Assessing landscape complexity using remotely sensed and field based measurements : does landscape complexity drive leafroller parasitism rates on Oregon caneberry farms?

Landscape heterogeneity is thought to differ among farm management types (i.e. organic and conventional), and this difference is hypothesized to result in variations in pest control by natural enemies. However, it is unclear if these variations in pest control are driven by landscape structure or by farm management practices themselves. Remotely sensed datasets were used to describe the landscape structure surrounding a group of organic and conventional caneberry farms in Oregon and Washington that have different leafroller parasitism rates attributed to farm management type. A finer scale survey was done at one of the farms using the remotely sensed data as well as field surveys. Landscape metrics of diversity, richness and percent non-crop were used to describe the landscapes surrounding the farm fields at scales ranging from 0.05 km to 5.00 km for the large scale study, and 0.05 km to 0.20 km for the fine scale study. In the fine scale study, data on parasitoid species assemblages, diversity, and parasitism rate were collected and analyzed against the calculated landscape metrics spatially and seasonally. The purpose of this study was to quantify effects of farm management type on habitat structure, effect of habitat structure on leafroller parasitism rate, and to access correlations between landscape metrics calculated at the landscape and field scale. Overall, the farms were embedded in a landscape that was broadly similar, with very few differences in landscape structure occurring between organic and conventional farms. Organic farms had higher vegetation height class diversity at the largest scale compared to conventional farms, while conventional farms had significantly higher percent non-crop area compared to organic farms. There was no significant effect of any of the calculated landscape metrics on parasitism rates. In the field scale study, no correlations were found between habitat metrics and parasitism rates, or between field based metrics and those calculated at the landscape scale. The results of this study suggest that conventional and organic caneberry farms in the Willamette Valley are broadly similar in the habitat conditions they provide parasitoids. This suggests that management changes to pesticide use alone could increase levels of leafroller biological control on conventional farms to levels that are comparable to those seen on organic farms. Our comparisons of the landscape scale and field scale landscape metrics showed no connection, this suggests that direct comparisons cannot be made with these particular metrics at these very different scales. Rather than comparing these types of data, it may be more useful to combine them in order to increase the resolution and predictive power of remotely sensed data for describing landscapes at broad scales

Examining the Feasibility of Partnering with Cooperative Extension to Advance Statewide Physical Education Policies in Oregon

Optimizing physical education (PE) is a proven approach to increase children’s physical activity. Oregon law requires elementary schools to provide PE for \u3e 150 minutes/week. One strategy to meet the required minutes is for classroom teachers to deliver PE, which is permissible using curricula aligned to national PE standards. Be Physically Active 2Day (BEPA 2.0) is a unique classroom-based physical activity brain break curriculum aligned to PE standards. We evaluated the effectiveness of training school faculty to use BEPA 2.0 via a unique partnership with Cooperative Extension. Extension trainers (ET) were trained by a BEPA 2.0 Master Trainer (MT). School faculty were subsequently trained by ET (n = 94) and MT (n = 58). Participants completed post-training surveys to assess confidence, comprehension, and self-efficacy to implement BEPA 2.0. Survey scores were compared between MT and ET groups using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. There were no differences between MT and ET training groups in perceived confidence, comprehension, or self-efficacy to implement BEPA 2.0 after training. ET were as effective as MT, indicating the train-the-trainer approach is a promising strategy to enhance BEPA 2.0 dissemination. Cooperative Extension partnerships may be an overlooked mechanism to enhance physical activity promotion efforts

Engaging Residents in Participatory Photomapping and Readiness Conversations to Address the Rural Obesogenic Context

Extension engaged rural Idaho community stakeholders to assess local resources and readiness to address obesogenic contexts through use of the Extension tool HEAL MAPPS. Through participatory photomapping, focus group involvement, and a community readiness conversation, residents identified environmental resources and local efforts as supports for and barriers to healthful eating and active living. Findings indicated that the community was vaguely aware that rural obesity risk is a socioenvironmentally determined issue. Extension professionals using HEAL MAPPS effectively promoted new and shared knowledge of weight health resources among community members, enabled rural residents to have a voice in addressing the community context, and empowered community actions

Evolution of a Bacterial Regulon Controlling Virulence and Mg2+ Homeostasis

Related organisms typically rely on orthologous regulatory proteins to respond to a given signal. However, the extent to which (or even if) the targets of shared regulatory proteins are maintained across species has remained largely unknown. This question is of particular significance in bacteria due to the widespread effects of horizontal gene transfer. Here, we address this question by investigating the regulons controlled by the DNA-binding PhoP protein, which governs virulence and Mg2+ homeostasis in several bacterial species. We establish that the ancestral PhoP protein directs largely different gene sets in ten analyzed species of the family Enterobacteriaceae, reflecting both regulation of species-specific targets and transcriptional rewiring of shared genes. The two targets directly activated by PhoP in all ten species (the most distant of which diverged >200 million years ago), and coding for the most conserved proteins are the phoPQ operon itself and the lipoprotein-encoding slyB gene, which decreases PhoP protein activity. The Mg2+-responsive PhoP protein dictates expression of Mg2+ transporters and of enzymes that modify Mg2+-binding sites in the cell envelope in most analyzed species. In contrast to the core PhoP regulon, which determines the amount of active PhoP and copes with the low Mg2+ stress, the variable members of the regulon contribute species-specific traits, a property shared with regulons controlled by dissimilar regulatory proteins and responding to different signals

