NCERA213: Migration and Dispersal of Agriculturally Important Biota (NCR-148)
(Multistate Research Coordinating Committee and Information Exchange Group)
Status: Inactive/Terminating
NCERA213: Migration and Dispersal of Agriculturally Important Biota (NCR-148)
Duration: 10/01/2009 to 09/30/2014
Administrative Advisor(s):
NIFA Reps:
Non-Technical Summary
Statement of Issues and Justification
Dispersal of harmful and beneficial organisms impacts the health of plants, animals, and humans in agricultural, forest, and natural landscapes. Biota disperse actively, by flying, walking, or swimming, or passively by blowing in the wind or hitchhiking in cargo, for example. These processes govern the movement of native species and can lead to the introduction of exotic pests (Isard et al. 2005; 2007). Immigration and emigration of species are critical to the population dynamics of many organisms and can explain why some species seasonally appear, cause damage, and disappear (Isard et al. 2006a; Spencer et al. 2005). Rapid detection of and response to pest introductions and outbreaks is critically important for effective pest management and our nations biosecurity (Huang et al. 2007). Substantial knowledge gaps remain regarding the initiation, transport, and termination of dispersal and migration of biota over a range of scales. An interdisciplinary team approach is needed to adopt and adapt new technologies and techniques for research of biotic migration and dispersal systems.
Since 1984, the Committee has met annually to provide a forum for exchanging information about technologies, techniques, and research results on migration and dispersal of arthropods, birds, bats, seeds, pollen, and spores. Members representing the disciplines of entomology, plant pathology, meteorology, bacteriology, plant virology, agronomy, botany, mycology, geography, and palynology have productively collaborated across disciplines, commodities, and agency affiliations, as evidenced by the attached publication list. The Committee has been credited with establishing several important cooperative efforts including the formation of the Alliance for Aerobiology Research, establishment of the ESCOP PMSS Movement and Dispersal Working Group, and sponsorship of numerous interdisciplinary research studies and national and international workshops and symposia. The Soybean Rust PIPE brought together scientists from Penn State University, APHIS, private industry, and soybean growers to develop a system to monitor and predict long-distance dispersal of soybean rust spores and risk of infection of soybean.
Further progress is anticipated toward understanding and predicting migration and dispersal of biota across a broad range of scales, from atmospheric transport processes to plant-to-plant movement. Knowledge gained and technologies developed from these studies will be useful for detection and management of diverse biota in agricultural and natural resource systems. Capability to predict and detect migration and dispersal of biota will be critical in detecting and responding to exotic pest introductions whether natural, inadvertent or advertent; developing management plans to avert resistance (Fleischer et al. 2007; Pietrantonio et al. 2007) or transgenic gene flow; developing areawide IPM; and assessing ecological value (Cleveland et al. 2006). Landscape ecological approaches will be emphasized for identifying weak links in pest population dynamics and dispersal, and for conserving beneficial organisms. Genetic technologies and remote sensing systems for mapping land use, plant distributions, atmospheric properties, and airborne biota are becoming increasingly available for interdisciplinary research on migration and dispersal of biota. Continued cooperative research on migration and dispersal and enhanced technology transfer will benefit plant and animal production systems, human health, natural resource management, and economic viability. The lack of migration and dispersal information limits national biosecurity, effective implementation of IPM, IRM, and ecological management, and justifies the renewal of the project for an additional five years. Therefore, the Project goal is to increase the capability to detect, predict, and assess the impact of dispersal and migration of biota.
Objectives
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Develop integrated management and biosecurity monitoring, modeling, and reporting systems for migratory, dispersing, and vectored biota. Information technologies (IT), research techniques, and results produced by Committee members will be transferred to public and commercial users to contribute to integrated management and biosecurity programs. The capability to rapidly predict and detect migration and dispersal of biota is highly dependent upon an effective cyberinfrastructure for data collection, data sharing, data integration, modeling, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination. Advances in these technologies applied to selected species will be evaluated and adapted for use in detection and management of other species.
