Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

S1073: Biological Control of Arthropod Pests and Weeds
Meeting on March 28, 2022 from 5-6 pm AST (4-5 pm EST)

MEETING AGENDA

I. Welcome and call to order

II. 2022 Symposium notice:
Climate Change and Biological Control: S1073 Project Highlights
Session Date: Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Session Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM AST
Location: Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino, Bahia 2

III. New member introductions

IV. State reports- highlights and discussion

V. Words from our Administrative Advisor: Dr. Saied Mostaghimi

VI. Impact Statements
a) Form committee 2-3 ppl

VII. Spring meetings and reports for the group going forward
a) Meeting 2023 SEB Meeting (March 12-15, Little Rock, AR)
b) State reports (accomplishments 2022, plans for 2023)- due late February 2023

VIII. Nominations: New secretary 2023

IX. Other business
Upcoming project re-write

X. Adjournment

MEETING MINUTES:

Welcome and call to order.

New member introductions: None

State reports: State reports were collected by email by Kris Giles and Steve Frank. The complied reports were sent via email to all members prior to the meeting for review and discussion. Members were encouraged during the meeting to send any updates asap. The final version is due in 30 days and will be prepared by Steven Frank, NCSU, the incoming president.

Admin Perspective: Notes from our administrator, Dr. Saied Mostaghimi, were provided to Kris Giles by email and relayed to participants during the meeting. Key points include:
1. New project is required. Steve Frank and the committee to conduct a rewrite.
2. Impact statement needs to be written. Perhaps also by committee.
3. Consider interdisciplinary proposals.
4. Final report to be submitted in 30 days.
Kris Giles requests ideas for potential projects, especially interdisciplinary projects in response to Dr. Mostaghimi’s suggestions:
JC Chong (Clemson) suggested proposals related to invasive species since there is no unifying commodity among group members. Group members work on biological control broadly in many different crop and landscape systems. Norm Lepla encouraged members to make reports as detailed as possible to help people find areas for collaboration.

2023 Meeting:
The 2023 meeting will most likely be held at the ESA SE Branch in Little Rock, Arkansas based on participant feedback. This will conserve travel resources and time by not planning a separate meeting. We will plan a symposium around unifying themes among members and their research. Participants encouraged general themes for the symposium topic to encourage new members and to encourage people to think outside the box and conceptualize their work in new ways and in line with new trends. Topics suggested include: Climate change, urbanization, and Invasive species.

Elections: Adam Dale (UF) was nominated and elected unanimously as secretary.

Other business: Money from an old SE biocontrol working group was discovered in a desk drawer and needs to be spent. $3200. Jerome Grant brought this topic to our attention and asked for suggestions on how to use it.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

To discover, assess, and release new biological control agents
Earleaf acacia. Acacia auriculiformis, is a fast-growing, evergreen tree from Australia that was purposefully introduced into the United States as an ornamental plant at the turn of the 20th century. It is now listed as a Category I plant on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council's 2019 List of Invasive Species. Currently, 89 arthropod species that feed on earleaf acacia in its native range have been found. Several of those arthropods have the potential to be host specific and damaging to the weed. Two of those species, Calomela intemerata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and Trichilogaster sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), has been introduced into containment labs in Florida for study. So far, C. intemerata has been tested on over 40 species of native plants and remains host specific to A. auriculiformis. Trichilogaster sp. nov. colonies have been established in containment labs in Florida. Host range testing will begin as soon as colonies are large enough to facilitate testing.

To characterize and evaluate the impact of native and introduced biocontrol agents

Strawberries. Commercially available biological control agents such as entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) and fungi (EPFs), as well as predatory mites were evaluated for chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis management in organic strawberries in a field study. Specifically, EPNs Steinernema feltiae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, EPF Beauveria bassiana and Isaria fumosoroseus Apopka strain 97, and predatory mites, Amblyseius swirskii and Neoseiulus cucumeris were compared to spinosad insecticide. Results indicated that EPNs and EPFs are needed to apply twice at least within a 7-day interval to achieve both adult and larval suppression comparable to efficacy of spinosad. Predatory mites were effective in suppressing larval chilli thrips only. Results were presented at field days with strawberry growers and a second year of the field study is being planned. A manuscript is under preparation currently to be submitted as a peer reviewed research article. Air potato. Biocontrol herbivores often fail to kill their host plants and their effectiveness can vary from site-to-site. This creates difficulties for managing invasive plant infestations using classical biological control. We conducted field surveys of 12 air potato populations across Florida and measured cover of air potato, abundance of air potato beetle, and herbivory damage to the plants. We found that herbivory levels decrease at the highly invaded sites by air potato compared to the sites with lower air potato infestation.

