Annual/Termination Reports:

[03/03/2013] [03/02/2014] [03/31/2015] [05/02/2016]

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Adam Alford, University of Arkansas;
Kris Braman, University of Georgia;
JC Chong, Clemson University;
Jim Cuda, University of Florida;
Jonathan Edelson, Oklahoma State University;
Jerome Grant, University of Tennessee;
Walker Jones, USDA-ARS, Stoneville, Mississippi;
Tim Kring, University of Arkansas;
Stephen Micinski, Louisiana State University;
Carey Minteer, University of Arkansas;
Bryan Petty, University of Arkansas;
Ragu Sathyamurthy, University of Arkansas;
Greg Wiggins, University of Tennessee

Brief Summary of Minutes

The annual meeting of the Southern Region Biological Control of Arthropod Pests and Weeds Work Group, operating under project SDC-351, was held on 3 March 2013 at the Hilton Hotel, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from 2:00 to 4:30pm. The minutes of this meeting and the reports for 2012 activities summarized at the meeting are presented below.

See attached minutes

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James Harwood, University of Kentucky;
Jonathon Edelson, Oklahoma State University;
Ted Cottrell, USDA-ARS;
Norm Leppla, University of Florida;
Donn Johnson, University of Arkansas;
Rob Wiedenmann, University of Arkansas;
Emma Weeks, University of Florida;
Greg Wiggins, University of Tennessee;
Erik Riddick, USDA-ARS;
Carey Minteer, University of Arkansas

Brief Summary of Minutes

1. Greg Wiggins offered to read the full minutes from 2013 meeting. Carey Minteer put forward a motion to approve and submit the minutes from last year without reading, Rob Wiedenmann seconded the motion. The motion passed.

2. Briefing by Jonathon Edelson:

The project proposal for the Southern Group (SDC-351) is approved (revision just finished). Revision is not needed until 2017. The current Farm Bill authorization, does not tell us how much money is going to NIFA for Hatch, but there has been an increase in the funding for AFRI, NIFA. Areas of importance for AFRI have not been decided as of yet.

Norm Leppla asked if Jonathon had seen any changes in trends in funding. Jonathan responded that tax payers want smaller government and recommended that the group should focus efforts on projects that will garner support from larger commodity boards in order to gain funding until research funding at the federal level increases. Project managers really want to see collaboration and multi-state research projects. An increase in the amount of funding for these types of projects is projected.

Jon Edelson noted that you don?t have to be an official member of the group in order to

participate; it is a public group. Anyone can have their name listed, do work with group etc. Formal members have to tie ¼ of the federal money received by the group needs to be spent on the formal member support (travel, salary etc.)

3. State reports
State representatives/participants gave a brief verbal report highlighting the most important activities, and state reports were distributed, and discussed.

4. James Harwood described funding opportunities in Brazil with the group Science without borders.

5. It was mentioned that a potential collaborator for work on tropical pests is Mark Culik (Brazil representative)

6. Norm Leppa inquired about firewood regulations. The group consensus is that while it is regulated, more could be done (money for man power to regulate it and support from the industry); billboards not enough. Need more industry backing for certified firewood etc.
Greg Wiggins discussed lack of enforcing fines for moving firewood, indicating that often the inspectors just burn the firewood and not fine the perpetrators.

7. Norm Leppla inquired about hemlock trees and hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA). Greg Wiggins indicated that old growth trees are succumbing to the HWA more than younger trees. Beetle predators have been released in ~225 areas in Smokey Mountain National Park and some are still treating trees with imidacloprid. Greg also mentioned that it takes 3-5 years for the beetles to reached detectable population levels. Rob Wiedenmann suggested working with community ecologists for dealing with the after effects of both the HWA and the BC agents. He also mentioned that it would be good to work with people that may be suspicious of biological control. Greg indicated that there was not in the works, but was a good idea.

8. Officer nominations and elections
A motion was made by Greg Wiggins to nominate Carey Minteer for Chair. James Harwood seconded. The motion passed.
A motion was made by Norm Leppla to nominate Emma Weeks for Secretary. Seconded by Rob Wiedenmann. Nomination passed.

9. No other business was discussed. James Harwood moved to adjourn. Seconded by Rob Wiedenmann.

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Present: Carey Minteer (Chair; USDA-ARS), Emma Weeks (Secretary; University of Florida), Jim Cuda (University of Florida), Rob Wiedenmann (University of Arkansas), Tim Kring (University of Arkansas), Jason Schmidt (University of Georgia), Greg Wiggins (University of Tennessee), Allen Knutson (Texas A&M University), Rodrigo Diaz (Louisiana State University), Stephen Micinski (Louisiana State University Ag Center), and Juang Chong (Clemson University).

