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Spotlight stories from Choe laboratory at UCR
UCANR: Developing a qualified workforce for California
Benning Le's MS thesis defense
Dong-Hwan Choe
Published on: March 9, 2022

Benning Le, a MS student from the Choe laboratory successfully defended his MS thesis today (March 9, 2022). Benning's thesis research was on the development and laboratory / field testing of boric acid hydrogel bait targeting Argentine ant populations in agricultural settings. Benning is one of the students who went through our department's new graduate program, the combined BS+MS (4+1) program.

Congrats, Benning! 

 

For more information regarding the UCR Entomology's combined BS+MS program, please click here.

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Public Value: UCANR: Developing a qualified workforce for California
Focus Area Tags: Pest Management
Tags: 4+1 (1), Argentine ant (6), bait (2), Benning (1), boric acid (1), BS+MS program (1), defense (2), Entomology (2), hydrogel (6), Le (1), MS (1), presentation (1), thesis (1), UCR (5)
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UCANR: Protecting California's natural resources
Our research on Argentine ant IPM
Dong-Hwan Choe
Published on: October 5, 2021

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Our research on Argentine ant IPM was published in August 2021 issue of Journal of Economic Entomology (JEE).

 

 

Choe, D.-H., J.-W. Tay, K. Campbell, H. Park, L. Greenberg, and M. K. Rust. 2021. Development and demonstration of low-impact IPM strategy to control Argentine ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in urban residential settings. J. Econ. Entomol. 114: 1752–1757.

 

 

 

In addition, the photo showing a pair of Argentine ant workers feeding on a biodegradable hydrogel bait (made form alginate compound) was selected as the cover page for August 2021 issue of JEE. The biodegradable hydrogel bait with boric acid as the active ingredient was incorporated as the maintenance treatment option for the study. 

 

To find more about the research, please visit here to access the full research article. 

 

 

Public Value: UCANR: Protecting California's natural resources
Focus Area Tags: Pest Management
Tags: Argentine ant (6), baiting (4), hydrogel (6), IPM (5), Journal of Economic Entomology (2), paper (1), pheromone-assisted baiting (2), publication (1), urban pest management (2)
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Farewell to Dr. Jia-Wei Tay!!
Dong-Hwan Choe
Published on: December 7, 2018

Our postdoctoral scholar, Dr. Jia-Wei Tay, has successfully completed her postoctoral research, and will be leaving the Choe laboratory. Dr. Tay has been working on a novel baiting system (i.e., biodegradable hydrogel bait) for Argentine ant, one of the most important invasive pest ant species in California. She will be taking a new position in University of Hawaii soon, working on urban / structural insects. For more about her research, visit http://www.jiaweitay.com/. 

The lab members had the farewell lunch with Dr. Tay on Dec 4, 2018. 

Good luck and all the best for your new endeavor, Dr. Tay!

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Focus Area: Pest Management
Focus Area Tags: Pest Management
Tags: ant (1), bait (2), hydrogel (6), Jia-Wei Tay (1), postdoctoral scholar (1), urban entomologist (1)
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Yellowjacket image was selected for a cover photo of JEE
Dong-Hwan Choe
Published on: September 20, 2018

The yellowjacket image we used for a recent publication is selected as the cover photo for August 2018 issue of Journal of Economic Entomology.

(D.-H. Choe, K. Campbell, M. S. Hoddle, J. Kabashima, M. Dimson, and M. K. Rust. 2018. Evaluation of a hydrogel matrix for baiting western yellowjacket (Vespidae: Hymenoptera).J. Econ. Entomol. 111: 1799–1805. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toy139)

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Tags: cover photo (1), hydrogel (6), Journal of Economic Entomology (2), macro photography (1), Vespula (2), yellowjacket baiting (1)
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Our yellowjacket baiting study has been published
Dong-Hwan Choe
Published on: June 12, 2018

yellowjacket-with-hydrogel Choe

Our yellowjacket baiting study has been recently published in Journal of Economic Entomology.

Evaluation of a Hydrogel Matrix for Baiting Western Yellowjacket (Vespidae: Hymenoptera) 
 
Dong-Hwan Choe, Kathleen Campbell, Mark S Hoddle, John Kabashima, Monica Dimson, and Michael K Rust
Journal of Economic Entomology, toy139, https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toy139
Published: 30 May 2018

Abstract

Baiting is an effective method to manage Vespulaspp. yellowjacket (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) populations without having to locate and treat nests. Here, we assessed the utility of a commercially available polyacrylamide hydrogel as an alternative bait material for yellowjacket baiting. The experimental bait (hereafter referred to as ‘hydrogel bait') consisted of diluted chicken juice (from canned chicken meat) and fipronil (0.025%, wt/wt) absorbed into granular polyacrylamide hydrogel particles. Three separate 24-h baiting trials were conducted at two different field sites with the western yellowjacket, Vespula pensylvanica (Saussare), as the target species. The monitoring data from pre- and posttreatment periods indicated that baiting with polyacrylamide hydrogel baits provided ≈74–96% reduction in the foraging activity of V. pensylvanica during its active season. In addition to their ability to absorb large quantities of aqueous bait containing phagostimulants and toxicants, the hydrogels' tactile resemblance to fresh meat upon hydration makes them a promising option as a non-meat material for delivering small amounts of insecticides to yellowjacket populations in a highly targeted manner.

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Click here to read the Entomological Society of America's blog article about the paper. 
 
Click here to access the full paper.

 

 

 

Focus Areas:
Focus Area Tags: Agriculture, Environment, Pest Management
Tags: baiting (4), control (2), hydrogel (6), pensylvanica (1), UCR (5), urban entomology (10), Vespula (2), wasp (1), yellowjacket (1)
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