Browsing by Author "Rice, Kevin B."

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    Biology, ecology, and management of brown marmorated stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)
    Rice, Kevin B.; Bergh, J. Christopher; Bergmann, Eric J.; Biddinger, David J.; Dieckhoff, Christine; Dively, Gale; Fraser, Hannah; Gariepy, Tara; Hamilton, George; Haye, Tim; Herbert, D. Ames Jr.; Hoelmer, Kim A.; Hooks, Cerruti R. R.; Jones, Ashley; Krawczyk, Greg; Kuhar, Thomas P.; Martinson, Holly; Mitchell, William; Nielsen, Anne L.; Pfeiffer, Douglas G.; Raupp, Michael J.; Rodriguez-Saona, Cesar; Shearer, Peter W.; Shrewsbury, Paula M.; Venugopal, P. Dilip; Whalen, Joanne; Wiman, Nik G.; Leskey, Tracy C.; Tooker, John F. (2014)
    Brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys Stål, is an invasive, herbivorous insect species that was accidentally introduced to the United States from Asia. First discovered in Allentown, PA, in 1996, H. halys has now been reported from at least 40 states in the United States. Additional invasions have been detected in Canada, Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, and Lichtenstein, suggesting this invasive species could emerge as a cosmopolitan pest species. In its native range, H. halys is classified as an outbreak pest; however, in North America, H. halys has become a major agricultural pest across a wide range of commodities. H. halys is a generalist herbivore, capable of consuming >100 different species of host plants, often resulting in substantial economic damage; its feeding damage resulted in US$37 million of losses in apple in 2010, but this stink bug species also attacks other fruit, vegetable, field crop, and ornamental plant species. H. halys has disrupted integrated pest management programs for multiple cropping systems. Pesticide applications, including broad-spectrum insecticides, have increased in response to H. halys infestations, potentially negatively influencing populations of beneficial arthropods and increasing secondary pest outbreaks. H. halys is also challenging because it affects homeowners as a nuisance pest; the bug tends to overwinter in homes and outbuildings. Although more research is required to better understand the ecology and biology of H. halys,we present its life history, host plant damage, and the management options available for this invasive pest species.
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    Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) response to pyramid traps baited with attractive light and pheromonal stimuli
    Rice, Kevin B.; Cullum, John P.; Wiman, Nik G.; Hilton, Richard; Leskey, Tracy C. (Florida Entomological Society, 2017-06)
    Halyomorpha halys Stal (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an invasive insect that causes severe economic damage to multiple agricultural commodities. Several monitoring tools, including pheromone and light-baited black pyramid traps, have been developed to monitor H. halys. Here, we evaluated the attractiveness of these traps baited with only light, only pheromone, or the combination in comparison with unbaited traps throughout the growing season in regions with high and low H. halys population densities. In regions with high population densities in the Mid-Atlantic, all traps baited with pheromone or lights performed better than control traps. During mid-season, traps containing lights captured more H. halys adults, whereas pheromone-baited traps captured greater numbers during the late season. In low density regions in the Pacific Northwest, traps with lights or pheromone captured more H. halys adults than control traps. In addition, we evaluated the influence of competing light sources associated with anthropogenic structures. When light traps were deployed next to these additional light sources, H. halys captures in pyramid traps baited with light were not significantly reduced. Overall, our results indicate that both light and pheromone traps can be used to detect H. halys activity in low and high density populations.