Brazilian peppertree. The stem thrips, Pseudophilothrips ichini (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae), and the yellow Brazilian peppertree leaf galler, Calophya latiforceps (Hemiptera: Calophyidae), are currently under study at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Biological Control Research and Containment Laboratory for use as biological control agents for the invasive Brazilian peppertree. Release permits for C. latiforceps and P. ichini were issued in June 2019. Since release permits were issued for P. ichini, UF, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and federal collaborators (USDA-ARS) have released over 2,500,000 P. ichini at sites throughout Florida. Recently C. latiforceps were collected in Brazil and colonies are being established inside containment labs in Florida. Releases of C. latiforceps will begin after colonies have been cleared of potential parasitoids and pathogens.

To develop integrated pest management programs that have a biological control component

Strawberries. Chemical control and biological control techniques were compared in a greenhouse study using potted strawberry plants for chilli thrips management. The findings of this study indicate that biological control agent, Amblyseius swirskii is as effective as spinetoram for 21 days after treatment in suppression of larval chilli thrips but not effective in adult thrips suppression. The findings of this study were published in Florida Entomologist.

Urban landscapes. Ongoing research is investigating the role of turfgrass genetic diversity as an IPM tactic for conserving natural enemies and reducing pest pressure. Thus far, evidence indicates that mixing intra-specific turfgrass cultivars reduces non-turfgrass weed invasion, severity of disease spread, and fall armyworm herbivory and fitness. Current experiments are expanding this work to investigate if cultivar blends increase the abundance or diversity of ground-dwelling predatory arthropods, and if that helps regulate insect pest populations.

To develop augmentation and conservation biological control tactics, especially to improve the quality of agricultural habitats for pollinators

Strawberries. A field experiment in conventional strawberry planted next to strips of five banker plants (cowpea, buckwheat, sunn hemp, sweet alyssum, and ornamental pepper) is underway to assess the diversity of predatory insects and augmentatively released predatory mites, Amblyseius swirskii for thrips management. Also, field studies were conducted to assess the efficacy of drone-released versus hand-released predatory mites for chilli thrips and two-spotted spite mite management in organic strawberries. Results showed that irrespective of release method, A.
swirskii was more mobile and able to colonize plants that only received Phytoseiulus persimilis. This study has been discontinued currently due to a lack of funds.

Short-term Outcomes: 5-6 strawberry growers have started releasing predatory mites and EPFs for chilli thrips management in strawberries in Florida as communicated to me in person.

Air potato. We explored the different strategies to exploit plant defense mechanisms to improve the biocontrol efficacy of the air potato beetle (Lilioceris cheni) as a biocontrol agent of the invasive plant air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera), using exogenous applications of Methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA) and water as control. We used a greenhouse experiment with plants randomly subjected to four treatments: MeJA, SA, water with no herbivory and water with herbivory damage and then reared air potato beetles on treated plants. We found that MeJA treated plants suffered significantly greater damage than the SA treated plants. However, our control plants showed huge variation and were not statistically different than MeJA treated plants. It is plausible that the specialist beetle is exploiting plant defenses as a counter mechanism.

Sweet potato. Grower recommendations were developed for managing wireworms in Florida sweet potato. Sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas L., production in Florida and cultural practices, primarily soil tillage and crop rotation, can suppress populations of these root pests but adequate management currently requires the use of insecticides. Due to a tenuous dependence on chlorpyrifos, research was conducted on managing wireworms with alternative methods, including biological control with commercially-available nematodes.

Short-term Outcomes: Small-scale farmers in North Florida adopted crop rotation and soil tillage guidelines to significantly reduce the number of wireworms in a field prior to planting sweet potatoes. Sweet potato crops grown after corn or sorghum typically have higher populations of wireworms.

Outputs: Alternative biological control methods for managing wireworms in sweet potatoes were evaluated and described in a management guide. The best sampling methods, e.g., intensity and frequency for defining the distribution and abundance of wireworms, were determined. General thresholds were established and IPM tactics were recommended for sweet potato in the region.

Activities: Entomopathogenic nematodes were applied to reduce the number of harmful wireworms, resulting in increased plant vigor and health. The nematodes were easy to handle and applied in a liquid using standard pesticide spraying equipment. Success or failure of entomopathogenic nematodes depended primarily on their host specificity and handling during transportation, storage, and application. -

Milestones: Entomopathogenic nematodes were evaluated because chlorpyrifos may no longer be available for controlling wireworms.

