IFAS News
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences – University of Florida
UF: Insecticide resistance developing in psyllid that carries citrus disease
May 9, 2011
Topic(s): Agriculture, Citrus, Crops, Entomology and Nematology, IFAS, Invasive Species, Pests, Uncategorized
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In Florida’s war against citrus greening, producers face a new threat — the insects they’re fighting are becoming less sensitive to insecticides, according to a new University of Florida study.
“Our investigations to date are showing that insecticide resistance in Asian citrus psyllids is a reality,” said Lukasz Stelinski, an author of the study and an entomologist at UF’s Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred.
“Resistance is showing up,” he said. “But the levels that we have documented to date are not high enough to cause product failures.”
Greening was first detected in Florida in 2005 and is a major threat to Florida’s $9 billion citrus industry. The incurable disease has wiped out citrus crops in other parts of the world.
UF Bee College will spotlight native pollinators March 11-12
March 8, 2011
Topic(s): Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Economics, Entomology and Nematology, Environment, IFAS
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With honeybee populations imperiled by the mysterious condition called colony collapse disorder, Florida residents should appreciate native bees for their role in the state’s environment and economy, say University of Florida researchers who will make presentations on the insects at this week’s Bee College.
Held March 11-12 at UF’s Whitney Laboratory in Marineland, the annual event includes sessions on native bees and enhancing habitats for them, said Jamie Ellis, an assistant professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Now in its fourth year, Bee College is the state’s most extensive bee education event.
Many Florida crops depend on bees for pollination, including some citrus, beans, melons, squash, cucumbers, strawberries and blueberries, and native species perform some of the work. Nationwide, native bees pollinate crops worth an estimated $3 billion each year.
Native bees also pollinate ornamentals and indigenous plants. Now, with honeybee populations down, native pollinators need support from humans.
“There are ways to help by putting in habitat to attract native bees,” Ellis said.
UF study traces global red imported fire ant invasions to southern U.S.
February 25, 2011
Topic(s): Entomology and Nematology, Environment, Families and Consumers, Household Pests, Invasive Species
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Red imported fire ant invasions around the globe in recent years can now be traced to the southern U.S., where the nuisance insect gained a foothold in the 1930s, new University of Florida research has found.
Native to South America, the ant had been contained there and in the southeastern U.S. before turning up in faraway places in the last 20 years — including California, China, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.
Disease-carrying Asian citrus psyllids find refuge in abandoned groves, UF study shows
February 18, 2011
Topic(s): Agriculture, Citrus, Entomology and Nematology, Environment, IFAS, Invasive Species, Pests
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — For years, citrus growers have feared that abandoned groves provided refuge for the Asian citrus psyllid, an invasive insect that transmits citrus greening—now, University of Florida researchers say they were right.
A study published in the current issue of the Journal of Economic Entomology shows that the psyllid not only survives in abandoned groves, it often travels to commercially active groves nearby, bringing along the bacterium responsible for the disease.
First detected in Florida in 2005, greening is incurable and fatal to citrus trees. It is considered the biggest threat to the state’s $9 billion citrus industry. Asian citrus psyllids pick up the greening bacterium by feeding on sap from infected trees and later transmit the pathogen while feeding on healthy trees.
The results underscore the need for landowners to remove or destroy unmanaged trees, something the state is urging, said entomologist Lukasz Stelinski, an assistant professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and one of the study’s authors.
“There was very much anecdotal evidence that these abandoned areas are harboring citrus psyllids,” Stelinski said. “It’s just one of those things that had to be confirmed.”
South American beetle released by UF researchers benefits Florida ranchers
January 27, 2011
Topic(s): Biocontrols, Entomology and Nematology, Invasive Species, Livestock
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Over the past two decades, Florida cattle ranchers have spent as much as $16 million a year doing battle with an invasive weed called tropical soda apple, known as TSA, that takes over pastures, elbowing out the forage grasses ranchers need for their cattle.
But a beetle released by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is taking a bite out of the problem by feeding on the weed and reducing its competitiveness. UF researchers describe the beetle’s success as a biological control agent in the current issue of the journal Florida Entomologist.
Gratiana boliviana, as the beetle is known to scientists, is a native of South America and the first biological control agent in North America to be used against TSA. The beetles are highly specific feeders whose voracious appetite is focused only on TSA but not on related plants such as eggplant, peppers or potatoes.
