Infochemical-tritrophic Interactions of Soybean Aphids-host Plants-natural Enemies and Their Practical Applications in Pest Management

The soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura, is a newly invasive insect species that seriously threatens U.S. soybean production. This aphid pest has kept haunting many soybean growers by developing large colonies on soybeans in North America since 2000. Since its first appearance inWisconsin, it has spread to over half of US states and southern provinces in Canada. The heavy infestation of this pest whittles soybean growers’ profits and causes hundreds of million dollar losses. The present chapter will mainly describe efforts in studying aphid chemical ecology and sensory physiology for understanding how male aphids find their mates and host plants. It will also cover research efforts to understand host plant associated volatiles being used as cues for overwintering host plant location. In addition, findings on how soybean plant defensive system works against aphid infestation, as well as how those induced plant volatiles are used by aphid’s natural enemies for prey location will be presented. Finally, the use the basic understandings for developing useful tools for soybean aphid practical control will be discussed

Biological control of the soybean aphid in organic and sustainable soybean production systems

Predatory insects and parasitoids can be used to suppress soybean aphid populations. This project explores the development of bio-based insect lures to enhance the efficacy of biological control of soybean aphids

Distributed Estimation and Inference with Statistical Guarantees

This paper studies hypothesis testing and parameter estimation in the context of the divide and conquer algorithm. In a unified likelihood based framework, we propose new test statistics and point estimators obtained by aggregating various statistics from $k$ subsamples of size $n/k$, where $n$ is the sample size. In both low dimensional and high dimensional settings, we address the important question of how to choose $k$ as $n$ grows large, providing a theoretical upper bound on $k$ such that the information loss due to the divide and conquer algorithm is negligible. In other words, the resulting estimators have the same inferential efficiencies and estimation rates as a practically infeasible oracle with access to the full sample. Thorough numerical results are provided to back up the theory

Soybean aphid biocontrol research seeks cooperators

Soybean aphids have been sighted on V1-stage soybean plants this summer, and they may become a problem. Field infestations are often accompanied by beneficial insects, but it is not known whether these predators and parasites can be manipulated to reduce aphid damage. The Leopold Center is supporting our research on biocontrol of the soybean aphid

Probing Inelastic Signatures of Dark Matter Detection via Polarized Nucleus

We investigate the inelastic signatures of dark matter-nucleus interactions, explicitly focusing on the ramifications of polarization, dark matter splitting, and the Migdal effect. Direct detection experiments, crucial for testing the existence of dark matter, encounter formidable obstacles such as indomitable neutrino backgrounds and the elusive determination of dark matter spin. To overcome these challenges, we explore the potential of polarized-target dark matter scattering, examining the impact of nonvanishing mass splitting and the role of the Migdal effect in detecting light dark matter. Our findings significantly contribute to understanding direct detection experiments, unveiling new insights into the behavior of dark matter and its inelastic nature.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure

Compact and high-performance vortex mode sorter for multi-dimensional multiplexed fiber communication systems

With the amplitude, time, wavelength/frequency, phase, and polarization/spin parameter dimensions of the light wave/photon almost fully utilized in both classical and quantum photonic information systems, orbital angular momentum (OAM) carried by optical vortex modes is regarded as a new modal parameter dimension for further boosting the capacity and performance of the systems. To exploit the OAM mode space for such systems, stringent performance requirements on a pair of OAM mode multiplexer and demultiplexer (also known as mode sorters) must be met. In this work, we implement a newly discovered optical spiral transformation to achieve a low-cross-Talk, wide-opticalbandwidth, polarization-insensitive, compact, and robust OAM mode sorter that realizes the desired bidirectional conversion between seven co-Axial OAM modes carried by a ring-core fiber and seven linearly displaced Gaussian-like modes in parallel single-mode fiber channels. We further apply the device to successfully demonstrate high-spectralefficiency and high-capacity data transmission in a 50-km OAM fiber communication link for the first time, in which a multi-dimensional multiplexing scheme multiplexes eight orbital-spin vortex mode channels with each mode channel simultaneously carrying 10 wavelength-division multiplexing channels, demonstrating the promising potential of both the OAM mode sorter and the multi-dimensional multiplexed OAM fiber systems enabled by the device. Our results pave the way for futureOAM-based multi-dimensional communication systems

Factors Affecting Spatial Variation of Annual Apparent Q10 of Soil Respiration in Two Warm Temperate Forests

A range of factors has been identified that affect the temperature sensitivity (Q10 values) of the soil-to-atmosphere CO2 flux. However, the factors influencing the spatial distribution of Q10values within warm temperate forests are poorly understood. In this study, we examined the spatial variation of Q10 values and its controlling factors in both a naturally regenerated oak forest (OF) and a pine plantation (PP). Q10 values were determined based on monthly soil respiration (RS) measurements at 35 subplots for each stand from Oct. 2008 to Oct. 2009. Large spatial variation of Q10 values was found in both OF and PP, with their respective ranges from 1.7 to 5.12 and from 2.3 to 6.21. In PP, fine root biomass (FR) (R = 0.50, P = 0.002), non-capillary porosity (NCP) (R = 0.37, P = 0.03), and the coefficients of variation of soil temperature at 5 cm depth (CV of T5) (R = −0.43, P = 0.01) well explained the spatial variance of Q10. In OF, carbon pool lability reflected by light fractionation method (LLFOC) well explained the spatial variance of Q10 (R = −0.35, P = 0.04). Regardless of forest type, LLFOC and FR correlation with the Q10 values were significant and marginally significant, respectively; suggesting a positive relationship between substrate availability and apparent Q10 values. Parameters related to gas diffusion, such as average soil water content (SWC) and NCP, negatively or positively explained the spatial variance of Q10 values. Additionally, we observed significantly higher apparent Q10 values in PP compared to OF, which might be partly attributed to the difference in soil moisture condition and diffusion ability, rather than different substrate availabilities between forests. Our results suggested that both soil chemical and physical characters contributed to the observed large Q10 value variation

Methods for Surveying Stable Fly Populations

Stable flies are among the most important pests of livestock throughout much of the world. Their painful bites induce costly behavioral and physiological stress responses and reduce productivity. Stable flies are anthropogenic and their population dynamics vary depending on agricultural and animal husbandry practices. Standardized sampling methods are needed to better identify the factors controlling stable fly populations, test novel control technologies, and determine optimal management strategies. The current study reviewed methods used for a long-term study of stable fly population dynamics in the central Great Plains. An additional study compared the relative size of flies sampled from the general population with that of flies sampled emerging from substrates associated with livestock production. Flies developing in livestock associated substrates are significantly larger than those in the general population indicating that other types of developmental sites are contributing significant numbers of flies to the general population. Because efforts to identify those sites have yet to be successful, we speculate that they may be sites with low densities of developing stable flies, but covering large areas such as croplands and grasslands. The stable fly surveillance methods discussed can be used and further improved for monitoring stable fly populations for research and management programs