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Conduct interdisciplinary research on mechanisms and consequences of biotic migration and dispersal. Committee members will collaborate to apply new technologies and techniques including DNA analysis, Doppler radar, and harmonic radio detection to extend the impact of individual research activities by addressing complete migration and dispersal systems. Increased emphasis will be placed on landscape ecology and aeroecology (Kunz et al. 2008). Multi-state interdisciplinary collaboration will benefit from this forum through the identification of collaborators and the sharing of ideas, technologies, and techniques.
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Communicate to the public and among individuals and organizations with an interest in migration and dispersal. Migration and dispersal represent mechanisms that exacerbate pest management. The Committee will focus on communicating about biophysical aspects of biotic migration and dispersal, and technologies that may be incorporated for effective pest management and ecosystem conservation.
Procedures and Activities
1. Committee members will focus on establishing data sharing standards, advancing modeling technologies, and developing ensemble migration and dispersal forecasting teams through collaborations with government, university, and industry stakeholders (Isard et al. 2006b). One project led by scientists at the University of Minnesota, Penn State University, and Northern Illinois University will emphasize prediction of migratory flights of corn earworm and assessment of the risk of infestation in sweet corn and other crops. Scientists at Penn State University, APHIS, and ZedX, Inc., and seed industry representatives will collaborate in a second project to develop an industry PIPE, which will create a generic framework on which to construct customized monitoring, analysis, and reporting systems for diverse biota.
2. Scientists at the University of Tennessee, Boston University, and ARS will assess the impacts of historical changes in crop production (e.g., crop cultivars, Bt transgenic crops) and climate (e.g., droughts) on pest insect populations and the consequent impact on insectivorous bat populations that migrate between Mexico and Texas. Also, ARS scientists at Gainesville, FL, Ames, IA, and College Station, TX, will collaboratively investigate differences in flight behavior between various strains of adult fall armyworm from several states using insect flight mills. The combination of genetic identification and flight mill analysis may disclose behavioral and physiological differences between the two races of fall armyworm that can be effectively targeted for improved monitoring and management of the pest.
3. Means of communication will include the Project Web site, and linkages with scientific organizations, state IPM coordinators and other stakeholders, and other multi-state committees including WCC-060 (Science and Management of Pesticide Resistance), WCC-066 (Integrated Management of Russian Wheat Aphid and Other Cereal Aphids), W-187 (Interactions among Bark Beetles, Pathogens, and Conifers in North American Forests), NC-205 (Ecology and Management of European Corn Borer and Other Lepidopteran Pests of Corn), and NC-1018 (Impact of Climate and Soils on Crop Selection and Management). The Committee will also link to each of the coordinators of USDA Regional Pest Management Centers to inform them of our activities, and to provide input on the role of migration and dispersal in developing IPM programs. Active participation of Committee members in Regional Pest Management Center Working Groups will be a priority, to help ensure the inclusion of movement considerations in addressing emerging pest management issues.
Expected Outcomes and Impacts
- Adaptation of radio-controlled and autonomous aircraft for aerial sampling of pest insects and pathogens of importance to agriculture and biosecurity.
- Identification of genetic markers unique to rice and corn strains of fall armyworm, which will more clearly indicate source areas and relative genetic mixing of fall armyworm populations.
- Implementation of a corn earworm migration monitoring and prediction system that will provide advance warning of the timing and severity of pest infestations, leading to efficacious pest management tactics and reduced insecticide applications.
- Collaborative research, education, and extension projects with linkages to state, regional and national pest management programs for detection and management of the incursion of new wheat stem rust races in North America coordinated by Committee members and associates affiliated with USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory, Kansas State University, Penn State University, Louisiana State University, Texas A&M University, the National Plant Diagnostic Network, the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, and private industry.
- Online information exchange about corn earworm migration research and extension activities via the interactive project Pest Watch Web site, supported through the Northeast Pest Management Center.