Urban landscapes. Turfgrass monoculture lawns provide relatively little value for predatory arthropods and insect pollinators compared to diverse flowering plants. There is growing interest in planting turfgrass alternatives to enhance floral resources in lawns. However, this is expensive, labor-intensive, and there are few commercially available plant species options. Fortunately, most lawns are already a mix of turf and forbs, which may be providing conservation value without the additional monetary and time inputs of replacing a lawn. Ongoing research is investigating the role of naturally occurring lawn plant diversity and cover in supporting insect pollinators and arthropod natural enemies. Preliminary evidence indicates that lawn forb diversity peaks in spring and fall, with relatively few floral resources widely available in mid-summer months. It is also clear that many lawn weeds need to be mown less frequently than conventional turfgrass if they are to flower and have real conservation value.

PUBLICATIONS (2021-2022)

Research:
Khadka, A., Hodges, A. C., Leppla, N. C., and Tillman, P. G. 2001. Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) nymph survival and adult feeding preferences for crop plants in Florida. Florida Entomologist. 104:136-139.

Lahiri, S., and A. Yambisa. 2021. Efficacy of a biopesticide and predatory mite to manage chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in strawberry. Florida Entomologist. 104: 322-324.
Lake, E.C., David, A.S., Spencer, T.M., Wilhelm Jr, V.L., Barnett, T.W., Abdel-Kader, A.A., Cortes, A.C., Acuna1, A., Mattison, E.D., and C.R. Minteer. 2021. First drone releases of the biological control agent

Neomusotima conspurcatalis on Old World climbing fern. Biocontrol Science and Technology 31: 97-106. DOI: 10.1080/09583157.2020.1828280.

Leppla, N. C. 2021. Concepts and Methods of Quality Assurance for Mass-Reared Parasitoids and Predators, Chapter 9. In Juan Morales Ramos, David Shapiro and Guadalupe Rojas (Eds), Mass Production of Beneficial Organisms: Invertebrates and Entomopathogens, 2nd Edition.

Leppla, N. C., Morales-Ramos, J. A., Shapiro-Ilan, D. I., and Rojas, M. G. 2021. Introduction, Chapter 1. In Juan Morales Ramos, David Shapiro and Guadalupe Rojas (Eds), Mass Production of Beneficial Organisms: Invertebrates and Entomopathogens, 2nd Edition.

Goode, A.B.C., Tipping, P.W., Minteer, C.R., Pokorny, E.N., Knowles, B.K., Foley, J.R., and R. J. Valmonte. 2021. Megamelus scutellaris (Berg) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) biology and population dynamics in the highly variable landscape of southern Florida. Biological Control 160, 104679. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocontrol.2021.104679.

Nighswander GP, Sinclair JS, Dale AG, Qiu J, Iannone III BV. 2021. Importance of plant diversity and structure for urban garden pest resistance. Landscape and Urban Planning. 215, 104211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104211

Pearson, DE, Clark TJ, Hahn PG. 2022. Evaluating unintended consequences of intentional species introductions and eradications for improved conservation management. Conservation Biology 36(1): e13734. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13734

Penca, C., Hodges, A. C., Leppla, N. C., & Cottrel, T. E. 2021. Analysis of the spatial distribution and development of sequential sampling plans for heteropteran-associated fruit injury in Florida peaches. Journal of Economic Entomology. 114: 1823-1833.

Prade, P., Minteer, C.R., Gezan, S.A, Arguijo, V.C., Bowers, K., Cuda, J.P, and W.A. Overholt. 2021. Host specificity and non-target longevity of Calophya lutea and Calophya terebinthifolii, two potential biological control agents of Brazilian peppertree in Florida, USA. BioControl. DOI: 0.1007/s10526-020-10058-3

Prade, P., Cuda, J., and C.R. Minteer. In press. Investigating the potential for plant-mediated interactions between biological control agents for Brazilian peppertree. Biocontrol Science and Technology.
Rafter, M.A., Moore, K. and C.R. Minteer. 2021. No-choice risk assessment of Gratiana boliviana, a potential biological control agent of Solanum viarum in Australia. Biocontrol Science and Technology. DOI: 10.1080/09583157.2021.1944606.

Extension:
Hochmuth, R. C., D. Seal, N. C. Leppla, D. Fenneman, R. Broughton, and A. Baniya. 2021. Managing Wireworms in Florida Sweet Potatoes. UF/IFAS EDIS.

LeBeck, L. M. and N. C. Leppla. 2021. Guidelines for Purchasing and Using Commercial Natural Enemies and Biopesticides in North America. UF, IFAS EDIS.

Minteer, C. R., Kariuki, E.M. and J. P. Cuda. 2021. Biological control of weeds: Is it safe? UF/IFAS Electronic Data Information Source. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN1342 (peer-reviewed)
Nestle RP, Cope GC, Benda ND, Dale AG. 2021. Creating wildflower habitats in golf course out-of-play areas. UF/IFAS EDIS. #ENY-2059. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/in1316