60% over a three year period that preceded the general and permanent collapse of winter moth populations there. That is what we need in New England, if C. albicans is going to control winter moth, and we think it is starting to happen. At our site in Wellesley, MA parasitism has now been in the 30-40% range for the past two years. Furthermore, population densities of winter moth at the release site in Wellesley are now far lower than at any of the other sites, where we have been monitoring winter moth densities over the past few years. In Wellesley in 2014, we launched an effort to document the spread of C. albicans from the initial site of release. We collected larvae at 14 sites spread across the town up to more than a mile away from our initial release site. We found levels of parasitism approaching 50% at sites more than a mile from our initial release site. Densities of winter moth have remained low at our initial release site, but were much higher at these peripheral sites. That means we produced millions of C. albicans across the town of Wellesley and these flies are now poised to spread into neighboring towns next year.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Casagrande, R. A., F. S. Chew, and R. G. Van Driesche. 2014. Ecological traps and weed biological control, pp. 105-11. In: Impson, F. A. C, C. A. Kleinjan, and J. H. Hoffmann (eds.). Proceedings of the XIV International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds. 2-7 March, 2014. Krugar National Park, South Africa. University of Cape Town, South Africa.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Elkinton, J. S, A. M. Liebhold, G. H. Boettner and M. Sremac. 2014. Invasion spread of Operophtera brumata in northeastern United States and hybridization with O. bruceata Biol. Invasions 16: 2263-2272.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Gwiazowski, R. S. J. S. Elkinton, J. R. Dewaard and M. Sremac. 2013. Phylogeographic diversity of the winter moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Operophtera), O. brumata, and O. bruceata in Europe and North America. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer. 106: 143-151.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Herlihy, M. V., D. L. Wagner, and R. G. Van Driesche. 2014. Persistence in Massachusetts of the veined white butterfly due to use of the invasive form of cuckoo flower. Biological Invasions DOI 10.1007/s10530-014-0698-x (published on line in April 2014)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2014 Citation: Morton, T. A. L., A. Thorn, J. M. Reed, R. Van Driesche, R. A. Casagrande, F. S. Chew. 2014. Modeling the decline and potential recovery of a native butterfly following serial invasions by exotic species. Biological Invasions in press
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: McKenzie, E. A. J. S. Elkinton, R. A. Casagrande, E. L. Preisser and M. Mayer. 2014. Terpene chemistry of eastern hemlocks resistant to hemlock woolly adelgid. J. Chem. Ecol. DOI:10.1007/s10886-014-0495-0.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pezet, J, and J. S. Elkinton. 2014. Hemlock woolly adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae) induces twig volatiles of eastern hemlock in a forest setting. Environ. Entomol. 43: 1257-1285.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Abell, K. J., L. S. Bauer, J. J. Duan, and R. G. Van Driesche. 2014. Long-term monitoring of the introduced emerald ash borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) egg parasitoid, Oobius agrili (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), in Michigan, USA and evaluation of a newly developed monitoring technique Biological Control 79: 3642.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Duan, J. J., K. J. Abell, L. S. Bauer, J. Gould and R. Van Driesche. 2014. Natural enemies implicated in the regulation of an invasive pest: a life table analysis of the population dynamics of the emerald ash borer. Agricultural and Forest Entomology 79: 36-42. published on line DOI: 10.1111/afe.12070
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Simmons, M. J., T. D. Lee, M. J. Ducey, J S. Elkinton, G H. Boettner, and K. J. Dodds. 2014. Effects of invasive winter moth defoliation on tree radial growth in eastern Massachusetts. Insects 5: 301-318.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Sussky, E. M. and J. S. Elkinton. 2014. Density-dependent survival and fecundity of hemlock woolly adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae). Environ. Entomol. 43: 1157-1167.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Sussky, E. M. and J. S. Elkinton. 2015. Survival and near-extinction during summer aestivation of hemlock woolly adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae) in a hemlock plantation. Environ. Entomol. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvu007.