Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Administrative Liaison’s to the Multistate 5-year Research Project: Hamilton announced Herb Bolton is no longer our NIFA liaison. Herb has left NIFA for a job with APHIS. Our new NIFA Liaison is Steve Smith. He then told the group that we also lost our NE Experiment Station Director liaison Ted Andreadis who recently retired. No replacement has been named yet.

Kuhar asked how people in other states can job the project since we do not have representation from states where BMSB is has become a problem. Should we advertise it? Hamilton responded that anyone can join the group and that to do so they need to talk with their experiment station director.  He will also talk to Jim Walgenbach about letting folks associated with the BMSB SCRI grant know about the project. Bergh stated that these can be used in place of having a hatch project and that having others, especially from the west, be part of the project.

Annual Reporting: Hamilton discussed the need to develop an annual report for the project and that he would like to have the report submitted by the end of May 2020. The group decided that each member present would send Hamilton a page summary of their work to date. Hamilton will then compile the material into a report, circulate it for comment and then submit the report to NIMSS.

Next year’s meeting: The group discussed and agreed to hold the 2021 meeting in conjunction with the 2021 eastern branch of the Entomological Society of America’s annual meeting next February in Philadelphia.

Each attendee then gave a short state based report:

Virginia: Bergh (tree fruit) reported that he continues to be part of the ARS areawide project, as is Kuhar and Nielsen, and the USDA SCRI project. The data from each for last year has either been processed and reported on or is in the process of being processed.  Nielsen’s lab has been working with the biocontrol data related to the project and Park is analyzing data from 27 traps in the areawide project looking at landscape features that may impact BMSB movement, etc for the areawide project. For 2020, Virginia Tech is allowing work on research farms and grower properties as long as people travel separately and social distancing is observed so he will be able to continue work on both projects. For the SCRI project, Bergh has had one site in West Virginia and one in Fredricks County, VA. Nichole Quinn, his Ph.D. student graduated last year. She has published to papers on her work and has two in review involving BMSB and Trissolcus japonicus. Another of his students, Whitney Hadden, finished a three-year study looking at the abundance of BMSB in orchard and non-orchard sites. Last year, Jarrod Dyer a masters student began looking at T. japonicus foraging ecology. He will also probably not participate in the ecozone SCRI project because of personnel and travel restrictions.

Kuhar (Vegetables) reported that he graduated three students last year and that their papers are coming out. One of their projects looked at the phenology in urban landscapes with trees known to be attached by BMSB. The student found that there was a relationship with when the tree fruited. Another finished and has published her work to develop thresholds for BMSB. As far as new stuff he has very little new going forward and has no student working on BMSB. HE will continue to collaborate and participate in the SCRI project. He then discussed the ecoregion study as it relates to the mid-Atlantic region. Generally, very low number of nymphs were caught most adult catches were in late season. Overall, 58% of the adult catches occur in September, 27.9% in October and 13.2% in August. There also appears to be a trend for more adults in ridge and valley regions. More BMSB were caught in 2019 than 2017 and 2018. This may have been due to hotter temperatures in 2019. Bergh then talked about how this might be related to Nosema infections being lower and higher fall temperatures. Kuhar will share this data with Crowder and the SCRI landscape group.

Florida: Hodges reported that the situation in Florida is different than in than in the mid-Atlantic. She plans to start trapping in May at 11 farms include small organic and larger commercial farms. They may be getting more BMSB at farms with muscadine grapes. They are using a two week sampling scheme. They saw their highest populations in January. Found their first BMSB in Marion County this year. Not sure if it indicates a reproducing populations. They are getting BMSB in other parts of the state. For this year, will continue trapping when they can get back in the field to figure out were they are and where they are going. The will also be looking for Tj.  Kuhar asked about nymphal captures. She replied that they don’t catch many nymphs so far. They find reproductive individuals in March. Not sure how much is going on. They find initial activities in January and peak in March and May. They are hard to find after July. Nymphs appear in March. Florida’s growers are not yet concerned about BMSB because of the other stink bugs in Florida that already damage their crops.

New Jersey: Nielsen reported that overall, BMSB populations were up in both South and North Jersey and that she participated in two project, the areawide with 27 raps at two locations and the SCRI with three ecozone sites. Most of her work revolved around Tj projects. One of her students is working on using insectary plants to promote Tj presence last year. COVI-19 has shutdown this down for this year so far. Buckwheat was the most attractive. Her former post doc identified plant volatiles attractive to BMSB and Tj. When they used them outdoors they were not real highly attractive to Tj. She has a hard time finding Tj in orchards. They also did releases of Tj in peaches and wood edges and found that Tj disperses equally between the areas and up to 35 meters from the release sites. They aslo planned to look at Tj resource foraging but that is on hold. Her IPM CPR in apples project should be published very soon.

Hamilton reported that he has been working in central and northern New Jersey with the SCRI ecozone project for the last three years. He has also been working with Kim Hoelmer on the SCRI biocontrol objective looking for Tj at his ecozone sites. In 2019 they also expanded the number of farms being survey as part of the project. He stated concerns about bi-catch with the yellow cards used to survey for Tj due captures of birds, etc. He also found very large number of scorpion flies on the traps at two farms that are located near water sources. His group participated Hajek’s Nosema project. No Nosema was found I the samples he submitted. Lastly, he participated in a project with Hoelmer and Joe Kaser looking at Tj dispersal. Hamilton was unsure what if anything they could do this year because of COVID-19 restrictions. Right now they can only go to the lab to maintain colonies.

