Emergence and Adult Biology of \u3ci\u3eAgrilus Difficilis\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), a Pest of Honeylocust, \u3ci\u3eGleditsia Triacanthos\u3c/i\u3e

Emergence and adult biology of Agrilus difficilis were examined in relation to its host Gleditsia triacanthos. began as early as 5 June in 1982 and completed as late as 22 July in 1983. Females lived significantly longer, 48 days, than males, 29 days. Average fecundity was one egg per day during a 36-day oviposition period

New Reports of Exotic and Native Ambrosia and Bark Beetle Species (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) From Ohio

In a 2007 survey of ambrosia and bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) along a transect in northeastern Ohio, we collected six exotic and three native species not previously reported from the state. These species include the exotic ambrosia beetles Ambrosiodmus rubricollis (Eichhoff), Dryoxylon onoharaensum (Murayama), Euwallacea validus (Eichhoff), Xyleborus californicus Wood, Xyleborus pelliculosusEichhoff, and Xylosandrus crassiusculus (Motschulsky). The native ambrosia beetle Corthylus columbianus Hopkins, and the native bark beetles Dryocoetes autographus (Ratzeburg) and Hylastes tenuis Eichhoff are also reported from Ohio for the first time. Our study suggests a northward range expansion for five of the six exotic species including, X. crassiusculus, which is an important pest of nursery and orchard crops in the southeastern United States

Implications of Climate Change for Agricultural Pest Management

Termination ReportThe University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.The thermal requirements of crops and insect pests differ significantly; their differential thermal requirements will govern how climate change impacts pest management needs and practices. To investigate the impact of climate change on pest management and the implications for farming communities, we have connected EPIC, a field-scale crop management model, with a temperature-driven model of insect population development (GILSM). EPIC was used to model the corn and soybean rotation common in the Midwest, and GILSM was programmed to model the growth of nine insect pests of corn and/or soybeans. Output from the model system was input to a geographic information system covering the eight-state corn-belt (Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio). The models were driven using GFDL-CM2 climate scenario data developed for the period 1901-2100 as part of NOA and IPCC investigations of global climate change. Over the past 100 years, crop productivity has increased several fold as a result of improved cultivation methods, fertilizers and pesticides, and plant breeding. In order to remove the confounding of changes in technology and possible climate change over the past century and unknown changes to come in the next century, a standard crop production protocol was used from 1901-2100. Using the crop production practices used most commonly in 2000 (the midpoint of the period), EPIC/GILSM was run for four 50 year periods (1901-1950, 1951-2000, 2001-2050 and 2051-2100) and the changes in crop yield and insect abundance were examined between periods. Nine insect pests found throughout the region were modeled to examine the range of likely responses of insect pests to climate change and the possible change in crop protection needs over the next 100 years. As expected, the model predicted little or no change between the first and second periods. For most species, change was maximum in the third period and less during the fourth period. In every case the isoclines for pest population density and crop productivity moved northwards, but at different rates, resulting in the isoclines for crop damage increasing as they moved northward. In two cases the pest abundance declined locally even as productivity increased, resulting in a net increase in productivity. No allowance was made for changes in agronomic practices or improvements in breeding pest resistance, both of which have helped to improve productivity over the past century.SEEDS-The OARDC Research Enhancement Competitive Grants Program: Interdisciplinary Team Research Competitio

Soil Management Regimes for Plant Health Care and Integrated Pest Management Programs in Ornamental Landscapes

Author Institution (Herms and Stinner): Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University; Author Institution (Hoitink): Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University; Author Institution (Rose): Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, The Ohio State Universit

Vertically Stratified Ash-Limb Beetle Fauna in Northern Ohio

To better understand the diversity and ecology of indigenous arthropods at risk from the invasive emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) in North American forests, saproxylic beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) were reared from ash (Fraxinus sp.) limbs suspended in the canopy, ~10–17 m above the ground, and from those placed on the ground in a mature mixed hardwood forest. In total, 209 specimens from 9 families and 18 species were collected from 30.0 m2 of limbs. The generalist cerambycid Neoclytus acuminatus (Fabricius) was the most commonly captured taxon, followed by an assemblage of four exotic ambrosia beetles dominated by Xylosandrus crassiusculus (Motschulsky). Two species largely or entirely restricted to ash, the buprestid Agrilus subcinctus Gory and the curculionid Hylesinus aculeatus (Say), were collected as well. Although there were no differences in beetle richness, abundance, or density between limb positions, community composition differed significantly. This can be largely attributed to phloem and wood-feeding species (i.e., Cerambycidae and Buprestidae) being more common in the suspended limbs and ambrosia beetles being more numerous on the forest floor. Possible explanations for these patterns are discussed

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Pedobiologia- International Journal of Soil Biology

jo u rn al homepage: www.elsevier.de/pedobi Impacts of emerald ash borer-induced tree mortality on leaf litter arthropods an

