George Kennedy

The western flower thrips (WFT) has developed into a major pest of tomato and pepper in North Carolina and other parts of the southeastern US. It transmits tomato spotted wilt virus and feeds directly on fruit causing scarring and gold fleck. Preliminary research suggests its worsening pest status on diversified vegetable farms is the result of two key factors operating at the farmscape level; a locally suitable community of floral hosts that bridge WTF populations within and among years, and the development of spinetoram-resistant populations. The goal of this project is to better understand landscape factors driving WFT population dynamics so as to predict the risk of damage on individual farms, and to evaluate preventive cultural management strategies. Specific objectives are to 1) identify factors contributing to year-to-year persistance of WFT on farms across a diversity of agroecosystems, 2) design and test spatial structuring of crops at the farmscale level to avoid thrips infestations, 3) compare the timing and method of killing cover crops, 3) determine the prevelance of spinetoram resistance on a regional scale, and 4) deliver research findings to stakeholders and implement more sustainable management programs. The goals will be accomplished by assessing WFT population dynamics at the farmscape level across ecoregions of NC and VA, by conducting field studies on weed management and crop rotation to preventively suppress thrips populations, and conduct bioassays to test thrips for spinetoram resistance across NC and VA.

Accurate monitoring for changes in pest susceptibility to insecticidal toxins expressed in genetically engineered agronomic crops is currently an ineffective process limited by both scale and scope of deployment. Although long-term scientific and social change will be necessary to minimize pest resistance evolution, understanding near-term shifts in susceptibility through novel monitoring will also be essential to enable more effective resistance management strategies. To address this limitation on resistance monitoring, we propose to develop and deploy real-time pheromone-based sensor platforms to indicate patterns of lepidopteran pest activity in landscapes. We will use cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa zea Boddie) as a case study to develop and refine automated monitoring tools designed to detect shifts in pest susceptibility.

This proposal establishes a research and training partnership between scientists in the U.S. and East Africa to study the evolution of plant DNA viruses, which have emerged as leading pathogens and now threaten crops worldwide. Africa??????????????????s future depends on increasing food production to feed its growing population. There has been dramatic growth in the investments by governments, nongovernmental organizations, international donors and the private sector to develop the scientific expertise and infrastructure necessary to find solutions to the problems that limit African agriculture. The Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub in Kenya and the Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute (MARI) in Tanzania were created to solve problems facing African farmers and limiting food security. A U.S.-East Africa partnership represents an excellent international opportunity for research synergy and training of U.S. students and early career scientists. Key features include the establishment of a research exchange program between laboratories in the U.S. and East Africa. Postdoctoral researchers, graduate students and undergraduates will be mentored by a strong international research team, which includes experts on viral population genetics, insect vector transmission and population dynamics, virus/vector/plant interactions, and STEM education. The multidisciplinary nature of the research will provide trainees experience in laboratory and field-based research as well as bioinformatics. This will prepare them to become globally engaged, independent scientists with a solid foundation in a range of research methodologies and environments and first-hand experience in international and multidisciplinary collaborations.

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.

Brown marmorated stink bug is a pest of nation significance in the United States. This project brings together pest control scientists, extension educators, and economists from 17 institutions across the US to develop management strategies to mitigate damage in US specialty crops.

To be added later - Anders Huseth (4/13/17)

