Posts Tagged: IPM

California drought may be causing shifts in pest invasion behavior

Several California news stories this summer have reported increased pest problems in homes and landscapes, citing the prolonged drought as the cause. Pest control companies quoted in those stories confirm that demand for their services now is much higher than in past years.

The drought may be driving more invasions by annoying insects such as ants, but not necessarily for the reasons one might expect.

Many people are asking, “Why are there so many more pests this year than usual?”

People may just be seeing more pests, according to an urban integrated pest management (IPM) advisor with UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

“The overall abundance of pests probably hasn't changed and may even have decreased as compared to wet years,” said Andrew Sutherland, Ph.D., urban IPM advisor for the San Francisco Bay Area. “The real questions we should be asking are ‘Why are these pests appearing earlier in the year?' and ‘Why are the pests appearing all at once as opposed to throughout the year?'”

Sutherland says that landscape drydown has occurred more rapidly in recent years, so there may have been a more dramatic shift from high moisture to low moisture, prompting the nuisance pests to migrate earlier in the year and in a more concentrated manner.

“This is also the first year we've seen dramatic changes made by residents due to mandated water-use restrictions,” Sutherland said. “Areas with frequent irrigation and lush landscapes aren't available this year so nuisance pests like outdoor cockroaches, ants and crickets are migrating from dry areas to seek moisture.”

This search may lead the thirsty pests to homes, garages or landscape that they haven't visited before. The IPM advisor used oriental cockroaches as an example.

“Oriental cockroaches are highly dependent on moisture and humidity and are not normally found indoors,” said Sutherland. “Outdoors, if you have an irrigation control box, leaky hosebib or water meter box, or a French drain system, that's where you'll find them. But if this water supply has been reduced or shut off, this population you didn't even know of – that may have existed for years – may crawl under doors or into foundation cracks and move indoors in search of water.”

Sutherland advises against relying on perimeter pesticide sprays to treat for nuisance pests since these applications are effective for only a short time and therefore only represent temporary solutions. Instead, Sutherland recommends using IPM methods, such as exclusion and habitat modification, which provide more long-lasting pest invasion prevention.

To learn more about home, garden, turf and landscape pests and how to exclude them, visit the UC Integrated Pest Management website at http://www.ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/menu.house.html. For more advice on pest problems, contact the UC Master Gardeners at a local UC Cooperative Extension office http://ucanr.edu/County_Offices.

Further reading

Cockroaches http://www.ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7467.html?src=blog18995

Ants http://www.ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/invertebrates/links.ants.html?src=blog18995

Rodents http://www.ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/menu.house.html#VERT?src=blog18995

UC Master Gardeners http://mg.ucanr.edu/Become_a_Master_Gardener/Counties/?src=blog18995

Excluding seasonal nuisance pests http://www.ipm.ucanr.edu/PDF/PUBS/greenbulletin.2012.feb.pdf?src=blog18995

Jim Farrar named UC IPM director

Jim Farrar has been named director of the Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program for the University of California's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. He will begin the new position on Oct. 1.

UC IPM works with growers and residents to protect human health and the environment by reducing risks caused by pests and pest management practices.

Farrar is currently director of the Western IPM Center, where he has served since 2013. He succeeds Kassim Al-Khatib, UC IPM director since 2009, who is transitioning to a UC Cooperative Extension specialist position located in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis. There Al-Khatib will focus on his research in weed management.

“UC IPM is a widely recognized national leader in integrated pest management,” Farrar said. “I am excited to continue efforts to make IPM the standard practice for managing pests in agriculture, communities and natural areas in California.”

Prior to joining the Western IPM Center, Farrar was a professor of plant pathology in the Department of Plant Science at California State University, Fresno for 12 years.