Predicting non-native insect impact: focusing on the trees to see the forest

Non-native organisms have invaded novel ecosystems for centuries, yet we have only a limited understanding of why their impacts vary widely from minor to severe. Predicting the impact of non-established or newly detected species could help focus biosecurity measures on species with the highest potential to cause widespread damage. However, predictive models require an understanding of potential drivers of impact and the appropriate level at which these drivers should be evaluated. Here, we used non-native, specialist herbivorous insects of forest ecosystems to test which factors drive impact and if there were differences based on whether they used woody angiosperms or conifers as hosts. We identified convergent and divergent patterns between the two host types indicating fundamental similarities and differences in their interactions with non-native insects. Evolutionary divergence time between native and novel hosts was a significant driver of insect impact for both host types but was modulated by different factors in the two systems. Beetles in the subfamily Scolytinae posed the highest risk to woody angiosperms, and different host traits influenced impact of specialists on conifers and woody angiosperms. Tree wood density was a significant predictor of host impact for woody angiosperms with intermediate densities (0.5–0.6 mg/mm3) associated with highest risk, whereas risk of impact was highest for conifers that coupled shade tolerance with drought intolerance. These results underscore the importance of identifying the relevant levels of biological organization and ecological interactions needed to develop accurate risk models for species that may arrive in novel ecosystems

In vivo multiphoton imaging reveals gradual growth of newborn amyloid plaques over weeks

The kinetics of amyloid plaque formation and growth as one of the characteristic hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are fundamental issues in AD research. Especially the question how fast amyloid plaques grow to their final size after they are born remains controversial. By long-term two-photon in vivo imaging we monitored individual methoxy-X04-stained amyloid plaques over 6 weeks in 12 and 18 months old Tg2576 mice. We found that in 12 months old mice, newly appearing amyloid plaques were initially small in volume and subsequently grew over time. The growth rate of plaques was inversely proportional to their volume; thus amyloid plaques that were already present at the first imaging time point grew over time but slower compared to new plaques. Additionally, we analyzed 18 months old Tg2576 mice in which we neither found newly appearing plaques nor a significant growth of pre-existing plaques over 6 weeks of imaging. In conclusion, newly appearing amyloid plaques are initially small in size but grow over time until plaque growth can not be detected anymore in aged mice. These results suggest that drugs that target plaque formation should be most effective early in the disease, when plaques are growing

Tissue-Specific Transcriptomics of the Exotic Invasive Insect Pest Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis)

BACKGROUND: The insect midgut and fat body represent major tissue interfaces that deal with several important physiological functions including digestion, detoxification and immune response. The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis), is an exotic invasive insect pest that has killed millions of ash trees (Fraxinus spp.) primarily in the Midwestern United States and Ontario, Canada. However, despite its high impact status little knowledge exists for A. planipennis at the molecular level. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Newer-generation Roche-454 pyrosequencing was used to obtain 126,185 reads for the midgut and 240,848 reads for the fat body, which were assembled into 25,173 and 37,661 high quality expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for the midgut and the fat body of A. planipennis larvae, respectively. Among these ESTs, 36% of the midgut and 38% of the fat body sequences showed similarity to proteins in the GenBank nr database. A high number of the midgut sequences contained chitin-binding peritrophin (248)and trypsin (98) domains; while the fat body sequences showed high occurrence of cytochrome P450s (85) and protein kinase (123) domains. Further, the midgut transcriptome of A. planipennis revealed putative microbial transcripts encoding for cell-wall degrading enzymes such as polygalacturonases and endoglucanases. A significant number of SNPs (137 in midgut and 347 in fat body) and microsatellite loci (317 in midgut and 571 in fat body) were predicted in the A. planipennis transcripts. An initial assessment of cytochrome P450s belonging to various CYP clades revealed distinct expression patterns at the tissue level. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: To our knowledge this study is one of the first to illuminate tissue-specific gene expression in an invasive insect of high ecological and economic consequence. These findings will lay the foundation for future gene expression and functional studies in A. planipennis

Interspecific Proteomic Comparisons Reveal Ash Phloem Genes Potentially Involved in Constitutive Resistance to the Emerald Ash Borer

The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is an invasive wood-boring beetle that has killed millions of ash trees since its accidental introduction to North America. All North American ash species (Fraxinus spp.) that emerald ash borer has encountered so far are susceptible, while an Asian species, Manchurian ash (F. mandshurica), which shares an evolutionary history with emerald ash borer, is resistant. Phylogenetic evidence places North American black ash (F. nigra) and Manchurian ash in the same clade and section, yet black ash is highly susceptible to the emerald ash borer. This contrast provides an opportunity to compare the genetic traits of the two species and identify those with a potential role in defense/resistance. We used Difference Gel Electrophoresis (DIGE) to compare the phloem proteomes of resistant Manchurian to susceptible black, green, and white ash. Differentially expressed proteins associated with the resistant Manchurian ash when compared to the susceptible ash species were identified using nano-LC-MS/MS and putative identities assigned. Proteomic differences were strongly associated with the phylogenetic relationships among the four species. Proteins identified in Manchurian ash potentially associated with its resistance to emerald ash borer include a PR-10 protein, an aspartic protease, a phenylcoumaran benzylic ether reductase (PCBER), and a thylakoid-bound ascorbate peroxidase. Discovery of resistance-related proteins in Asian species will inform approaches in which resistance genes can be introgressed into North American ash species. The generation of resistant North American ash genotypes can be used in forest ecosystem restoration and urban plantings following the wake of the emerald ash borer invasion