Search results for "PEST analysis"

Cover crop differentially affects arthropods, but not diseases, occurring on grape leaves in vineyards

2017

Background and Aims Cover crop has become a common management practice in viticulture. It improves the structure and protects the soil, enhances natural enemy populations and also reduces the vigour of the vine. Here, we investigated the effect of cover crop in vineyards on grapevine diseases and arthropods present on leaves. Methods and Results We measured the presence of the pathogens Plasmopara viticola, Uncinula necator and Guignardia bidwellii and monitored six common beneficial/pest arthropods: Panonychus ulmi, Orthotydeus lambi, Typhlodromus pyri, Scaphoideus titanus and Phalangium opilio in vineyards with cover crop or bare soil in 2014 and 2015. The density of the two pests P. ulmi…

Native egg parasitoids recorded from the invasive Halyomorpha halys successfully exploit volatiles emitted by the plant–herbivore complex

2017

When an accidentally introduced pest establishes in the invaded area, native natural enemies may adapt to the new host. A decade after the accidental introduction of the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, in Europe, two generalist native egg parasitoids, the eupelmid Anastatus bifasciatus and the encyrtid Ooencyrtus telenomicida, have been recorded from this invasive agricultural pest in the field. Both species are able to complete development to the adult stage within the new host. Trissolcus basalis (Platygastridae = Scelionidae), which is not associated with H. halys in the field, was reared from freeze-killed sentinel eggs placed on soybean plants in central Italy. We tested…

2020

Necrobia rufipes (De Geer) (Coleoptera: Cleridae), also known as the red-legged ham beetle, is a newly emerging pest of pet food stores, causing apprehension among producers worldwide. Concerns about this pest are exacerbated by the lack of information about infestation modalities in pet food, while specific monitoring tools are missing. Considering that adequate pet food packaging could limit N. rufipes infestations, information about the penetration modalities in commonly used pet food packaging is needed. Moreover, the development of appropriate monitoring instruments is urgent to detect pest presence early and to reduce chemical treatments for its control. In this paper, the adults’ and…

Naturalization and spread of the alien species Ozognathus cornutus (LeConte, 1859) (Coleoptera: Ptinidae: Ernobiinae) in Italy

2021

AbstractOzognathus cornutus(LeConte, 1859) (Coleoptera: Ptinidae: Ernobiinae), species native to North America, is a saproxylophagous species and is known to feed on decaying tissues within conspicuous galls and on vegetal decaying organic material such as dried fruits or small wood shavings and insect excrements in galleries made by other woodboring species. A few years after the first record in 2011, its naturalization in Italy is here reported. The insect was found as successor in galls ofPsectrosema tamaricis(Diptera Cecidomyiidae),Plagiotrochus gallaeramulorum,Andricus multiplicatusandSynophrus politus(Hymenoptera Cynipidae).The galls seem to have played an important ecological role in…

Mutations associated with pyrethroid resistance in Varroa mite, a parasite of honey bees, are widespread across the United States.

2021

BACKGROUND Managed honey bees are key pollinators of many crops and play an essential role in the United States food production. For more than ten years, beekeepers in the United States have been reporting high rates of colony losses. One of the drivers of these losses is the parasitic mite Varroa destructor. Maintaining healthy honey bee colonies in the United States is dependent on a successful control of this mite. The pyrethroid tau-fluvalinate (Apistan®) was among the first synthetic varroacides registered in the United States. With over 20 years of use, mites resistant to Apistan® have emerged, and so it is unsurprising that treatment failures have been reported. Resistance to tau-flu…

Exploiting chemical ecology to manage hyperparasitoids in biological control of arthropod pests

2020

Abstract Insect hyperparasitoids are fourth trophic level organisms that commonly occur in terrestrial food webs, yet they are relatively understudied. These top‐carnivores can disrupt biological pest control by suppressing the populations of their parasitoid hosts, leading to pest outbreaks, especially in confined environments such as greenhouses where augmentative biological control is used. There is no effective eco‐friendly strategy that can be used to control hyperparasitoids. Recent advances in the chemical ecology of hyperparasitoid foraging behavior have opened opportunities for manipulating these top‐carnivores in such a way that biological pest control becomes more efficient. We p…

Larval intraspecific competition for food in the European grapevine moth Lobesia botrana.

2014

AbstractEffective pest management with lower amounts of pesticides relies on accurate prediction of insect pest growth rates. Knowledge of the factors governing this trait and the resulting fitness of individuals is thus necessary to refine predictions and make suitable decisions in crop protection. The European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana, the major pest of grapes in Europe, is responsible for huge economic losses. Larvae very rarely leave the grape bunch on which they were oviposited and thus cannot avoid intraspecific competition. In this study, we determined the impact of intraspecific competition during the larval stage on development and adult fitness in this species. This was tes…

Do Grapholita funebrana Infestation Rely on Specific Plum Fruit Features?

2019

The effective control of the plum fruit moth, Grapholita funebrana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) still represents a difficult challenge for organic plum farming. Little information is available on the susceptibility of plum cultivars to this moth pest. We investigated the roles of several fruit parameters (i.e., shape, volume, hardness, fruit colour, and physiochemical properties) on the susceptibility of four different plum cultivars (Angeleno, Friar, President and Stanley) to G. funebrana attack. Field data demonstrated the importance of some fruit parameters (i.e., elongation index, sugar degree, titratable acidity, cover colour percentage) on susceptibility to G. funebrana infestation. Und…

Stress for invasion success? Temperature stress of preceding generations modifies the response to insecticide stress in an invasive pest insect

2012

Adaptation to stressful environments is one important factor influencing species invasion success. Tolerance to one stress may be complicated by exposure to other stressors experienced by the preceding generations. We studied whether parental temperature stress affects tolerance to insecticide in the invasive Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata. Field-collected pyrethroid-resistant beetles were reared under either stressful (17°C) or favourable (23°C) insecticide-free environments for three generations. Then, larvae were exposed to pyrethroid insecticides in common garden conditions (23°C). Beetles were in general tolerant to stress. The parental temperature stress alone affect…

Sublethal effects of deltamethrin exposure of parental generations on physiological traits and overwintering inLeptinotarsa decemlineata

2013

Although the evolution of insecticide resistance has received a lot of attention, less is known about sublethal effects of insecticide stress experienced by the preceding generations on the performance of pest populations. We investigated whether three generations of parental exposure to a deltamethrin insecticide influences physiological traits and overwintering success of offspring in Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Beetles descending from insecticide-exposed parents had lower adult body mass but higher relative lipid content and resting metabolic rate than those descending from non-insecticide-exposed parents. Also, a higher proportion of beetles descending f…