• Refinement of BMSB monitoring methods using clear sticky traps
• Evaluation of landscape variables in different eco-zones on BMSB density
• Refinement of development models 
• Evaluation of monitoring traps to access damage thresholds
• Evaluation of insecticide resistance
• Evaluation of insecticide treated nets as a management tactic
• Recovery of Trissolcus japonicus in fruit orchards
• Refinement of management recommendations for fruit and vegetable growers

Quinn, N., E. Talamas. T. Leskey, and C. Bergh. 2020. Seasonal activity of Trissolcus japonicus and the effect of habitat type on detection frequency. BioControl, in review

Akotsen-Mensah, C., B. Blaauw, B.D. Short, T. Leskey, C. Bergh, D. Polk, and A. Nielsen. 2020. Using IPM-CPR as a management program for apple orchards. J. Econ. Entomol. in press

Ludwick, D., W.R. Morrison III, A.L. Acebes-Doria, A.M. Agnello, J.C. Bergh, M.L. Buffington, G.C. Hamilton, J.K. Harper, K.A. Hoelmer, G. Krawczyk, T.P. Kuhar, D.G. Pfeiffer, A.L. Nielsen, K.B. Rice, C. Rodriguez-Saona, P.W. Shearer, P.M. Shrewsbury, E.J. Talamas, J.F. Walgenbach, N.G. Wiman, and T.C. Leskey. 2020.  Invasion of the brown marmorated stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) into the USA: 14 Developing a national response to an invasive species crisis through collaborative research 15 and outreach efforts. J. IPM in press

Acebes-Doria, A., A. Agnello, D. Alston, H. Andrews, E. Beers, C. Bergh, and 32 others. 2020. Season-long monitoring of the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), throughout the United States using commercially available traps and lures. J. Econ. Entomol. 113: 159-171

Acebes-Doria, A., Ludwig, D., Morrison, W., Agnello, A., Bergh, J.C., Buffington, M., Hamilton, G., Harper, J., Hoelmer, K., Krawczyk, G., Kuhar, T., Pfeiffer, D., Nielsen, A., Rice, K., Rodriguez-Saona, C.,  Shearer, P., Shrewsbury, P. Talamas, E., Walgenbach, J., Wiman, N., Leskey, T. 2020. Invasion of the brown marmorated stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) into the USA: Developing a national response to an invasive species crisis through collaborative research and outreach efforts. Journal of Integrated Pest Management. doi.org/10.1093/jipm/pmaa001

Alford. A., et al. 2020. Baseline toxicity of the insecticides bifenthrin and thiamethoxam on Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) collected from the Eastern U.S.A. Journal of Economic Entomology. doi: 10.1093/jee/toz361

Bergh, C., S.V. Joseph, B. Short, M. Nita, and T. Leskey. 2019. Effect of pre-harvest exposures to adult Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera:Pentatomidae) on feeding injury to apple cultivars at harvest and during post-harvest cold storage. Crop Protection 124: article 104872

Blaauw, B.B., G. Hamilton, C. Rodriguez-Saona and A.L. Nielsen. 2019. Plant stimuli and their impact on brown marmorated stink bug dispersal and host selection. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution doi: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00414.

Britt, K. E., M. K. Pagani, and T. P. Kuhar. 2019. First report of brown marmorated stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) associated with Cannabis sativa (Rosales: Cannabaceae) in the United States. Journal of Integrated Pest Management, Volume 10, Issue 1, 2019, 17, https://doi.org/10.1093/jipm/pmz014

Chambers, B. D., T. C. Leskey, A. R. Pearce, and T. P. Kuhar. 2019. Responses of overwintering Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) to dead conspecifics. J. Econ. Entomol.112, Issue 3:1489–1492. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toz011

Hancock, T., D.-H. Lee, C. Bergh, W. Morrison III, and T. Leskey. 2019. Presence of the invasive brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), on home exteriors during the autumn dispersal period: Results generated by citizen scientists. Agric. and Forest Entomol. 21: 99-180

Kuhar, T. P., J. A. Morehead, and A. J. Formella. 2019. Applications of kaolin protect fruiting vegetables from brown marmorated stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). J. Entomol. Sci. 54(4):401-408 (2019). https://doi.org/10.18474/JES18-126

Morrison, W. III, B. Blaauw, B. Short, A. Nielsen, C. Bergh, G. Krawczyk, Y.-L. Park, B. Butler, A. Khrimian, and T. Leskey. 2019. Successful management of Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in commercial apple orchards with an attract-and-kill strategy. Pest Manag. Sci. 75: 104-114

Quinn, N., E. Talamas, A.L. Acebes-Doria, T. Leskey, and C. Bergh. 2019. Vertical sampling in tree canopies for Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) life stages and its egg parasitoid, Trissolcus japonicus (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae). Environ. Entomol. 48: 173-180

Quinn, N., E. Talamas, T. Leskey, and C. Bergh. 2019. Sampling methods for adventive Trissolcus japonicus (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) in a wild tree host of Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). J. Econ. Entomol. 112: 1997-2000

Valentin, R., D.M. Fonseca, S. Gable, K. Kyle, G.C. Hamilton, A.L. Nielsen, and J.L. Lockwood. 2020. Moving eDNA surveys onto land: Strategies for active eDNA aggregation to detect invasive forest insects. Molecular Ecology Resources. dx.doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13151