Testing the heat treatment dose for Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) prepupae using the Humble water bath.

The lethal heat treatment dose (time and temperature) for the prepupal life stage of Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), emerald ash borer (EAB), was determined through an in vitro application using a carefully calibrated heat treatment apparatus. The lethal and sublethal effects of heat on A. planipennis prepupae were assessed through a ramped heat delivery application, simulating industrial kilns and conventional heat chamber operations, for treatments combining target temperatures of 54 °C, 55 °C, and 56 °C, and exposure durations of 0 min (i.

Assessment of the Systems Approach for the Phytosanitary Treatment of Wood Infested With Wood-Boring Insects.

Addressing the risk from pests present in wood and wood products destined for international trade is an essential step towards minimizing the movement, introduction and establishment of invasive species. One method of managing the pest risk associated with wood commodities is the use of a systems approach that incorporates multiple independent measures applied along a production pathway. However, quantifying the reduction of risk can be difficult because the approach requires raw material infested with the pest of interest at a sufficient density to be able to quantify changes in pest abundance.

How well do specialist feeders regulate nutrient intake? Evidence from a gregarious tree-feeding caterpillar.

Nutritional regulation is a powerful mechanism used by generalist feeders to obtain the balance of nutrients they require from nutritionally diverse, perhaps unbalanced, foods. We examined nutritional regulation in a species with a narrow individual diet breadth: the forest tent caterpillar, Malacosoma disstria. Fourth instar caterpillars were provided with artificial foods consisting of different ratios of protein to digestible carbohydrate in no-choice, choice and compensatory feeding experiments.