Seasonal activity of plum curculio (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in small Southeastern peach orchards.

Plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is a key pest in Southeastern peach production by infesting fruit and decreasing yield. In Northeastern apples, plum curculio was found to have an "edge effect," where more plum curculio are present next to a forested border than in the center of an orchard, and their propensity to fly or walk depended on air temperature. We conducted field studies over 3 seasons (2019-2021) to investigate whether plum curculio in small Southeastern peach plots exhibits the edge effect and to determine its primary mode of movement (flying or walking).

Hover fly (Diptera: Syrphidae) diversity and seasonality in North Georgia apple and peach orchards.

Crop pollination and natural biological control provided by beneficial insects have an economic worth of hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Apple and peach production in North Georgia are economically important industries that benefit from these ecological services. Hover flies are dual ecosystem service providers that have been relatively understudied in orchard ecosystems.

Exploring risk factors for insect borer attack in Georgia's (USA) urban landscapes.

Urban trees are at risk of stress due to heat island effects and the increased proportion of impervious areas surrounding them. Among pests of trees, insect borers such as bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and flatheaded borers (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) are some of the most devastating, frequently colonizing stressed trees. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of biotic and abiotic risk factors on borer attacks on trees in urban areas.

Effects of permethrin on ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in ornamental nurseries.

Exotic ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), such as Xylosandrus crassiusculus (Motschulsky), Xylosandrus germanus (Blandford), and Xylosandrus compactus (Eichoff) are serious pests in southeastern ornamental nurseries. Preventative pyrethroid trunk sprays effectively reduce boring damage. However, it is unclear how pyrethroids such as permethrin prevent attack.

Predation and parasitism of naturally occurring and sentinel stink bug egg masses of Halyomorpha halys (Stål) and Nezara viridula (L.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in various southeastern habitats.

Stink bugs, including Halyomorpha halys (Stål) and Nezara viridula (L.), are agricultural pests that feed on fruit in a variety of crops. Monitoring predation and parasitism of stink bug egg masses furthers our understanding of potential biological control tactics.

First Documented Wild Population of the "Hunter Fly", Stein (Diptera: Muscidae) in North America.

is a member of the -group of ( Hennig 1964) and is a capable generalist predator in its larval and adult stages. is common in greenhouses worldwide, however, there are few documented cases of its presence in the wild. Here, we estimated presence in the southeastern USA peach orchards using pan traps.

Evaluating invasion risk and population dynamics of the brown marmorated stink bug across the contiguous United States.

Background: Invasive species threaten the productivity and stability of natural and managed ecosystems. Predicting the spread of invaders, which can aid in early mitigation efforts, is a major challenge, especially in the face of climate change. While ecological niche models are effective tools to assess habitat suitability for invaders, such models have rarely been created for invasive pest species with rapidly expanding ranges.

Ambrosia Beetle Occurrence and Phenology of Xylosandrus spp. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in Ornamental Nurseries, Tree Fruit, and Pecan Orchards in Georgia.

Ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae, Platypodinae) in the genus Xylosandrus are problematic in ornamental nurseries and are emerging as serious pests in orchard crops. An updated survey of ambrosia beetles focusing on these damaging species, and their corresponding phenology was conducted in Georgia to aid in refining management practices for these beetles. Ambrosia beetles were monitored across nine sites in 2019 and seven sites 2020 at ornamental nurseries, tree fruit, and pecan orchards in Georgia.

Effects of Trap, and Ethanol Lure Type and Age on Attraction of Ambrosia Beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

Ambrosia beetles (Xylosandrus spp.) are pests of woody ornamental nurseries and tree nut orchards. Growers use ethanol-infused bolts and ethanol-mediated bottle traps for monitoring ambrosia beetles in the spring.

Refining Pheromone Lures for the Invasive Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) Through Collaborative Trials in the United States and Europe.

Brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, is native to Asia and has invaded North America and Europe inflicting serious agricultural damage to specialty and row crops. Tools to monitor the spread of H. halys include traps baited with the two-component aggregation pheromone (PHER), (3S,6S,7R,10S)-10,11-epoxy-1-bisabolen-3-ol and (3R,6S,7R,10S)-10,11-epoxy-1-bisabolen-3-ol, and pheromone synergist, methyl (2E,4E,6Z)-decatrienoate (MDT).

Identifying Molecular-Based Trophic Interactions as a Resource for Advanced Integrated Pest Management.

Biodiversity is an essential attribute of sustainable agroecosystems. Diverse arthropod communities deliver multiple ecosystem services, such as biological control, which are the core of integrated pest management programs. The molecular analysis of arthropod diets has emerged as a new tool to monitor and help predict the outcomes of management on the functioning of arthropod communities.

Managing orchard groundcover to reduce pollinator foraging post-bloom.

Background: Agricultural insecticides are believed to play a role in global pollinator decline. In mass-flowering orchard crops, recommendations to reduce exposure of pollinators to insecticides include spraying at periods when bees aren't foraging, such as dusk and dawn and outside of crop flowering times. However, the presence of flowering weeds within orchards mean pollinators may still be found foraging throughout the growing season, increasing the likelihood that exposure will still occur.

Wild insect diversity increases inter-annual stability in global crop pollinator communities.

While an increasing number of studies indicate that the range, diversity and abundance of many wild pollinators has declined, the global area of pollinator-dependent crops has significantly increased over the last few decades. Crop pollination studies to date have mainly focused on either identifying different guilds pollinating various crops, or on factors driving spatial changes and turnover observed in these communities. The mechanisms driving temporal stability for ecosystem functioning and services, however, remain poorly understood.

The effectiveness of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control, pollination services and crop yield: a quantitative synthesis.

Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of agriculture through provisioning of ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield is lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control (18 studies) and pollination services (17 studies) in adjacent crops in North America, Europe and New Zealand.

First record of (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) parasitizing (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in the United States.

Background: A parasitoid wasp, (Wollaston), was recorded parasitizing eggs of the invasive stink bug (Stål) in the United States. This is the first record of this species parasitizing fresh and frozen eggs of in the United States.

New Information: First record of eggs in the United States.

Season-Long Monitoring of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) Throughout the United States Using Commercially Available Traps and Lures.

Reliable monitoring of the invasive Halyomorpha halys abundance, phenology and geographic distribution is critical for its management. Halyomorpha halys adult and nymphal captures on clear sticky traps and in black pyramid traps were compared in 18 states across the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Pacific Northwest and Western regions of the United States. Traps were baited with commercial lures containing the H.

New record of (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) parasitising (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in the United States of America.

Background: A parasitoid wasp, Johnson, was recorded parasitising eggs of the invasive stink bug (Stål), in the United States. This is the first record of this species parasitising eggs of .

New Information: First record of parasitising eggs in the United States and first record of in Alabama.

Successful management of Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in commercial apple orchards with an attract-and-kill strategy.

Background: Introduction of Halyomorpha halys (Stål) in the USA has disrupted many established integrated pest management programs for specialty crops, especially apple. While current management heavily relies on insecticides, one potential alternative tactic is attract-and-kill (AK), whereby large numbers of H. halys are attracted to and retained in a circumscribed area using attractive semiochemicals and removed from the foraging population with an insecticide.

Utilizing immunomarking techniques to track Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) movement and distribution within a peach orchard.

In this study we focus on the invasive brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), which has a strong dispersal capacity and has had a significant impact on several cropping systems, including peach (Prunus persica (L.)). Management of H.

IPM-CPR for peaches: incorporating behaviorally-based methods to manage Halyomorpha halys and key pests in peach.

Background: The invasive brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), has emerged as a key pest in mid-Atlantic peach production. Current management of H. halys has disrupted IPM programs by relying exclusively on frequent, repeated, season-long insecticide applications.