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    A Hive Mind: Bounded Rationality and Bees
    Ostrom, Robert Benjamin Joel (Virginia Tech, 2025-01-15)
    Bees (Anthophila) are experiencing global decline as part of what is being called the Anthropocene extinction. In addition to the drivers of this event, such as climate change, bees are experiencing synergistic challenges from pesticides, poor nutrition, pathogens, and parasites. Bees play a crucial role in our world because they help to pollinate flowers, allowing plants in both agricultural and ecological settings to reproduce, and our reliance on them is projected to increase, even as their numbers decline. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify and understand how the behavior of bees, and human behavior towards bees, function under settings of imperfect information, where we act as boundedly rational actors. Therefore, in our studies, we focus on the impacts of changing landscapes on bees – whether those are environmental or political. In our investigations, we utilized bees, measuring their behaviors and community health, in multiple contexts to evaluate the interface of the human - bee world. In Chapter 2, we investigated the impact of human land use changes on honey bee foraging dynamics. We decoded, mapped, and analyzed the waggle dances of hives in Blacksburg, Virginia before (2018-19) and after (2022) the conversion of some of their prime habitat through construction. We found that bees increased their foraging nearly four-fold on the microhabitat which were untouched by the construction, but they are forced to nearly double their average foraging distance (0.69 to 1.28km) after the land development. In Chapter 3, we deployed dancing honey bees as potential predictors for native bee abundance and diversity. We used an existing dataset of decoded honey bee waggle dances (n = 11,050 from 2018-2019) to map three Virginian locations (Blacksburg, Winchester, and Suffolk) and the places preferred and avoided by bees within. Then we sampled (2021-2022) at 10 sites within each location using hand nets, bee bowls, and blue vane traps to determine the relationship between honey bee predicted landscapes and native bee abundance and diversity. We found a parabolic relationship between honey bee foraging and native bee abundance (p < 0.001), a relationship that remains robust when we stratify our capture by family (Apidae and non-Apidae) or sociality (solitary and social). In Chapter 4, we quantified bee community health metrics (abundance, richness, and diversity) in soybean plots in Columbia, Missouri, which were either treated with grower standard pyrethroid spray or attract-and-kill insecticidal netting treatments for the control of Japanese Beetle. These bee community health metrics were based on 1473 captured bees. We found a significant decrease in bee abundance in attract-and kill-plots compared to grower standard plots for all application periods (p < 0.002), a trend driven solely by the most common species, Melissodes bimaculatus. In Chapter 5, we directly examined human behavior concerning bees by analyzing the location, policy subsystem, and partisan control in which recent state level bee statutes were passed in the United States, following the 2022 midterm elections. We report on a robustly significant relationship between partisan control over states and the category of bee legislation enacted (p = 0.004). Our spatial analysis revealed a contiguous bloc of central states, along the Mississippi-Missouri Rivers, which did not enact bee legislation. We speculate this may be because soybean, a self-pollinating crop, is one of their largest agricultural exports. Finally, we conclude this thesis with a brief discussion of how these chapters have advanced our understanding of how bees react to human modified landscapes, and how human assumptions about bees shape our behaviors, from the level of individual farms to entire regions of the country.
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    Improved Trap Designs and Retention Mechanisms for Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)
    Rice, Kevin B.; Morrison, William R.; Short, Brent D.; Acebes-Doria, Angelita L.; Bergh, J. Christopher; Leskey, Tracy C. (Oxford University Press, 2018-10-01)
    Current monitoring systems for the invasive Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera; Pentatomidae) in orchard agroecosystems rely on ground-deployed tall black pyramid traps baited with the two-component H. halys aggregation pheromone and pheromone synergist. Pyramid traps are comparatively costly, require considerable time to deploy and service, and may not be best suited to grower needs. Therefore, we evaluated other traps for H. halys, including modified pyramid traps (lures deployed on the outside), a canopy-deployed small pyramid, a pipe trap, delta traps, and yellow sticky cards in 2015 and 2016 in commercial apple and peach orchards. We also compared various H. halys killing agents for use in standard pyramid trap collection jars, including VaporTape kill strips, cattle ear tags, and plastic netting treated with various pyrethroids. Finally, we evaluated the effect of positioning the lures inside versus outside the collection jar on standard pyramid traps on overall captures. Among trap types, modified pyramid and pipe traps were most effective, capturing more adults than all other trap designs. Adult captures in small canopy-deployed pyramid, delta, and yellow sticky traps were lower, but significantly correlated with the standard black pyramid. Placing lures on the outside of collection jars on pyramid traps resulted in significantly greater captures and insecticide-impregnated netting was as effective for retaining bugs as VaporTape strips. These studies demonstrate that trapping systems for H. halys can be simplified and improved by modifying the trap design, lure deployment location, and/or killing agent.