Brief Summary of Minutes

Sunday 15th March 2015 13:00-18:00

The business meeting was preceded by an official symposium at the conference, S1058 Biological Control of Arthropod and Weed Pests in the Southern United States. The organizers of the symposium were the chair of the group Carey Minteer (USDA-ARS) and the secretary of the group Emma Weeks (University of Florida). The talks were given by members of the group and included:

Symposium

Title: Species composition, seasonal activity and impact of parasitoids and predators of Parthenolecanium Spp. (Hemiptera: Coccidae) in the Southeastern U.S. Presenter: Ernesto Robayo- Camacho, email: crobayo@g.clemson.edu (Clemson University). Co-authors: JC Chong (Clemson University), PB Schultz (Clemson University), SK Braman (Virginia Tech), and SD Frank (University of Maryland).

Title: Creating innovative management solutions for organic cucurbit production. Presenter: James D. Harwood, email: jharw2@email.uky.edu (University of Kentucky). Presentation Cancelled.

Title: Promising predators: biological control of hemlock woolly adelgid in Tennessee. Presenter: Gregory J. Wiggins, email: wiggybug@utk.edu (University of Tennessee). Co-authors: JF Grant (University of Tennessee), and PL Lambdin (University of Tennessee).

Title: Biological control of emerald ash borer: a southern perspective and a new opportunity. Presenter: Jerome F. Grant, email: jgrant@utk.edu (University of Tennessee). Co-authors: GJ Wiggins (University of Tennessee), and PL Lambdin (University of Tennessee).

Title: Recent advances in biological control of Brazilian peppertree, Schinus terebinthifolia. Presenter: James P. Cuda, email: jcuda@ufl.edu (University of Florida). Co-authors: WA Overholt (University of Florida), R Diaz (University of Florida), and V Manrique (University of Florida).

Title: Potential interactions between spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe ssp. Micranthos) and its biological control agents in Arkansas. Presenter: Beth Ferguson, email: mef005@email.uark.edu (University of Arkansas). Co-authors: TJ Kring (University of Arkansas), and RN Wiedenmann (University of Arkansas).

Title: Revisiting an old friend: biological control of water hyacinth in southern Florida. Presenter: Carey Minteer, email: carey.minteer@ars.usda.gov (USDA-ARS). Co-authors: P Tipping (USDA-ARS), J Foley (USDA-ARS) and B Knowles (USDA-ARS).

Title: Biological control of giant salvinia in north Texas: the impact of cold on overwintering survival of adults. Presenter: Allen Knutson, email: a-knutson@tamu.edu (Texas A&M University). Co-authors: Kevin Heinz (Texas A&M University).

Business Meeting

Present: Carey Minteer (Chair; USDA-ARS), Emma Weeks (Secretary; University of Florida), Jim Cuda (University of Florida), Rob Wiedenmann (University of Arkansas), Tim Kring (University of Arkansas), Jason Schmidt (University of Georgia), Greg Wiggins (University of Tennessee), Allen Knutson (Texas A&M University), Rodrigo Diaz (Louisiana State University), Stephen Micinski (Louisiana State University Ag Center), and Juang Chong (Clemson University).

Apologies from: Saied Mostaghimi (Administrative Advisor; Virginia Tech), Norm Leppla (University of Florida), Jerome Grant (University of Tennessee), and James Harwood (University of Kentucky).

1. Minutes of 2014 meeting - Carey Minteer (Chair) offered to read the full minutes from the 2014 meeting. Emma Weeks (Secretary) made a motion that the reading of the minutes should be approved and submitted without reading, Jim Cuda (University of Florida) seconded the motion and the motion passed.

2. Notes from the Administrative Advisor - Saied Mostaghimi (Virginia Tech) went to the APLU meeting in DC and provided a report on the budget. He suggests that we work together on interdisciplinary grant proposals. He believes that due to our longstanding term our group has a good chance at securing funding in the future.

3. Notes from Chair - Carey Minteer (Chair) said that the idea behind the changes to this meeting are to increase discussion and collaboration and prepare us to apply for grants like those mentioned by the Administrative Advisor. It was decided to not read the reports from each state but rather to discuss any matters of interest to the whole group.

