Allen Cohen

Management of phytophagous thrips and tarnished plant bugs (TPBs) species in cotton remains a significant issue confronting farmers in the US Cotton Belt. Currently, farmers depend on neonicotinoid seed treatments and organophosphates to control early season thrips and multiple modes of action to control TPB to maintain profitable yields. In 2020-21, a novel Bt trait targeting thrips and TPB is expected to be released in cotton by Monsanto. This trait suppresses thrips and TPB populations, preventing damage, but allows reduced thrips and TPB populations to develop. Preliminary results suggest that this trait has variable impacts on thrips mortality, oviposition, and feeding behavior across different developmental stages, as well as differential impacts on fitness of tobacco thrips (TT) and western flower thrips (WFT). In the eastern Cotton Belt, TT is a key pest of cotton seedlings and has developed resistance to systemic neonicotinoids. In the West, TT is not an economic pest but WFT is an important facultative biological control (BC) for mites and whitefly, the latter a key pest there. Because these insects fill regionally specific pest or BC niches, the impact of widespread deployment of this Bt trait could have geographically variable effects on ecosystem services and pest management outcomes. This project will reveal synergies and antagonisms between pest management and BC services that will have geographically specific outcomes for cotton farmers and relevance to policy decisions regarding non-target effects and IRM.The overall goal of this project will be to quantify life stage-specific impacts of thrips and Lygus active Bt toxins on WFT, TT and TPBs in laboratory, greenhouse, and field conditions. These results will provide a foundation for regionally relevant risk assessment and IRM modeling for novel Bt toxins in cotton production agroecosystems across the US Cotton Belt.

This Work Plan reflects a cooperative relationship between the North Carolina State University (the Cooperator), and the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ). It outlines the mission-related goals, objectives, and anticipated accomplishments as well as the approach for conducting investigations to develop improved rearing methods for the emerald ash borer, its parasitoids, and other wood-boring insects of regulatory concern, as well as the related roles and responsibilities of the parties [e.g., mutual roles, APHIS role(s), Cooperator role(s)] as negotiated.

Abstract and Work Overview: This Work Plan reflects a cooperative relationship between (North Carolina State University) (PI) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ). It outlines the mission-related goals, objectives, and anticipated accomplishments as well as the approach for developing an artificial rearing system for spotted lanternfly and the related roles and responsibilities of the parties as negotiated. The primary purpose of this agreement is to support Farm Bill Goal 6, to enhance mitigation capabilities, and, under Strategy 1, specifically to promote new control technologies for use in plant health emergencies. The financial assistance will allow the cooperator to develop an artificial diet and rearing system for the spotted lanternfly (SLF), Lycorma delicatula, to facilitate year-round research on detection and control techniques for this exotic pest and for eventual mass production of biological control agents. The SLF recently established in Pennsylvania and threatens economic damage to grapes, soy, and other crops by feeding on phloem sap, and, in grapes, by physical damage to vines during oviposition attempts. It can potentially establish over a large area covering USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 6-13 and undergoes only one generation a year. Phloem feeding results in low photosynthesis, sooty mold on the copious honeydew, and can cause death of the host plant. The species can easily spread as a hitchhiker and lays its eggs on substrates often used in trade, such as stone products and wood packing material, in addition to diverse plants. Efforts are underway by APHIS and cooperators to develop techniques to monitor SLF populations in the field and to explore for natural enemies in the native range in China. To facilitate research and to evaluate and ultimately rear large quantities of natural enemies of SLF, an efficient, standardized, year-round rearing system is needed for the pest. To date, rearing methods in confinement utilize grapevine in the early instars and require switching to Ailanthus altissima leaves in the older instars, but survival and adult fitness are insufficient for a biocontrol program; production on deciduous host plants may also present phenological hurdles due to mismatches between host-plant and insect life stages throughout the seasons. An artificial feeding system is feasible, as systems have been developed for other phloem-sap feeding insects, and liquid diets exist that may be modified and optimized for SLF. Techniques to break obligatory diapause in the egg stage will also be developed to allow for a steady supply of active life stages for research, and future efforts will also be aimed at using diapause to facilitate storage of natural enemies for release when the appropriate stage of SLF is available in the field.

