Source: UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING submitted to
BIOLOGICAL CONTROL IN PEST MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS OF PLANTS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
NEW
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1015888
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
WYO-592-18
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
W-4185
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Apr 28, 2018
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2022
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Collier, TI.
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
1000 E UNIVERSITY AVE DEPARTMENT 3434
LARAMIE,WY 82071-2000
Performing Department
Ecosystem Science and Management
Non Technical Summary
In agriculture, the process of "biological control" uses natural enemies - parasites, predators, pathogens and sometime herbivores - to reduce weed and/or pest populations to levels at which they are no longer ecologically damaging. In Wyoming, biological control has been implemented for management of pests in alfalfa, corn and beans, among other crop species. Research activities include conserving natural enemies of insect pests through habitat management, surveying natural enemies and evaluating their efficacy, and assessing factors potentially disruptive of biological control. Biological control has also been implemented to manage a number of rangeland weeds in Wyoming. Research activities related to weed biological control include releasing, establishing and redistributing natural enemies and evaluating their efficacy. Outreach activities in the project include presentations to stakeholders, such as farmers, weed managers and scientists, the use of social media and development of outreach publications.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
0%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2162300107020%
1212300107020%
2132300107020%
2151640107020%
2161510113020%
Goals / Objectives
Goal A: Import and Establish Effective Natural Enemies (Classical Biological Control) Goal B: Conserve Natural Enemies to Increase Biological Control of Target Pests. Goal D: Evaluate environmental and economic impacts and raise public awareness of biological control.
Project Methods
MethodsGoal A: Import and Establish Effective Natural Enemies.Objective 1: Survey indigenous natural enemies. Pests and their enemies will be collected in the field within the state and regionally. Parasitized pests will be held in the laboratory to allow natural enemy emergence, identification and determination of levels of parasitism and hyperparasitism.Objective 5: Release, establish, and redistribute natural enemies. Key steps in the implementation of classical biological control are the initial release, establishment and redistribution of approved natural enemies. Each of these steps will be carried out for multiple plant pests found in Wyoming.Objective 6: Evaluate natural enemy efficacy and study ecological/physiological basis for interactions. The establishment of a natural enemy species does not always result in effective control of the target pest, as many ecological and environmental factors may influence the degree of control achieved. Ecological studies of the impacts on biological control on plant pests in Wyoming will be conducted.Goal B: Conserve Natural Enemies to Increase Biological Control of Target Pests.Objective 9: Implement and evaluate habitat modification, horticultural practices, and pest suppression tactics to conserve natural enemy activity. The conservation approach to biological control seeks to enhance the effectiveness of natural enemies, but may also target the pest as well. Examples of the conservation approach include intercropping with nectar/pollen producing plant species to increase longevity and reproduction in the natural enemies and using various agronomic approaches to increase the effectiveness of the natural enemies. These approaches may help conserve natural enemies while still controlling the target pest. Research studies will focus on impacts of the implementation of these approaches in Wyoming.Goal D. Evaluate environmental and economic impacts and raise public awareness of biological control.Objective 14: Develop and implement outreach activities for biological control programs. Outreach activities will include talks to stakeholder groups, social media, as well aspublications in scientific and public-oriented venues.

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Academic researchers (Jabbour), weed managers (Collier) and federal research scientists (Collier). 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?Jabbour gave two invited departmental seminars to academic researchers at the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. An update on Russian olive biological control was presented by Collier to state weed managers in Fall 2020. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Jabbour and team will continue to research the best methodology for rearing parasitoids and hyperparasitoids out of B. curculionis cocoons.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Randa Jabbour and team at the University of Wyoming focused efforts on understanding factors that limit effective biological control of the alfalfa weevil, Hypera postica. The most common parasitoid of alfalfa weevil in Wyoming is the wasp Bathyplectes curculionis, which parasitizes the weevil at levels as high as 50%. However, alfalfa weevil remains quite problematic, so in 2019, we shifted our focus to evaluate which hyperparasitoids are infecting this wasp, to learn if hyperparasitism is disruptive to biological control in this system. Thus far, we have found 4 different species of hyperparasitoids, and we are still working on identifying these species. We continued this fieldwork in 2020, with a new study focused on establishing the best methodology for rearing parasitoids and hyperparasitoids out of B. curculionis cocoons. The latter is still in progress and results will be summarized in next year's report. Collier, along with collaborators in Canada (R. DeClerke-Floate, AGRI Canada) and Switzerland (P. Weyl, CABI) have been working towards importing a new biological control agent for Russian olive, an invasive tree that is problematic in the western U.S. In 2019, Collier and collaborators prepared and submitted a document to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture that reviewed existing information on the biology and ecology of Russian olive and the mite, and presented research conducted in Switzerland that examined the risk the mite may pose to native species. Federal government reviewers of the document recommended that the mite be approved for importation, but had a number of questions and comments that needed to be addressed for the approval process to proceed. Over the Summer/Fall 2020, Collier and collaborators developed a response to the USDA's review. This information will likely inform and guide final approval of importation of the mite for biological control of Russian olive.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Jabbour, R. and Noy, S. 2020. The promise of a multi-disciplinary, mixed-methods approach to inform insect pest management: Evidence from Wyoming alfalfa. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 4: 246. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.548545.


Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Fellow researchers were the target audience of a presentation by Jabbour. 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?Outputs include invited presentation at Entomological Society of America 2019 meeting: Jabbour, R. 2019. Integrating harvest timing and biological control to manage alfalfa weevil. In symposium "Finding Common Ground: Non-chemical Pest-Management to Protect Organic and Conventional Crops". Entomological Society of America 2019 Annual Meeting. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Randa Jabbour and team at the University of Wyoming focused efforts on understanding factors that limit biological control of alfalfa weevil Hypera postica. The most common parasitoid of alfalfa weevil in Wyoming is the wasp Bathyplectes curculionis, at levels as high as 50% of alfalfa weevils assays. However, alfalfa weevil remains quite problematic, so in 2019, we shifted our focus to evaluate which hyperparasitoids are infecting this wasp, to learn if this is disruptive to biological control in this system. Thus far, we have found 4 different species of hyperparasitoids, and we are still working on identifying these species.

Publications


    Progress 04/28/18 to 09/30/18

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The target audience consists of scientists working in biological control, farmers and weed managers. 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?Results of Collier's research on Dalmatian toadflax was presented to weed managers and weed scientists at a talk at the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council Fall Conference. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Jabbour: We analyzed data from our experiment at the University of Wyoming Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Center in Lingle, Wyoming to test whether the diversity and presence of cover crops interseeded into standing corn impacts the activity-density and diversity of ground beetles (Carabidae). Producers are interested in this practice to increase forage available for grazing cattle, but we have limited research available to predict how it will impact other parts of the ecosystem. We found that carabid activity-density did not change in response to the presence of cover crops or the type of cover crop planted, which may have partially been due to vegetative cover provided by weeds in the field. We plan to identify carabids to morphospecies to determine if carabid community composition and diversity varied according to cover crop treatment. We continue to collaborate on projects to determine parasitoid activity against alfalfa weevil. We have in-progress work centered on determining the factors that affect rates of parasitism by Bathyplectes curculionis. Collier: This research project investigates the impact of a weevil imported from Eurasia as a biological control agent of Dalmatian toadflax, an important rangeland weed. The project uses a manipulative experimental design in which weevils are hand removed in some plots, and left intact in others. This approach is rather novel, and does not have the potential downsides of insecticidal removal or mesh exclusion cages or purely observational data. The research site near Cody, Wyoming has had a well-established weevil population for at least a decade, which I hypothesize is providing some level of control of Dalmatian toadflax. Therefore, the number and height of Dalmatian toadflax stems should increase in the weevil-removal plots relative to those in the weevils-present plots. Removals began in May 2018, and the first data on Dalmatian toadflax was collected in September. So far, weevil removal has not resulted in an increase in stem number or height. This result is not surprising since biological control impacts are generally expected to take several years.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Rand, T., Pellissier, M.E.*, Jabbour, R., Lundgren, J.G., and Waters, D.K. 2018. Evaluating the establishment success of Microctonus aethiopoides (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a parasitoid of the alfalfa weevil (Coleoptera:Curculionidae), across the northern Great Plains. The Canadian Entomologist 150: 274-277.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Pellissier, M.E.* and Jabbour, R. 2018. Herbivore and parasitoid insects respond differently to annual and perennial floral strips in an alfalfa ecosystem. Biological Control 123: 28-35.