ANBP Student Poster
Competition Awardees

Our student winners have covered topics in basic and applied research and their posters have all demonstrated high quality work that is either already making an impact in the industry, or may hold a future solution to a difficult problem. Meet some of our past winners and check out what they are doing today.

Andrea Joyce

Andrea Joyce was a doctoral student at Texas A&M University in 2006 when she won an Honorable Mention for her poster, "On different wave lengths: courtship acoustics of the Cotesia flavipes complex". Her primary interest is the biological control of invasive insect pests using parasitoids or predators to reduce pest populations as an alternative to insecticide use. Her research focused on ecological and behavioral interactions between insect parasitoids and their hosts, in order to find the most effective and host specific natural enemies, and reduce non-target effects. Understanding population structure of beneficial insects and their host insect can aid in determining which natural enemy population is best adapted to a host. She used molecular markers to trace the origin of introduced species, and detected cryptic species or strains. She also worked on how parasitoid courtship vibration signals might be manipulated in rearing and field environments in order to improve augmentative and classical biocontrol.

Dr. Joyce is currently an Assistant Research Scientist at the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, University of California, Merced.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Joyce, A. L., Aluja, M., Sivinski, J., Vinson, S. B., Ramirez-Romero, R., Bernal, J. S. & Guillen, L. 2010. Effect of continuous rearing on courtship acoustics of five braconid parasitoids, candidates for augmentative biological control of Anastrepha species. Biocontrol, Online April 9 2010, 10.1007/s10526-010-9278-x.

Joyce, A. L., Bernal, J. S., Vinson, S. B., Hunt, R. E, Schulthess, F, & Medina, R.F. 2010. Geographic variation in male courtship acoustics and genetic divergence of populations of the Cotesia flavipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) species complex. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, Accepted with Revisions, April 2010.

Joyce, A. L., Bernal, J. S., Vinson, S. B., & Lomeli-Flores, R. 2009. Influence of adult size in mate choice in the solitary and gregarious parasitoids, Cotesia marginiventris and Cotesia flavipes. Journal of Insect Behavior, 22: 12-28.

Joyce, A. L., Hunt, R. E, Vinson, S. B., & Bernal, J. S. 2008. Substrate influences mating success and transmission of courtship vibrations for the parasitoid Cotesia marginiventris. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 127, 39-47.

Rodrigo Krugner

Rodrigo Krugner received his poster award in 2006 at the California Conference on Biological Control V, in Riverside, California. His poster, "Host specificity of the Mymarid Anagrus epos Girault, A parasitoid of Cicadellidae Eggs", displayed part of his Ph.D. research aimed at helping biological control efforts against the glassy-winged sharpshooter, an important invasive pest of grapes and other crops.

Dr. Krugner received his degree from the University of California, Riverside in 2009 and is now a Research Entomologist with the USDA, ARS in Parlier, California where he has continued working on glassy-winged sharpshooter. His research includes the identification and phenology of weed hosts of Xylella fastidiosa that can serve as potential sources of inocula for infection of almond and grape plants, the identification and evaluation of stimuli that control glassy-winged sharpshooter reproductive biology and behavior; and the evaluation of potential pathogenicity of Xylella fastidiosa in olive plants.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Krugner, R., Daane, K.M., Lawson, A., and Yokota, G.Y. Biology of Macrocentrus iridescens (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a Parasitoid of the Obliquebanded Leafroller. Environmental Entomology 34(2): 336-343. 2005.

Krugner, R., Daane, K.M., Lawson, A.B., and Yokota, G.Y. Temperature-Dependent Development of Macrocentrus iridescens (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) as a Parasitoid of the Obliquebanded Leafroller (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae): Implications for Field Synchrony of Parasitoid and Host. Biological Control 42(2): 110-118. 2007.

Krugner, R., Johnson, M.W., Groves, R.L, and Morse, J.G. Host Specificity of Anagrus epos: A Potential Biological Control Agent of Homalodisca vitripennis. BioControl 53(3): 439-449. 2008.

Krugner, R., Johnson, M.W., Daane, K.M., and Morse, J.G. Olfactory Responses of the Egg Parasitoid Gonatocerus ashmeadi Girault (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) to Host Plants Infested by Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). Biological Control 47: 8-15. 2008.