The primary purpose of this agreement is to develop and improve an artificial-diet-based rearing system for the emerald ash borer (EAB). This project supports efforts to rear and release biological control agents to slow the spread and rate of damage caused by EAB. Emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) (EAB) is destroying ash trees in the northcentral, northeastern, and southern US and eastern Canada and rapidly expanding its range. There is an urgent need for development and/or improvement of effective control techniques, among them biological control. Development of control techniques demands access to insects, which in turn demands reliable, economical, and simple mass-rearing procedures, which are lacking for the larval and adult stages. Mass-production of biocontrol agents at the Brighton, MI facility currently requires harvesting of infested ash logs, which has depleted ash trees at increasing distances from the facility over the years. Currently, the Brighton team travels four hours to locations in Ohio to collect infested ash and spends more time locating and harvesting sufficient logs than in previous years. A basic artificial diet without host material is available for the larval stage but, besides needing improvement in nutrition, packaging, and texture, it requires an infestation system, a presentation system suitable for parasitoid oviposition and development, and scaling up to mass production, all of which are in progress. Significant progress was achieved through this project on formulation for adult diet and presentation, but improvements are needed. The original goal for adult diet was to eliminate ash leaves as a component, and thus eliminate the effort of harvesting and processing leaves, but studies to date suggest small amounts of ash leaf material should be added to promote adult feeding and nutrition. Remaining Issues to Be Solved: 1) Adult diet improved in terms of nutritional scope (where diet support reproduction in addition to the survival capability that we have developed). Also, the stability of the adult diet needs to be tuned or further improved to prevent it from drying out or deteriorating so that a brief window is expanded to two days. 2) Larval diet optimized for texture and especially the system of producing it that allows us to make it as a flat (3-4 mm thick), cohesive-textured (simulating phloem wood texture), 50% moisture diet that is presented in a sandwich of hard materials such as Plexiglas or other plastic sheets. The larval diet also needs to be structured in a way that it is a) close enough to neonate larvae that they can find it, b) positioned or structured in such a way that the diet does not overly hydrate the eggs and cause mold or emergence problems due to softening and plasticizing of the chorion, and c) has a surface texture that invites neonate sampling.

The primary purpose of this agreement is to develop and improve an artificial-diet-based rearing system for the emerald ash borer (EAB). This project supports efforts to rear and release biological control agents to slow the spread and rate of damage caused by EAB. Emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) (EAB) is destroying ash trees in the northcentral, northeastern, and southern US and eastern Canada and rapidly expanding its range. There is an urgent need for development and/or improvement of effective control techniques, among them biological control. Development of control techniques demands access to insects, which in turn demands reliable, economical, and simple mass-rearing procedures, which are lacking for the larval and adult stages. Mass-production of biocontrol agents at the Brighton, MI facility currently requires harvesting of infested ash logs, which has depleted ash trees at increasing distances from the facility over the years. Currently, the Brighton team travels four hours to locations in Ohio to collect infested ash and spends more time locating and harvesting sufficient logs than in previous years. A basic artificial diet without host material is available for the larval stage but, besides needing improvement in nutrition, packaging, and texture, it requires an infestation system, a presentation system suitable for parasitoid oviposition and development, and scaling up to mass production, all of which are in progress. Significant progress was achieved through this project on formulation for adult diet and presentation, but improvements are needed. The original goal for adult diet was to eliminate ash leaves as a component, and thus eliminate the effort of harvesting and processing leaves, but studies to date suggest small amounts of ash leaf material should be added to promote adult feeding and nutrition. Remaining Issues to Be Solved: 1) Adult diet improved in terms of nutritional scope (where diet support reproduction in addition to the survival capability that we have developed). Also, the stability of the adult diet needs to be tuned or further improved to prevent it from drying out or deteriorating so that a brief window is expanded to two days. 2) Larval diet optimized for texture and especially the system of producing it that allows us to make it as a flat (3-4 mm thick), cohesive-textured (simulating phloem wood texture), 50% moisture diet that is presented in a sandwich of hard materials such as Plexiglas or other plastic sheets. The larval diet also needs to be structured in a way that it is a) close enough to neonate larvae that they can find it, b) positioned or structured in such a way that the diet does not overly hydrate the eggs and cause mold or emergence problems due to softening and plasticizing of the chorion, and c) has a surface texture that invites neonate sampling.

