Insecticide application prevents honey bees from realizing benefits of native forage in an agricultural landscape.

Health and population status of bees is negatively affected by anthropogenic stressors, many of which co-occur in agricultural settings. While pollinator habitat (often involving plantings of native forbs) holds promise to benefit both managed and wild bees, important issues remain unresolved. These include whether conventional, broad-spectrum insecticide use negates these benefits and how non-native, managed honey bees affect wild bees in these areas.

Persistent monitoring of insect-pests on sticky traps through hierarchical transfer learning and slicing-aided hyper inference.

Introduction: Effective monitoring of insect-pests is vital for safeguarding agricultural yields and ensuring food security. Recent advances in computer vision and machine learning have opened up significant possibilities of automated persistent monitoring of insect-pests through reliable detection and counting of insects in setups such as yellow sticky traps. However, this task is fraught with complexities, encompassing challenges such as, laborious dataset annotation, recognizing small insect-pests in low-resolution or distant images, and the intricate variations across insect-pests life stages and species classes.

Natural History of Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis Type 6, Late Infantile Disease.

Background: Mutations in the CLN6 gene cause late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, a neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disease of childhood onset. Clinically, individuals present with progressive motor and cognitive regression, ataxia, and early death. The aim of this study is to establish natural history data of individuals with classic, late-infantile-onset (age less than five years) CLN6 disease.

Effects of seed treatments and storage duration on Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and amaranth fresh leaf yield.

The green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is a key insect pest of amaranth in East Africa. Pest management has been restricted to indiscriminate application of insecticides to foliage. Applying systemic insecticides to seeds has been shown to manage aphid infestations in other crop systems.

Association of voltage-gated sodium channel mutations with field-evolved pyrethroid resistant phenotypes in soybean aphid and genetic markers for their detection.

The frequent use of insecticides to manage soybean aphids, Aphis glycines (Hemiptera: Aphididae), in the United States has contributed to field-evolved resistance. Pyrethroid-resistant aphids have nonsynonymous mutations in the voltage-gated sodium channel (vgsc). We identified a leucine to phenylalanine mutation at position 1014 (L1014F) and a methionine to isoleucine mutation (M918I) of the A.

Exploring the Dynamics of Virulent and Avirulent Aphids: A Case for a 'Within Plant' Refuge.

The soybean aphid, Aphis glycines (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is an invasive pest that can cause severe yield loss to soybeans in the North Central United States. A tactic to counter this pest is the use of aphid-resistant soybean varieties. However, the frequency of virulent biotypes that can survive on resistant varieties is expected to increase as more farmers use these varieties.

Evidence of enhanced reproductive performance and lack-of-fitness costs among soybean aphids, Aphis glycines, with varying levels of pyrethroid resistance.

Background: Foliar application of insecticides is the main strategy to manage soybean aphid, Aphis glycines (Hemiptera: Aphididae), in the northcentral United States. Subpopulations of A. glycines have multiple nonsynonymous mutations in the voltage-gated sodium channel (vgsc) genes that are associated with pyrethroid resistance.

Can Native Plants Mitigate Climate-related Forage Dearth for Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)?

Extreme weather events, like high temperatures and droughts, are predicted to become common with climate change, and may negatively impact plant growth. How honey bees (Apis mellifera L. [Hymenoptera: Apidae]) will respond to this challenge is unclear, especially when collecting pollen, their primary source of protein, lipids, and micro-nutrients.

PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS OF ANAPLASMA INFECTIONS IN EASTERN MOOSE (ALCES ALCES AMERICANA) AND WINTER TICKS (DERMACENTOR ALBIPICTUS) IN MAINE, USA.

Eastern moose (Alces alces americana) are heavily parasitized by winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus), the dominant cause of increased calf mortality in the northeastern US. Although much work has focused on the direct negative effects of winter tick on moose, it remains unknown whether diseases transmitted by ticks may also affect moose health or pose a risk to other species. We explored the role that moose and winter ticks play in transmission of the tick-borne bacterial pathogens, Anaplasma spp.

Can Solar Energy Fuel Pollinator Conservation?

As the expansion of solar power spreads through much of the United States, members of the solar industry are working to change how solar energy facilities are designed and presented to the public. This includes the addition of habitat to conserve pollinators. We highlight and discuss ongoing efforts to couple solar energy production with pollinator conservation, noting recent legal definitions of these practices.

North American Prairie Is a Source of Pollen for Managed Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae).

Prairie was a dominant habitat within large portions of North America before European settlement. Conversion of prairies to farmland resulted in the loss of a large proportion of native floral resources, contributing to the decline of native pollinator populations. Efforts to reconstruct prairie could provide honey bees (Apis mellifera) a source of much-needed forage, especially in regions dominated by crop production.

Aphid resistance is the future for soybean production, and has been since 2004: efforts towards a wider use of host plant resistance in soybean.

The soybean aphid (Aphis glycines) is an important pest of soybeans in the Midwestern US. The first aphid resistance genes were identified in the early 21st century and resistant varieties have been commercially available for 10 years, but have been very underutilized. Major seed companies have avoided commercializing aphid resistant soybean varieties for conventional farmers (i.