This is an Applied Research (single function) project with the goal of providing a set of pest management tools that enable growers to minimize insecticide use for thrips management on seedling cotton in the Southeastern USA. The objectives are: 1) Define landscape-level cropping patterns that select for increased resistance to neonicotinoid insecticides in cotton; 2) Develop thrips/damage prediction tools to inform decisions regarding the need for and timing of thrips management measures in cotton; 3) Deploy a web-based decision support platform for thrips management that integrates resistance risk and thrips damage predictions into the cotton IPM toolbox. We will characterize neonicotinoid resistance levels in tobacco thrips across a range of cotton production landscapes varying in crop composition and configuration to identify cropping patterns associated with insecticide resistance development and a high potential for control failures. We will also use regression analysis to quantify abiotic factors known to describe the interaction between tobacco thrips infestations and seedling growth that defines the potential for thrips damage to cotton. Project outcomes will improve the cotton pest management tool box by adding prediction tools for landscape-scale insecticide resistance risk and treatment windows targeting thrips in cotton that can be used to make informed management decisions and reduce insecticide use. Outcomes will impact thrips management in other crops, and provide a model for other crop production systems with emerging resistance problems resulting from intensive deployment of control measures use at large spatial scales (e.g., Bt maize, Bt cotton; at-plant neonicotinoids in potato and soybean).

Tospoviruses threaten production of diverse crops with a global economic impact exceeding $1 billion / year. Tomato spotted wilt virus and 13 other known tospovirus species infect diverse hosts and are transmitted in a persistent, propagative manner by 10 thrips species that are also direct pests and genetically diverse. Vector management rarely controls disease and plant resistance to tospoviruses has not been durable. Viral diversity arises continuously due to intra- and interspecific genome mutations and reassortment making extant and emerging tospoviruses an ongoing threat to sustainable plant production. Investment in new knowledgebased technologies and integrated strategies to mitigate tospoviruses is critically needed. The goals of this project is to mine and deploy genome resources of tospoviruses, vectors, and plants to create tools and strategies to complement existing methods for mitigating crop losses due to tospoviruses; ssemble interdisciplinary expertise in research, extension and teaching to create, test, and extend these new, integrated tools to multiple cropping systems across geographic regions, as well as mentoring future scientists at undergraduate and graduate levels. The specific objectives are: 1) Improve and extend existing predictive epidemiological disease and vector models to multiple crops and geographic regions. 2) Develop, mine and deploy tospovirus, thrips and plant host genetic resources to create new technologies for tospovirus and thrips management. 3) Deliver thrips and tospovirus management tools to colleagues and stakeholders through innovative and traditional media. 4) Initiate a nascent, national network for mentoring undergraduate and graduate students to solve multidisciplinary problems. Expected outcomes include: Outcomes will include: i) improved predictive epidemiological models and tospovirus management decision aids; ii) deployment of specific sequences from thrips, tospoviruses and plants to target multiple thrips species and tospoviruses over multiple cropping systems to provide control and mitigate resistance breaking, e.g. transgenic plants and traditionally bred resistance; iv) a national, web-based tospovirus risk assessment and management toolbox to aid growers and extension agents in assessing the need for and designing site-specific tospovirus management plans; v) undergraduate and graduate training programs to prepare a new generation of cross disciplinary scientists to address insect transmitted plant virus issues.

Tobacco thrips are the primary early season insect pest affecting seedling cotton throughout the cotton production regions of the eastern US. Because some tobacco thrips populations have developed resistance to the seed treatments that have been used to control them, southern cotton producers are no longer relying on this single management tactic for thrips and are turning to preventive in-furrow and foliar inseccticide applications. This project builds on previous work to develop a model to predict the onset and magnitude of dispersing tobacco thrips populations in relation to cotton seedling growth and predict the risk of economic damage to cotton seedlings. This model will be made available to cotton growers, extension agents and crop consultants via the internet to inform decisions regarding the if, when, and where to apply foliar or in-furrow insecticide applications in addition to a seed treatment.

Insecticide resistance is becoming an increasingly important problem among major insect pest species affecting agricultural crops worldwide eroding their effectiveness in protecting against losses in crop yield and quality. The problem is compounded because resistance to one insecticide mode of action may confer cross-resistance to insecticides having the same or different modes of action. This poses significant problems for agricultural chemical companies seeking to develop new crop protection products with novel or currently used modes of action against targeted pests. This project develop baseline data for Syngenta product XX (Proposed ISM555) for immature and adult tobacco thrips (Frankliniella fusca) collected from neonicitinoid-susceptible and resistant populations.