Plant versus pollinator protection: balancing pest management against floral contamination for insecticide use in Midwestern US cucurbits.

Controlling crop pests while conserving pollinators is challenging, particularly when prophylactically applying broad-spectrum, systemic insecticides such as neonicotinoids. Systemic insecticides are often used in conventional agriculture in commercial settings, but the conditions that optimally balance pest management and pollination are poorly understood. We investigated how insecticide application strategies control pests and expose pollinators to insecticides with an observational study of cucurbit crops in the Midwestern United States.

Genotypic variation in blueberry flower morphology and nectar reward content affects pollinator attraction in a diverse breeding population.

Background: Pollination is crucial to obtaining optimal blueberry yield and fruit quality. Despite substantial investments in seasonal beekeeping services, blueberry producers consistently report suboptimal pollinator visitation and fruit set in some cultivars. Flower morphology and floral rewards are among the key factors that have shown to contribute to pollinator attraction, however little is known about their relative importance for improving yield in the context of plant breeding.

Addressing emerging issues in entomology: 2023 student debates.

The Entomological Society of America (ESA) Student Debates is an annual student competition at the ESA Annual Meeting organized by Student Debates Subcommittee (SDS) members of the ESA Student Affairs Committee. In conjunction with the 2023 ESA Annual Meeting theme, 'Insects and influence: Advancing entomology's impact on people and policy', the theme of this year's student debate was 'Addressing emerging issues in entomology'. With the aid of ESA membership, the SDS selected the following debate topics: (1) Should disclosure of artificial intelligence large language models in scientific writing always be required? and (2) Is it more important to prioritize honey bee or native pollinator health for long-term food security within North America? Four student teams from across the nation, composed of 3-5 student members and a professional advisor, were assigned a topic and stance.

A quantitative survey of the blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) culturable nectar microbiome: variation between cultivars, locations, and farm management approaches.

Microbes in floral nectar can impact both their host plants and floral visitors, yet little is known about the nectar microbiome of most pollinator-dependent crops. In this study, we examined the abundance and composition of the fungi and bacteria inhabiting Vaccinium spp. nectar, as well as nectar volume and sugar concentrations.

Transforming entomology to adapt to global concerns: 2021 student debates.

The 2021 Student Debates of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) were held at the Annual Meeting in Denver, CO. The event was organized by the Student Debates Subcommittee (SDS) of the Student Affairs Committee (SAC). The theme of the 2021 Student Debates was "Transforming Entomology to Adapt to Global Concerns", with 3 topics.

Entomology beyond research and education: 2022 student debates.

The 2022 student debates of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) happened during the Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Societies of America, Canada, and British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, and addressed entomological aspects beyond research and education. The Student Debates Subcommittee of the ESA Student Affairs Committee and the participating student team members communicated for 8 months and prepared for the debates. The theme of the ESA meeting in 2022 was "Entomology as inspiration: Insects through art, science, and culture".

The benefits of being big and diverse: early colony survival in harvester ants.

In sessile organisms such as plants and benthic invertebrates, founding propagules typically suffer extremely high rates of mortality due to both extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Many social insect species share similarities with these groups, but factors influencing early colony survival are relatively unstudied. We used a field experiment to measure the importance of environmental quality relative to intrinsic colony properties in the harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, by monitoring the survival of 584 experimental colonies.

Supplemental forage ameliorates the negative impact of insecticides on bumblebees in a pollinator-dependent crop.

Insecticide use and insufficient forage are two of the leading stressors to pollinators in agroecosystems. While these factors have been well studied individually, the experimental designs do not reflect real-world conditions where insecticide exposure and lack of forage occur simultaneously and could interactively suppress pollinator health. Using outdoor enclosures, we tested the effects of insecticides (imidacloprid + lambda-cyhalothrin) and non-crop forage (clover) in a factorial design, measuring the survival, behaviour and performance of bumblebees (), as well as pollination of the focal crop, watermelon.

Blueberry Yields Increase With Bee Visitation Rates, but Bee Visitation Rates are not Consistently Predicted by Colony Stocking Densities.

Pollinator-dependent crops rely on the activity of managed and wild pollinators. While farm management and surrounding landscape can influence wild pollinator contributions, managed pollinator contributions may be primarily driven by their stocking densities, though this is not well studied across crops. We selected 20 southern highbush blueberry farms along two independent gradients of honey bee Apis mellifera L.

Technological Advances to Address Current Issues in Entomology: 2020 Student Debates.

The 2020 Student Debates of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) were live-streamed during the Virtual Annual Meeting to debate current, prominent entomological issues of interest to members. The Student Debates Subcommittee of the National ESA Student Affairs Committee coordinated the student efforts throughout the year and hosted the live event. This year, four unbiased introductory speakers provided background for each debate topic while four multi-university teams were each assigned a debate topic under the theme 'Technological Advances to Address Current Issues in Entomology'.

Synergisms in Science: Climate Change and Integrated Pest Management Through the Lens of Communication-2019 Student Debates.

Every year, the Student Debates Subcommittee (SDS) of the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) for the annual Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting organizes the Student Debates. This year, the SAC selected topics based on their synergistic effect or ability to ignite exponential positive change when addressed as a whole. For the 2019 Student Debates, the SAC SDS identified these topic areas for teams to debate and unbiased introduction speakers to address: 1) how to better communicate science to engage the public, particularly in the area of integrated pest management (IPM), 2) the influential impacts of climate change on agriculturally and medically relevant insect pests, and 3) sustainable agriculture techniques that promote the use of IPM to promote food security.

Comparing Prophylactic Versus Threshold-Based Insecticide Programs for Striped Cucumber Beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) Management in Watermelon.

In cucurbit crops such as watermelon, implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) is important due to the high reliance on bees for fruit set, along with mounting evidence of the risks of insecticide use associated with pollinator health. Yet, IPM adoption, on-farm pesticide use behaviors, their costs, and impacts on the primary insect pest (striped cucumber beetle, Acalymma vittatum F.) are poorly known in one of the key watermelon-growing regions, the Midwestern United States.