Do Viruses From Managed Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Endanger Wild Bees in Native Prairies?

Populations of wild and managed pollinators are declining in North America, and causes include increases in disease pressure and decreases in flowering resources. Tallgrass prairies can provide floral resources for managed honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Apis mellifera Linnaeus) and wild bees. Honey bees kept near prairies may compete with wild bees for floral resources, and potentially transfer viral pathogens to wild bees.

Developing a decision-making framework for insect pest management: a case study using Aphis glycines (Hemiptera: Aphididae).

Background: The profitability of farming varies based on factors such as a crop's market value, input costs and occurrence of resistant pests, all capable of altering the value of pest management tactics in an integrated pest management program. We provide a framework for calculating expected yield and expected net revenue of pest management scenarios, using the soybean aphid (Aphis glycines) as a case study. Foliar insecticide and host-plant resistance are effective management tactics for preventing yield loss from soybean aphid outbreaks; however, pyrethroid-resistant aphid populations pose a management challenge for farmers.

Performance of Seed Treatments Applied on Bt and Non-Bt Maize Against Fall Armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), is the main pest of maize in Brazil, attacking plants from emergence to reproductive stages.

Pan Traps for Tracking Honey Bee Activity-Density: A Case Study in Soybeans.

To study how honey bees utilize forage resources and guide pollination management plans in crops, a multitude of methods have been developed, but most are time consuming, costly, and require specialized skills. Colored pan traps for monitoring activity-density are a simple, efficient, and cost-effective alternative; however, their usefulness for studying honey bees is not well described. We examined if trap color, location within a field, and the presence of managed colonies affected estimates of honey bee activity-density within soybean fields.

Arthropod Invasions Versus Soybean Production in Brazil: A Review.

Soybean production in Brazil has been markedly affected by invasions of non-native arthropod species that feed on the crop, severely impacting biodiversity, food security, health, and economic development. Data on soybean production losses and increase in insecticide usage over the last two decades have not been explored in association with past invasion events, and the dynamics underlying the recent blitz of invasive species into Brazil remain largely unclear. We provide a review of arthropod invasions in the Brazilian soybean agroecosystem since 1990, indicating that the introductions of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) MEAM1 (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), Tetranychus urticae (Koch) (Acari: Tetranychidae), and Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) are likely correlated with periods of increase in insecticide usage for soybean production.

Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidea) Pollen Forage in a Highly Cultivated Agroecosystem: Limited Diet Diversity and Its Relationship to Virus Resistance.

Intensified agriculture reduces natural and seminatural habitats and plant diversity, reducing forage available to honey bees (Apis mellifera L. [Hymenoptera: Apidea]). In agricultural landscapes of Iowa, United States, we studied the impact of extrinsic agricultural intensification on the availability of pollen for honey bees by placing colonies next to soybean fields surrounded by either a low or high level of cultivation.

Diversified Farming in a Monoculture Landscape: Effects on Honey Bee Health and Wild Bee Communities.

In the last century, a global transformation of Earth's surface has occurred due to human activity with extensive agriculture replacing natural ecosystems. Concomitant declines in wild and managed bees are occurring, largely due to a lack of floral resources and inadequate nutrition, caused by conversion to monoculture-based farming. Diversified fruit and vegetable farms may provide an enhanced variety of resources through crops and weedy plants, which have potential to sustain human and bee nutrition.

Resistance of Amaranthus Spp. to the Green Peach Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae).

The green peach aphid [Myzus persicae (Sulzer)] is an important pest of amaranth grown for leaf consumption (i.e., leafy amaranth) in the tropics.

Balancing Disturbance and Conservation in Agroecosystems to Improve Biological Control.

Disturbances associated with agricultural intensification reduce our ability to achieve sustainable crop production. These disturbances stem from crop-management tactics and can leave crop fields more vulnerable to insect outbreaks, in part because natural-enemy communities often tend to be more susceptible to disturbance than herbivorous pests. Recent research has explored practices that conserve natural-enemy communities and reduce pest outbreaks, revealing that different components of agroecosystems can influence natural-enemy populations.

Native habitat mitigates feast-famine conditions faced by honey bees in an agricultural landscape.

Intensive agriculture can contribute to pollinator decline, exemplified by alarmingly high annual losses of honey bee colonies in regions dominated by annual crops (e.g., midwestern United States).

Evaluating Soybean Aphid-Resistant Varieties in Different Environments to Estimate Financial Outcomes.

Farmers face many choices when selecting seed for soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) production, including highly desired herbicide tolerance traits.

Soybean aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) response to lambda-cyhalothrin varies with its virulence status to aphid-resistant soybean.

Background: Soybean aphid, Aphis glycines, is an invasive insect in North America, considered one of the most important pests of soybean. Their management relies heavily on foliar insecticides, but there is growing effort to expand these tools to include aphid-resistant varieties. We explored if the LC and LC of lambda-cyhalothrin varied between virulent (resistant to Aphis glycines (Rag) soybeans) and avirulent (susceptible to Rag-genes soybeans) populations of soybean aphid with a leaf-dip bioassay.