Krugner, R., Johnson, M.W., Morgan, D.J.W., and Morse, J.G. Production of Anagrus epos Girault (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) on Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) eggs. Biological Control 51(1): 122-129. 2009.

Doo-Hyung Lee

Doo-Hyung Lee is currently a doctoral student in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University in Geneva, New York. His poster, "Use of natural enemies as a "push component" in a trap crop systems for whitefly management" received an award in 2010 at the IOBC (International Organization for Biological Control) Joint Nearctic/Neotropical meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. For this research, he examined whether adult Bemisia argentifolii show avoidance behaviors to their natural enemies and whether this can be used as a "push component" to induce more whiteflies to move to a trap crop. This was done by creating a high predation risk on a poinsettia cash crop while keeping a cucumber trap crop free of natural enemies. He found that adult B. argentifolii significantly avoided the most voracious predator, Delphastus catalinae, on the cash crop and this caused more whiteflies to disperse into the predator-free trap crop. The study further suggests that the use of natural enemies can influence the trap cropping efficacy.

His long-term research goal is to enhance IPM programs by better understanding the ecological interactions among host plants, target pests, and their natural enemies and by making use of this knowledge in the development and testing of management tactics. Toward this end, he has pursued both applied and theoretical questions in insect ecology and pest management. In his dissertation research he has focused on tri-trophic interactions and how these might be exploited in pest management. More specifically, he has worked to develop a management strategy for whiteflies (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) based on the integrated use of biological control and habitat manipulation in greenhouse floriculture. In the study, he has explored how natural enemies change the activity levels and habitat uses of target pests and how these changes influence the overall efficacy of the bio-based management tactics. These trait-mediated interactions between the pests and natural enemies have received scant attention in agro-ecosystems although they have been shown to have significant effects on population abundance in aquatic and terrestrial systems. His research will continue to explore trait-mediated interactions between pests and natural enemies with a goal to better design and implement IPM programs.

Chandra Moffat

Chandra Moffat was the ANBP poster award winner in 2009 at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of Canada and the Entomological Society of Manitoba. Her poster was titled "Impacts of plant nutrition on host-parasitoid population dynamics" and she conducted this work as part of her final undergraduate co-op work term under the supervision of Dr. David Gillespie with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Agassiz, British Columbia.

Poster Abstract: Nitrogen influences plant growth and herbivore performance in a number of systems, yet its effects on parasitoid performance and on tri-trophic interactions are less well studied. The bottom-up effects of nutrient availability were investigated utilizing the study system of the bell pepper, Capsicum annuum L., British Columbia's second most economically important greenhouse vegetable crop. The impacts on host-parasitoid population dynamics were studied on a significant pest of bell peppers, the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and a common aphid biocontrol agent, the parasitoid wasp Aphidius matricariae (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae). Three rates of nitrogen in fertilizer were tested in a stationary hydroponics system: a control rate (200 ppm N), a ten percent rate (20 ppm N) and a two hundred percent rate (400 ppm N). Female aphids were introduced onto the differentially fertilized pepper plants and left to reproduce via parthenogenesis, then removed. All juvenile aphids produced were counted and a single female parasitoid was introduced on to the closed plant-aphid system to parasitize the first generation of aphids reared on plants with varying available nitrogen. Pepper plants showed increasing amounts of leaf chlorophyll, an indicator of leaf nitrogen content, and aphids had higher population growth rates as nitrogen increased. Neither the number of aphids parasitized nor the number of parasitoids that emerged differed among treatments. Parasitoid size (a proxy for fitness) decreased in the nitrogen limited treatment, but did not differ between the control and enhanced nitrogen treatments. As aphid reproduction increased with nitrogen, but parasitoid numbers and size did not, this indicates that increasing nitrogen fertilization in a greenhouse pepper system would require the release of additional parasitoids to control the increased aphids produced. The findings of this research indicate that habitat fertility, specifically plant nitrogen, impacts tri-trophic interactions and parasitoid fitness and have important implications for greenhouse biological control and parasitoid rearing.

Since then, Chandra has received a Bachelor of Science with Distinction in Biology from the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC. and recently completed the first year of her Masters Biology degree at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus. She is now researching the field host specificity and environmental factors associated with populations of a gall wasp proposed for biocontrol of European hawkweeds invasive in North America. She conducted her field work in the native range of these species, based at CABI Europe-Switzerland, and sampled populations of hawkweeds and gall wasps in Switzerland, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. Chandra was recently elected as a Student Representative to the Canadian Forum for Biological Control, and will serve as the Graduate Student Director for the Entomological Society of British Columbia in the upcoming year.