Evolution of a Bacterial Regulon Controlling Virulence and Mg2+ Homeostasis

Related organisms typically rely on orthologous regulatory proteins to respond to a given signal. However, the extent to which (or even if) the targets of shared regulatory proteins are maintained across species has remained largely unknown. This question is of particular significance in bacteria due to the widespread effects of horizontal gene transfer. Here, we address this question by investigating the regulons controlled by the DNA-binding PhoP protein, which governs virulence and Mg2+ homeostasis in several bacterial species. We establish that the ancestral PhoP protein directs largely different gene sets in ten analyzed species of the family Enterobacteriaceae, reflecting both regulation of species-specific targets and transcriptional rewiring of shared genes. The two targets directly activated by PhoP in all ten species (the most distant of which diverged >200 million years ago), and coding for the most conserved proteins are the phoPQ operon itself and the lipoprotein-encoding slyB gene, which decreases PhoP protein activity. The Mg2+-responsive PhoP protein dictates expression of Mg2+ transporters and of enzymes that modify Mg2+-binding sites in the cell envelope in most analyzed species. In contrast to the core PhoP regulon, which determines the amount of active PhoP and copes with the low Mg2+ stress, the variable members of the regulon contribute species-specific traits, a property shared with regulons controlled by dissimilar regulatory proteins and responding to different signals

seminar tammy BRR_presentation_sept09.ppt

Agricultural areas can be inhospitable to the attraction and maintenance of beneficial insects like natural enemies and pollinators and this can result in a decrease in the ecosystem services of pollination and pest control that these insects supply. If habitat can be created and maintained on-farm, an increase in the numbers and diversity of beneficial insects could be seen which could correspond to an increase in ecosystem services. This study was undertaken to quantify what insect communities are supported by a set of native Oregon plants and to test for differences in the relative attractiveness of plant species to three broad categories of insects: herbivores, natural enemies, and pollinators. This first season of research shows that plant species vary in their relative attractiveness to the three functional groups of insects. Some of this variation is likely related to differences in flowering phenology. There was a significant positive association between percent peak bloom and the number of natural enemies collected on a particular plant species. The numbers of natural enemies, herbivores, and pollinators collected on plant species also varied across sites, suggesting that landscape characteristics also influence the insect communities associated with particular plant species.Keywords: pollinators, agroecosystems, native plants, insect communitiesKeywords: pollinators, agroecosystems, native plants, insect communitie

Winfield_thesis_sept09revise_JLfianledits_Sept19_CleanVersion.doc

Agricultural areas can be inhospitable to the attraction and maintenance of beneficial insects like natural enemies and pollinators and this can result in a decrease in the ecosystem services of pollination and pest control that these insects supply. If habitat can be created and maintained on-farm, an increase in the numbers and diversity of beneficial insects could be seen which could correspond to an increase in ecosystem services. This study was undertaken to quantify what insect communities are supported by a set of native Oregon plants and to test for differences in the relative attractiveness of plant species to three broad categories of insects: herbivores, natural enemies, and pollinators. This first season of research shows that plant species vary in their relative attractiveness to the three functional groups of insects. Some of this variation is likely related to differences in flowering phenology. There was a significant positive association between percent peak bloom and the number of natural enemies collected on a particular plant species. The numbers of natural enemies, herbivores, and pollinators collected on plant species also varied across sites, suggesting that landscape characteristics also influence the insect communities associated with particular plant species.Keywords: insect communities, agroecosystems, native plants, pollinatorsKeywords: insect communities, agroecosystems, native plants, pollinator

Quantifying the Potential of Native Plants for Improving Pollination and Biological Control in Agroecosystems

Agricultural areas can be inhospitable to the attraction and maintenance of beneficial insects like natural enemies and pollinators and this can result in a decrease in the ecosystem services of pollination and pest control that these insects supply. If habitat can be created and maintained on-farm, an increase in the numbers and diversity of beneficial insects could be seen which could correspond to an increase in ecosystem services. This study was undertaken to quantify what insect communities are supported by a set of native Oregon plants and to test for differences in the relative attractiveness of plant species to three broad categories of insects: herbivores, natural enemies, and pollinators. This first season of research shows that plant species vary in their relative attractiveness to the three functional groups of insects. Some of this variation is likely related to differences in flowering phenology. There was a significant positive association between percent peak bloom and the number of natural enemies collected on a particular plant species. The numbers of natural enemies, herbivores, and pollinators collected on plant species also varied across sites, suggesting that landscape characteristics also influence the insect communities associated with particular plant species

Engaging Stakeholders in Ecosystem Service Assessment Under Climate Change and Urban Development Scenarios

This presentation focuses on how scientists can engage stakeholders in ecosystem service assessment