At Fresno State, Farrar received three teaching awards. He taught courses in plant pathology, plant nematology, diagnosis and control of plant diseases, crop improvement, aspects of crop productivity, mycology, sustainable agriculture and advanced pest management. His research centered on fungal diseases of vegetable crops, including management strategies for cavity spot of carrot. During his Fresno State tenure, he served four years as chair of the Department of Plant Science and a year as interim chair of the Department of Food Science and Nutrition.

From 1995 to 1997, Farrar taught in the Botany Department at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. At Weber State, he conducted research on rock cress plants infected with a rust fungus that causes false-flowers. This rust is closely related to a species that is a potential biological control agent for dyer's woad (Isatis tinctoris), an invasive weed.

Farrar has published scientific papers, extension newsletter articles, and articles in agricultural industry magazines. He also wrote a chapter in the book Tomato Health Management and five disease descriptions in the book Compendium of Umbelliferous Crop Diseases. He recently completed a three-year term as senior editor for feature articles in the journal Plant Disease and was senior editor for the online journal Plant Health Progress for three years. Farrar is a member of the American Phytopathological Society and the Pacific Division of the American Phytopathological Society.

The Wisconsin native completed his Ph.D. in botany and B.S. in plant pathology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his M.S. in plant pathology at UC Davis.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jim Farrar, director-elect for UC ANR Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (530) 750-1271, jjfarrar@ucanr.edu

 

From superweeds to Pierce’s disease: California Agriculture reports on fighting diseases and pests

California agriculture is unique and diverse — and so are its pest and disease problems. Take herbicide resistance. While in the rest of the country herbicide resistance problems center on broadleaf weeds in corn, soy and wheat, in California the greatest problems are found in grasses and sedges in orchards, vineyards and rice fields. Herbicide resistance among California crops also varies widely. In vegetable fields, for instance, resistance is not a serious problem and is unlikely to become one.

An article in the current issue of California Agriculture, the peer-reviewed journal from the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, examines the spread of herbicide-resistant weeds in California and shows how UC researchers and Cooperative Extension specialists are helping growers to understand and manage the factors that drive it.

Five more articles in this special issue of California Agriculture highlight the work of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources on pests and diseases that threaten the state's people, agriculture and natural resources. The commitments to research and outreach profiled in the issue include the Endemic and Invasive Pests Strategic Initiative, the UC Statewide IPM Program and several successful collaborations with regulatory agencies and the agricultural community.

Excluding pests and pathogens

Diagnostics in animal health: How UC helps exclude and minimize impact of livestock pathogens

Whether it's pinkeye, bluetongue or poisonous plants, UC maintains a strong network of laboratories and field experts to protect livestock health in California.

Plant health: How diagnostic networks and interagency partnerships protect plant systems from pests and pathogens

Regional alliances of federal, state and university plant diagnostic labs work together to identify and control disease spread.

Managing newly established pests

Growers, scientists and regulators collaborate on European grapevine moth program

A regulatory program coordinated by government agencies, scientists and growers successfully contained an infestation that threatened California vineyards.

Cooperative efforts controlled spread of Pierce's disease and found genetic resistance

The 1999 arrival in California of a new Pierce's disease vector, the glassy-winged sharpshooter, posed a major new threat to California vineyards and orchards. A 15-year collaborative effort has successfully contained the sharpshooter and led to major improvements in our understanding of the biology of Pierce's disease, including promising advances in the development of disease-resistant grapevine lines.

Maintaining long-term management

Herbicide-resistant weeds challenge some signature cropping systems

Little or no crop rotation and limited herbicide options have contributed to the rise of herbicide-resistant weeds in orchards, vineyards and rice fields.

Over 35 years, integrated pest management has reduced pest risks and pesticide use

The UC Integrated Pest Management Program helps provide management solutions for invasive pests that destabilize IPM programs in agricultural and urban landscapes.

E-edition research article

The cost of the glassy-winged sharpshooter to California grape, citrus and nursery producers

The spread of the invasive insect in the late 1990s led to increased costs and changes in agricultural practices for grape, citrus and nursery producers.

These articles and the entire October-December 2014 issue are available at http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.edu.