This Work Plan reflects a cooperative relationship between the North Carolina State University (the Cooperator) and the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) under Notice of Cooperative Agreement Award No. 15-8130-0021. It outlines the mission-related goals, objectives, and anticipated accomplishments as well as the approach for conducting investigations to develop improved rearing methods for the emerald ash borer, its parasitoids, and other wood-boring insects of regulatory concern, as well as the related roles and responsibilities of the parties [e.g., mutual roles, APHIS role(s), Cooperator role(s)] as negotiated.

The spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula recently established in Pennsylvania and threatens economic damage to grapes, soy, and other crops by feeding on phloem sap, and, in grapes, by physical damage to vines during oviposition attempts. It can potentially establish over a large area represented as USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 6-13. Phloem feeding results in low photosynthesis, sooty mold on the copious honeydew, and can cause death of the host plant. The species can easily spread as a hitchhiker and lays its eggs on substrates often used in trade, such as stone products and wood packing material, in addition to diverse plants. Efforts are underway to explore for natural enemies in the native range in China. To evaluate and ultimately rear large quantities of natural enemies of L. delicatula, an efficient, standardized, year-round rearing system should be developed for the pest. To date, rearing methods in confinement utilize grapevines in the early instars and require switching to Ailanthus altissima leaves in the older instars, but survival and adult fitness are insufficient for a biocontrol program, while production on deciduous host plants may present phenological hurdles. It is both feasible and valuable to develop an artificial diet-based rearing system for L. delicatula. These insects seem to specialize on stems of plants (rather than leaves, fruits, or roots). Diets for other phloem-sap feeders (including aphids and other plant hoppers) have been developed, with varying degrees of success, but mainly with solutions of free amino acids, sugars, vitamins, minerals, and traces of lipids, including sterols. We propose to use diets with similar composition with special attention to amino acid profiles and sterols that are bioavailable and nutritionally suitable for L. delicatula. A very important aspect of this work is the system of diet presentation with a cylinder of absorbent material (such as filter paper) wrapped in stretched Parafilm. The liquid diet would circulate slowly through the absorbent core from a source to a sink where the diet would be refreshed with vitamin and other perishable components, and pass through a filter system to be returned to the artificial stem. This system will keep the diet free of microbes and fresh in terms of replenished nutrients such as ascorbic acid. A key part of this research is the optimization techniques performed through the chemical mixing statistical system (SAS, JMP: Design of Experiments: Mixtures). Because L. delicatula has one generation per year and undergoes obligatory diapause, making active insects available year-round demands that we learn to prevent or break diapause through appropriate manipulation of 1) photoperiod (light: dark cycle), 2) temperature, and 3) nutritional quality. Once these factors are developed or understood, we will need to provide an appropriate artificial substrate (artificial or factitious bark). With the accomplishment of solving the diapause and oviposition problems, insects should be available to continue diet improvement experiments. Future efforts will also be aimed at using diapause to facilitate storage of natural enemies for release when the appropriate stage of L. delicatula is available in the field.

Development of improved rearing methods for the emerald ash borer, its parasitoids, and other wood-boring insects of regulatory concern.Develop and improve an artificial-diet-based rearing system for the adult stage of the emerald ash borer (EAB). This project supports efforts to rear and release biological control agents to slow the spread and rate of damage caused by EAB.

Development of improved rearing methods for the emerald ash borer, its parasitoids, and other wood-boring insects of regulatory concern.Develop and improve an artificial-diet-based rearing system for the adult stage of the emerald ash borer (EAB). This project supports efforts to rear and release biological control agents to slow the spread and rate of damage caused by EAB.

The purpose of the request for Monsanto's contract with Allen Cohen is to develop artificial diets for two serious pests: the kudzu bug (Piezodorus guildinii, a member of Plataspididae) and the red-banded stink bug (Megacopta cribraria, family: Pentatomidae). The contract is to support research by Dr. Allen C. Cohen, Research Professor in the Department of Entomology, to determine an optimal diet and diet presentation system for these two species of insect pest. The research is centered on the determining the feeding requirements of these insects so that the diet can be developed to meet the nutritional and feeding stimulation needs of these important insect pests. 7/1/13 thru 6/30/2015