Wendy Romero

Wendy Romero was our First Place poster awardee at the 2010 IOBC (International Organization for Biological Control) Joint Nearctic/Neotropical meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Wendy is working on her MS degree at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and her poster, "Reduced risk control methods for insect pests on cuttings: a biological control compatible approach", drew attention for it' practical solutions to integrating natural enemies and reduced risk chemicals.

Poster Abstract. In the Ontario floricultural greenhouse industry, attention has recently been focused on controlling insect pests that may be coming in on imported cuttings. Using reduced risk control methods would permit growers to establish insect pest-free and insecticide residue-free cuttings from the outset, thus ensuring that ongoing greenhouse biological control programs are not affected negatively. In this study, hot water and reduced risk insecticides (insecticidal soap and horticultural oil) immersion treatments have been tested for control of Western flower thrips [Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande)' and Silverleaf whitefly [Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) Biotype B] in chrysanthemum and poinsettia cuttings, respectively.

Ms. Romero is currently working on the second year of her masters program at University of Guelph. Her working thesis is "Development of control strategies for insect pests associated with propagative material used in floricultural greenhouses". She is developing reduced risk insect control methods such as dips in hot water, insecticidal soap and horticultural oil as well entomopathogenic agents Beauveria bassiana and Steinernema feltiae, so that growers are able to establish pest-free and insecticide residue-free propagative material and biological controls in the greenhouse are not negatively affected. She is an active member of the IOBC, Entomological Society of America and Ontario. She plans on finishing her masters program by April 2011 and either pursuing doctoral studies or finding a job in the field of biological control.

Andrew Sutherland

Andrew Sutherland won a poster competition award for his research on the interactions between a coccinellid and powdery mildew disease. His poster, "Quantification of Powdery Mildew Consumption by a Native Coccinellid: Implications for Biological Control?", was presented at the California Conference on Biological Control V, in Riverside, California in 2006.

Dr. Sutherland is now a post doctoral researcher in the Plant Pathology Department at UC Davis. He is continuing to tackle powdery mildew disease and is working on the development of a biological sensor for detection of powdery mildew infections via monitoring of the proboscis extension reflex in honeybees. This research is "using Ivan Pavlov's method of classical conditioning…and is teaching bees to associate infected plants with a sugar reward. After they are conditioned, the bees are placed inside a box and taken to the field, where if they encounter the same smell, they extend tongues in expectation of a sugar reward. The information is relayed back as a warning sign". Read more about this fascinating work at this link, and also watch this video his team recently produced (with the help of CBS Interactive / smartplanet.com) on the department website.

Other on-going projects include the evaluation of reflective particle film applications as aphid repellents / dissuadants in order to bring about a reduction in incidence of aphid-transmitted nonpersistent viruses in commercial mixed melons, and a bioindication and decision support for powdery mildew management in vineyards using a native mycophagous beetle.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Sutherland, A. M., Gubler, W.D., Parrella, M.P., 2010. Effects of fungicides on a mycophagous coccinellid may represent integration failure in disease management. Biological Control 54: 292-299.

Sutherland, A.M, Gubler, W.D., Wingo, R.M., McCabe, K.J., 2010. Classical conditioning of domestic honeybees to olfactory stimuli associated with grapevine powdery mildew infections. Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Grapevine Downy and Powdery Mildew. 4-9 July, 2010, Bordeaux, France, 90-92.

Sutherland, A.M., Parrella, M.P., 2009. Mycophagy in Coccinellidae: Review and synthesis. Biological Control 51: 284-293.

Sutherland, A.M., Costamagna, T.P., Melicharek, A., Nagata, M., Parrella, M.P., 2009. A comparison of precision and economic efficiency for three methods of thrips population density assessment. Meeting of the International Organization for Biological Control, Working Group: Integrated Control in Protected Crops, Mediterranean Climate. 6-11 September 2009, Chania, Crete, Greece. IOBC/wprs Bulletin, 161-166.

Sutherland, A., Parrella, M.P., 2009. Biology and co-occurrence of Psyllobora vigintimaculata taedata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and powdery mildews in an urban landscape of California. The Annals of the Entomological Society of America 102(3): 484-491.