California Agriculture is the University of California's peer-reviewed journal of research in agricultural, human and natural resources. For a free subscription, go to http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.edu or write to calag@ucanr.edu.

University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources is the bridge between local issues and the power of UC research. UC ANR's advisors, specialists and faculty bring practical, science-based answers to Californians. Visit ucanr.edu to learn more.

 

 

Yeast discovery may lead to better lure to detect fruit fly

Drosophila suzukii larva damage cherries. A certain species of yeast that UC Davis researchers found in “almost all” their samples of raspberries and cherries infested by the spotted-wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii), may lead to a better lure to detect the invasive pest in the field. A research team from the UC Davis Department of Entomology, the Department of Food Science and Technology, and a visiting professor from the University of Extremadura, Spain, found that the yeast, Hanseniaspora uvarum, appeared in just about every cherry, raspberry and larva of the spotted-wing drosophila (SWD) that they sampled at collection points in Davis, Winters and Watsonville. The agricultural pest, native to southeast Asia and now found in many parts of North America, was first observed in California in the fall of 2008 in the central valley, but was not identified until early 2009. It is reported to attack soft-skinned, ripening fruits, and has been a particular problem for raspberry and cherry growers in California. The research team – composed of Phaff Yeast Culture Collection curator Kyria Boundy-Mills of the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology; Frank Zalom UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Entomology at UC Davis and integrated pest management expert; doctoral student Kelly Hamby in the Zalom lab; and UC Davis visiting  professor Alejandro Hernandez of University of Extremadura, Spain – published their work in a recent cover article of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, the No. 1 cited journal in microbiology. "This represents the first look at potential yeast associations of Drosophila suzukii," said Hamby. “We are now testing to see if this species will be a good lure to detect this fly in the field,” Boundy-Mills said. “When we started the work we hoped to find candidate yeast species that could be used to improve the bait in Drosophila suzukii traps,” Hamby said. “Fruit flies are regularly trapped with apple cider vinegar or baker's yeast and sugar plus water so these were the traps that were originally recommended for monitoring when SWD first invaded California in 2008.” “Unfortunately, these lures trap all fruit flies, and many other non-target insects, so the hope was that we might be able to design a more selective and attractive lure by identifying a more specific yeast that is used by SWD,” Hamby said.  “Often Drosophila have interactions with yeast communities, and communities often vary between host plant species, so it was a bit of a surprising that we found Hanseniaspora uvarum so often, though, we used only culture-based methods so other yeasts may be present that are hard to culture,” Hamby said.  Hannah Burrack, a former Zalom lab graduate student (now an assistant professor and Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University) originally found that olive flies were more attracted to yeasts that were isolated from the flies themselves than to the Torula yeast bait that is commercially available for olive fruit fly management, Hamby said. Yeast ecologists have investigated Drosophila-yeast interactions for more than 60 years, Hamby said. “The work that had been done with Drosophila was the impetus for Hannah Burrack's work, therefore, we thought that we really had a great study system in SWD.” Zalom and Burrack had earlier collaborated with Boundy-Mills, “so our lab already had an established collaboration with a yeast systematist before we dreamed up this project,” Hamby noted. “Kyria curates a huge UC Davis yeast collection and all the yeast strains we found were deposited into the Phaff collection.” Boundy-Mills pointed out that SWD is causing major crop damage to soft fruits such as berries and that better detection and control methods are needed.   In their journal article, the authors wrote that “D. suzukii is unique in that it oviposits on marketable fruit relative to overripe or damaged fruit, and its injury facilitates colonization by other Drosophila species. If untreated, it is capable of causing a potential $860 million of revenue loss annually to blackberries, raspberries, and cherries in California, Oregon, and Washington. Knowledge of potential yeast associations could be used in lure development.” Zalom said the pest is a major problem in the area for backyard cherries. “Many residents have not been able to harvest cherries for several years now.”

Read more