4. Sugar Cane Aphid – Tim Kring (University of Arkansas) has been working on sugar cane aphid for the past three years, important due to insect switching hosts from sugar cane to grain sorghum. There is already a taskforce to deal with the problem. Tim Kring is looking for extant natural enemies within the subset predator/parasite. Allen Knutson (Texas A&M University) is already involved with sampling. Jason Schmidt (University of Georgia) and James Harwood (University of Kentucky) working on predator-prey interactions. Interested parties in preparing a grant on sugar cane aphid: Tim Kring, Allen Knutson, Jason Schmidt, Rodrigo Diaz.

5. Emerald Ash Borer – Greg Wiggins speaking for Jerome Grant (University of Tennessee). They are looking to complete comparative studies on the emerald ash borer (EAB) parasitoid types in different states (as they appear to have varying efficacy). Rearing lab is easy to work with and parasitoids are free. Depends upon how important the EAB is to your state as funding depends upon stakeholder interest. Most people including Rodrigo Diaz (Louisiana State University) and Tim Kring (University of Arkansas) were interested but were concerned about the lack of current support from stakeholders to work in this area, in areas where EAB is not yet a problem. Carey Minteer (USDA-ARS) asked about the White Fringe Tree, which was recently found with EAB in Tennessee. Rob Wiedenmann (University of Arkansas) suggested that perhaps the parasitoids might be more effective at protecting younger trees as the ovipositor length seems to be restricting their efficacy at protecting larger trees. Rob Wiedenmann

(University of Arkansas) suggested that perhaps street trees in urban settings might be younger and smaller and provide a better habitat.

6. Rodrigo Diaz (Louisiana State University) – new member of the group, Jim Cuda (University of Florida) asked him what his position is at LSU, 75% research, 25% teaching. Three main areas, crape myrtle bark scale, non-chemical control, giant salvinia. He is collaborating with Allen Knutson (Texas A&M University) and Stephen Micinski (Louisiana State University Ag Center) on giant salvinia project.

7. Brazilian Peppertree - Jim Cuda (University of Florida) asked if anyone might be interested in collaborating on a Brazilian peppertree grant. Allen Knutson and Rodrigo Diaz expressed an interest.

8. Highlighted Pests – Tim Kring (University of Arkansas) mentioned that the highlighted pests on our website are quite out of date. For example, no one is really still working on fire ants in the group. Likewise is anyone working on thistles? Stephen Micinski (Louisiana State University Ag Center) is still monitoring for the weevil on thistles but no one really actively working on the topic. Perhaps these two pests should be removed during re-write and the other pests updated.

9. Letter for APHIS from NC Biocontrol Working Group– Carey Minteer (Chair) mentioned to the group that only 7/8 people signed the letter to APHIS about the delay of permission to releases biocontrol agents. Jim Cuda (University of Florida) raised concerns about releases that are recommended by TAG but not permitted by APHIS. Apparently no releases have been made since 2009 (last release was the Air Potato Beetle). Jim Cuda (University of Florida) also raised concerns about the emphasis placed on no- choice testing and little emphasis given to field studies and choice tests. Tim Kring (University of Arkansas) said that we need to follow up on the letter if we have no response within 30 days.

10. Importation Biocontrol - Tim Kring (University of Arkansas) also mentioned the decrease in academic interest of importation biocontrol/classical biocontrol due to increased political risk. There is a move towards using native natural enemies attacking the non-native pest over importation biocontrol.

11. Annual Meeting Location - Carey Minteer (Chair) brought up the topic of the annual meeting location. As we have a group from mixed ESA branches it seems unfair to always have the meeting at ESA-SEB. Options for a new venue were discussed including the SE Exotic Pest Plant Council. Most people liked the idea of meeting at ESA (national meeting), it should increase participation and decrease costs in the long run for people that have to attend both meetings. Need to check on if the timing of the meeting will cause a problem with the reports etc.

12. Officer Nominations and Elections. - The secretary Emma Weeks (University of Florida) was automatically elected to chair. Volunteers were sought for the secretary position, no volunteers came forward. A motion was made by Carey Minteer (USDA-ARS) to nominate Rodrigo Diaz (Louisiana State University) for secretary, Tim Kring (University of Arkansas), seconded the motion and the motion passed.

13. Any Other Business – The meeting format was discussed and it was agreed that it was liked by all. Tim Kring (University of Arkansas) suggested that it be made a little shorter (6 talks instead of 8) and Jim

Cuda (University of Florida) suggested that instead of separating weeds and insects they should be mixed together.

14. Meeting Adjourned - No other business was discussed. Emma Weeks (Secretary) moved to adjourn the meeting at 5:30 pm, Carey Minteer (Chair)seconded the motion and the motion passed.

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Brief Summary of Minutes

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