Projected Participation
View Appendix E: ParticipationEducational Plan
The Project Web site (http://ncera148.psu.edu/) will be updated to communicate Committee activities, events, research, and educational outreach about migration and dispersal. Research findings will be reported through numerous research, extension, and popular publications. An industry PIPE stakeholders workshop will be held to identify specific needs of the seed industry regarding information on migratory and dispersing pests. Migration and dispersal related symposia will be organized at regional and national meetings including those of the American Meteorological Society, Entomological Society of America, Pan-American Aerobiology Association, International Aerobiology Association, and International Society of Biometeorology to increase the visibility and value of this field to the international research community. Collaborations will be formed within this Project to develop inter-disciplinary approaches to emerging challenges, resulting in multi-authored publications and grant proposals. Aerobiology courses will be offered at universities to produce students who understand interactions of biological and meteorological factors that govern movement and dispersal of biota and know how to use this knowledge for agricultural and natural ecosystem management.
Organization/Governance
Elected officers of the Committee serve a three-year term. Persons elected to the post of secretary for Year 1, become the vice-chair in Year 2, and committee chair in Year 3. Committee officers seek administrative guidance from the assigned Administrative Advisor and CSREES Representative.
Literature Cited
Cleveland, C.J., M. Betke, P. Federico, J.D. Frank, T.G. Hallam, J. Horn, J.D. Lopez, Jr., G.F. McCracken, R.A. Medellin, A. Moreno-Valdez, C.G. Sansone, J.K. Westbrook, and T.H. Kunz. 2006. Estimation of the economic value of the pest control service provided by the Brazilian free-tailed bat in the Winter Garden region of south-central Texas. Front. Ecol. Environ. 4(5): 238-243.
Fleischer, S., G. Payne, T. Kuhar, A. Herbert, Jr., S. Malone, J. Whalen, G. Dively, D. Johnson, J.A. Hebberger, J. Ingerson-Mahar, D. Miller, S. Isard. 2007. H. zea trends from the northeast: Suggestions towards collaborative mapping of migration and pyrethroid susceptibility. Plant Health Progress. doi:10.1094/PHP-2007-0719-03-RV.
Huang, Y., Y. Lan, J.K. Westbrook, W.C. Hoffmann. 2007. Remote sensing and GIS applications for precision areawide pest management: implications for homeland security. pp. 242-256, In: Geospatial Technologies and Homeland Security: Research Frontiers and Challenges, (eds.) D. Z. Sui and S. L. Cutter. New York: Springer.
Isard, S.A., J.M. Russo, A. Ariatti. 2007. Aerial transport of soybean rust spores into the Ohio River Valley during September 2006. Aerobiologia 23: 271-282.
Isard, S.A., N.S. Dufault, M.R. Miles, G.L. Hartman, J.M. Russo, E.D. DeWolf, W. Morel. 2006a. The effect of solar irradiance on the mortality of Phakopsora pachyrhizi urediniospores. Plant Disease 90: 941-945.
Isard, S.A., J.M. Russo, E.D. DeWolf. 2006b. The establishment of a national pest information platform for extension and education. Online, Plant Health Progress, doi:10.1094/PHP-2006-0915-01-RV.
Isard, S.A., S.H. Gage, P. Comtois, J. Russo. 2005. Principles of aerobiology applied to soybean rust as an invasive species. BioScience 55: 851-862.
Kunz, T.H., S.A. Gauthreaux, Jr., N.I. Hristov, J.W. Horn, G. Jones, E.K.V. Kalko, R.P. Larkin, G.F. McCracken, S.M. Swartz, R.B. Srygley, R. Dudley, J.K. Westbrook, M. Wikelski. 2008. Aeroecology: Probing and modeling the aerosphere. Integrative and Comparative Biology 48(1): 1-11.
Pietrantonio, P.V., T.A. Junek, R. Parker, D. Mott, K. Siders, N. Troxclair, J. Vargas-Camplis, J.K. Westbrook, V.A. Vassiliou. 2007. Detection and evolution of resistance to the pyrethroid cypermethrin in bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) in Texas. Environ. Entomol. 36: 1174-1188.
Spencer, J.L., T.R. Mabry, E. Levine, S.A. Isard. 2005. Movement, dispersal, and behavior of western corn rootworm adults in rotated corn and soybean fields. Pages 121-144 in Vidal, S. U. Kuhlmann, and C.R. Edwards, eds. Western Corn Rootworm: Ecology and Management. CAB Publishing.