Elucidating the behavioral response of stored product insects to fungal volatiles in the wind tunnel and simulated warehouses

Post-harvest pest insects can cause significant amounts of damage to stored products in and around food facilities, reducing quantity and quality of grains. Post-harvest insects have been attributed to billions of dollars in agricultural loss via yield loss and the cost of mitigation measures. Early detection of insect pests is crucial to preventing infestations and losses since some species of stored product pests are becoming resistant to common control options. Numerous detection methods are available, but many are time consuming and ineffective, leading to a need for more effective and practical monitoring methods. Grain oils have been used to induce behavioral responses in the red flour beetle (Triboliumcastaneum) and the lesser grain borer (Rhyzoperthadominica), but fungal volatiles may be an even stronger attractant to these species

Oxygen Consumption by Grain Storage Pests in Relation to Hermetic Storage Systems and an Evaluation of Postharvest Management Practices by Smallholder Farmers in Haiti

Food security is a serious issue throughout the world. An estimated 700 million people in developing countries currently lack the food necessary for an active and healthy lifestyle (World Bank, 1999). Competition with insect pests for food has always been a challenge. An estimated 20-30% of the grain can be lost postharvest due to insect pests alone (Tefera et al., 2011). To reduce postharvest losses and improve food security, alternative storage solutions are needed to replace the traditional, and often-ineffective storage methods employed by smallholder farmers. Hermetic grain storage is an airtight technology that provides a cost effective and insecticide free pest control option. With the more recent focus on reducing postharvest losses via hermetic technology, there is a need to investigate the postharvest management practices of smallholder farmers in new regions where the technology has yet to be introduced, such as in the Americas and the Caribbean countries. There is also a need to increase our understanding of hermetic environments and factors that affect their efficacy including insect oxygen consumption, insect population density and varying temperatures. In Chapter 1, I report the results from a study investigating the oxygen requirements of Callosobruchus maculatus Fabricius and Plodia interpunctella Hubner under normal atmospheric conditions. In chapter 2, I report the results from trials on the effect of high and low temperatures and variable insect population densities on the survival of C. maculatus during hermetic storage. In chapter 3, I report the results of a survey on assessing postharvest management practices of smallholder farmers in Haiti

Potential repellency of cedarwood oil from a novel extraction method to stored product insects

Producers lose 10-30% of crops during storage, processing, and marketing after harvest each year to stored product insects (1,2). Globally, there has been a rise in insecticide resistance to phosphine, the most common fumigant for these pests (3). As a result, producers need to diversify post-harvest IPM methods to preserve existing tools. One alternative strategy is push-pull, whereby a repellent is used to “push” an insect away from the commodity of interest, while also simultaneously “pulling” the insects to an alternate location away from the commodity using an attractant (4)(Fig. 1). This system notably requires a long-distance repellent. One potential repellent includes cedarwood oil, which has shown repellency to termites and ants (5,6). A novel extraction process for this compound has been developed, which leaves many of its main constituents intact (7). However, to date, this compound has never been assessed for repellency to post-harvest insects

Chlorsiloxane : Hydrolytische Bildung, chromatographische Trennung und massenspektrometrische Charakterisierung

[no abstract

Characterization of 12 Polymorphic SSR Markers in Veronica Subsect.Pentasepalae (Plantaginaceae) and Cross-Amplification in 10 Other Subgenera

[EN] • Premise of the study: Microsatellite primers were developed in the perennial herbs of the diploid-polyploid complex Veronica subsect. Pentasepalae (Plantaginaceae) to investigate the role that hybridization has played in the evolution of the group, which includes several endangered species. • Methods and Results: Twelve pairs of primers leading to polymorphic and readable markers were identifi ed and optimized from V. jacquinii and V. orbiculata using a microsatellite-enriched library method and 454 GS-FLX technique. The set of primers amplifi ed dinucleotide to pentanucleotide repeats, and the number of alleles per locus ranged from one to six, one to 11, and one to nine for V. orsiniana , V. javalambrensis , and V. rosea , respectively. Transferability analyses were performed in 20 species corresponding to 10 different subgenera. • Conclusions: These results indicate the utility of the newly developed microsatellites across Veronica subsect. Pentasepalae , which will help in the study of gene fl ow patterns and genetic structure

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking derived strain parameters in patients with acute myocarditis and preserved ejection fraction : A validation study

[No abstract available

Synergisms in science: Climate change and integrated pest management through the lens of Communication-2019 student debates

Every year, the Student Debates Subcommittee (SDS) of the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) for the annual Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting organizes the Student Debates. This year, the SAC selected topics based on their synergistic effect or ability to ignite exponential positive change when addressed as a whole. For the 2019 Student Debates, the SAC SDS identified these topic areas for teams to debate and unbiased introduction speakers to address: 1) how to better communicate science to engage the public, particularly in the area of integrated pest management (IPM), 2) the influential impacts of climate change on agriculturally and medically relevant insect pests, and 3) sustainable agriculture techniques that promote the use of IPM to promote food security. Three unbiased introduction speakers gave a foundation for our audience to understand each debate topic, while each of six debate teams provided a strong case to support their stance or perspective on a topic. Debate teams submitted for a competitive spot for the annual ESA Student Debates and trained for the better part of a year to showcase their talents in presenting logical arguments for a particular topic. Both the debate teams and unbiased introduction speakers provided their insight toward a better understanding of the complexities of each topic and established a foundation to delve further into the topics of science advocacy and communication, climate change, and the many facets of integrated pest management

The role of UDP-Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase 1 in the maturation of an obligate substrate prosaposin

A natural substrate for UGT1 is confirmed, revealing how the enzyme functions in the calnexin chaperone system as a quality control step in protein folding