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    Invasion of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) into the United States: Developing a National Response to an Invasive Species Crisis Through Collaborative Research and Outreach Efforts
    Ludwick, Dalton; Morrison, William R. III; Acebes-Doria, Angelita L.; Agnello, Arthur M.; Bergh, J. Christopher; Buffington, Matthew L.; Hamilton, George C.; Harper, Jayson K.; Hoelmer, Kim A.; Krawczyk, Gregory; Kuhar, Thomas P.; Pfeiffer, Douglas G.; Nielsen, Anne L.; Rice, Kevin B.; Rodriguez-Saona, Cesar; Shearer, Peter W.; Shrewsbury, Paula M.; Talamas, Elijah J.; Walgenbach, James F.; Wiman, Nik G.; Leskey, Tracy C. (2020-03-11)
    Halyomorpha halys (Stal), the brown marmorated stink bug, is a globally invasive stink bug species. Its first major outbreak was in the United States, where it has caused millions of dollars in damage, threatened livelihoods of specialty crop growers and impacted row crop growers, and become an extreme nuisance pest in and around dwellings. The BMSB IPM Working Group, funded by the Northeastern IPM Center, was central to providing a mechanism to form a multidisciplinary team and develop initial and subsequent research, Extension, regulatory and consumer priorities. Ultimately, a project team consisting of over 50 scientists from 11 institutions in 10 states obtained the largest ever USDA-NIFA Specialty Crop Research Initiative CAP grant, totaling over $10.7 million, to tackle this crisis over a 5-yr period (2011-2016). Researchers and Extension educators integrated stakeholder feedback throughout the course of the project, and priorities evolved according to needs of affected growers and public stakeholders. Initially, the team focused on identification of H. halys, its damage symptoms and crop-specific risks, and short-term mitigation strategies for crop protection. Subsequently, work focused on its biology, ecology, and behavior leading to the development of potential longer-term IPM tactics and landscape level management solutions, including biological control. This work continues under a second SCRI CAP grant (2016-2021). The information from the initial team reached an estimated 22,000 specialty crop stakeholder contacts via Extension efforts, and over 600 million people via mainstream media. We highlight the main lessons learned from coordinating a national response to the threat posed by H. halys to agriculture in the United States.
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    Monitoring and Biosurveillance Tools for the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)
    Acebes-Doria, Angelita L.; Morrison, William R.; Short, Brent D.; Rice, Kevin B.; Bush, Hayley G.; Kuhar, Thomas P.; Duthie, Catherine; Leskey, Tracy C. (MDPI, 2018-07-08)
    Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an invasive pest of numerous agricultural crops with an increasing global distribution. Finding simple and reliable monitoring tools for H. halys agricultural and surveillance programs is imperative. In 2016, we compared standard pyramid traps to clear sticky cards attached atop wooden stakes and evaluated two commercially formulated lures (Trécé and AgBio) with low and high rates of the H. halys aggregation pheromone (PHER) and pheromone synergist (MDT) at 12 sites (low: 5 mg PHER + 50 mg MDT; high: 20 mg PHER + 200 mg MDT). In 2017, we reevaluated lure efficacy using only the clear sticky traps at six locations. Sites were classified as having low, moderate, or high relative population densities of H. halys in 2016, and as very low or low densities of H. halys in 2017. Although clear sticky traps captured fewer adults and nymphs than pyramid traps, their captures were generally correlated at all population levels indicating that clear sticky traps can reliably monitor H. halys presence and relative abundance regardless of relative population density. During both years, adult and nymphal captures were significantly greater in traps baited with Trécé lures than with AgBio lures. Captures were greater in traps baited with high loading rate lures for each lure type, and with the exception of traps baited with AgBio lures at high relative density sites in 2016, H. halys captures in traps with low and high loading rates of each lure type were correlated for both years. Comparison of yellow and clear sticky cards indicated they performed equally, but yellow cards captured more nontargets. In summary, clear sticky traps attached atop wooden posts and baited with H. halys pheromone and pheromone synergist lures are an effective option for this pest monitoring and detection.