UF/IFAS receives $5 million donation to boost entomology and nematology
January 19, 2011
Topic(s): Announcements, Entomology and Nematology, New Technology, Pests
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Most people wouldn’t be inclined to show a passion for insects, but in a state that is home to several major seaports and provides a year-round climate where, on the average, a new species of insect is introduced each month, one Floridian in particular is very interested.
Longtime Florida resident Charles Steinmetz has made a career out of the study and management of insects and now wants to make sure the future of pest management research and education continues at the University of Florida.
UF officials announced today that Steinmetz and his wife, Lynn, have committed $5 million to create five new permanent endowments, including three professorships, an entrepreneurship fellowship fund, a research fund and additional support for an existing student scholarship fund. The support is directed to UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ Department of Entomology and Nematology.
UF discovers house flies carrying five new illness-causing bacteria
August 27, 2010
Topic(s): Entomology and Nematology, Food Safety, Household Pests
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Everyone knows that house flies aren’t welcome around food.
But University of Florida scientists have discovered five new reasons why.
Researchers with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences have documented five more bacteria species carried by house flies, and all of them cause illness in humans, ranging from food poisoning to respiratory infections.
In the current issue of Florida Entomologist, the researchers describe collecting house flies near rear entrances and trash bins at four restaurants in Gainesville. About 20 flies from each location were collected in sterile containers and returned to the campus laboratory.
Research on insect hibernation may lead to new control measures, UF scientists say
July 27, 2010
Topic(s): Agriculture, Crops, Entomology and Nematology, IFAS, New Technology, Pests, Research
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — To beat summer heat, winter cold and other harsh environmental conditions, many insects temporarily drop into a state similar to hibernation to conserve energy and reduce stress, and University of Florida researchers say this phenomenon could lead to new pest control methods.
A UF study published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that different organisms use different mechanisms to reach that resting state, known as diapause.
Scientists are exploring the biochemical processes behind diapause as a first step toward manipulating when and how diapause occurs in pest insect species, said Dan Hahn, an assistant professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
“If you can disrupt diapause, you can change the chances an insect population survives,” Hahn said.
UF/IFAS study takes look at native pollinators
June 22, 2010
Topic(s): Entomology and Nematology, Green Living, Research
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Ask a regular Joe on the street what he knows about bees, and he’ll no doubt believe you to be talking about the kind brought to the U.S. long ago from Europe for honey-making purposes.
Ask University of Florida postdoctoral researcher Akers Pence, and he’ll tell you all about different kinds of bees – those native to North America – how they’ve rarely been studied, how critical they are but how little is known about them.
To that end, Pence is directing the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ portion of a five-year study of native pollinators. Specifically, the study will try to determine the most effective ways to attract the native pollinators, keep them around, and encourage them to pollinate Florida’s crops.
The study, part of a larger effort called Operation Pollinator, has been supported with a $160,000 grant for its first year by Syngenta and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and includes research partners at Michigan State University and the University of California, Davis. The effort is aimed at evaluating native pollinators, especially bees, as pollinators of agricultural crops.
Today marks the start of National Pollinator Week, which runs through June 27. Events are being held across the country to draw attention to their value and their plight.
Efforts to study the native pollinators are especially timely because honey bees, long considered the “heavy lifters” among pollinators in modern agriculture, have been declining at an alarming rate, Pence said.
Researchers all over the country have been working to find the causes behind Colony Collapse Disorder, which has caused widespread bee die-offs since late 2006.
Mosquito research shows ‘your worst enemy could be your best friend’
March 25, 2010
Topic(s): Entomology and Nematology, Invasive Species
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Your worst enemy can sometimes also be your best friend, according to entomologists from the University of Florida and Illinois State University.
Their research has shown how one mosquito species is being saved by the very predator that usually eats it — and how that helps protect humans from diseases like dengue fever.
In the 1980s the U.S. began importing a large number of used tires from Asia. Water that had collected in these tires carried the larvae and eggs of the Asian tiger mosquito, a pest with a voracious appetite known to carry disease.
This invasive mosquito is more aggressive in its search for food than the more docile native mosquitoes, and theoretically, should have driven the native species to near extinction as it spread, said Phil Lounibos, an entomologist with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
However, as the researchers explain in the March issue of the journal Oecologia, the invasive mosquitoes seem to be the preferred meal of the predatory midge, Corethrella appendiculata. The paper is titled, “Your worst enemy could be your best friend: predator contributions to invasion resistance and persistence of natives.” (more…)
