Location: European Biological Control Laboratory
2019 Annual Report
Objectives
To search for, identify, and evaluate the potential of natural enemies of pest insects, weeds, and plant diseases that affect Chinese and U.S. agriculture.
Objective 1: Explore for arthropod natural enemies of invasive arthropod pests and weedy plants identified as high priority targets by the ARS Office of National Programs, performing collections, importations and exportations in compliance with local and international regulations. High priority targets include, but are not limited to, giant cane, cogon grass, cattle fever tick, Asian longhorned beetle, emerald ash borer, brown marmorated stink bug, bean plataspid, spotted wing drosophila, spotted lantern fly, and wheat stem sawfly. (non-hypothesis driven) [NP304, Component 2, Problem Statements 2A3 and 2B3]
Objective 2: Perform taxonomic and phylogenetic studies of targets and their natural enemies, as needed to support development of biological control agents. (non-hypothesis driven) [NP304, Component 1, Problem Statement 1B]
Objective 3: Conduct studies to identify the biological and physical parameters that affect the efficacy and safety of potential agents, including climatic conditions, host specificity, effective rearing conditions, and biogeography. [NP304, Component 2, Problem Statements 2A3 and 2B3]
Approach
Survey for, collect and identify natural enemies of agricultural and landscape pests. Make field collections, establish laboratory colonies when needed, and ship candidate agents to the U.S. for further evaluation. Conduct preliminary host
specificity tests on promising parasites, predators, and beneficial microorganism. Collect, colonize, and ship to the U.S., candidates found to be safe. Cooperate with USDA and State laboratories in future collections for shipment and evaluation for release. Collect natural enemies attacking pests at differing host densities and climatic zones. All natural enemies selected for shipment will be sent directly to State or Federal quarantine facilities in the U.S. for further evaluation. Both Chinese and American scientists share the same right of obtaining biological control agents collected from the two countries. Assist in obtaining the necessary regulatory agency permissions for exporting live material from China.
Progress Report
Exploration of natural enemies of phragmite scale. In 2019, Sino-ABCL started to determine the distribution and natural enemy complex of the Roseau cane scale in China, including Beijing, Hebei, Guangdong and Yunnan.
Survey of natural enemies of Asian citrus psyllid in China. The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri, is the most important pest of citrus worldwide because it serves as a vector of the citrus HLB pathogen. In 2019, Sino-ABCL continued to conduct the survey of natural enemies of Asian citrus psyllid in the citrus planting area in the Ganzhou city Jiangxi Province, China by using malaise traps during all citrus growing seasons. For all collections, Sino-ABCL will analyze the biodiversity of insect pests in citrus orchard by using DNA metabarcoding.
Mass rearing the predators as agents to control citrus psyllid. In 2019, Sino-ABCL established a mass-rearing method for two species of ladybird beetle, Menochilus sexmaculata and Coelophora biplagiata.
Research on biochemical and molecular mechanism of nutrition physiology for predators and pests. In 2019, Sino-ABCL continued to identify the biochemical and molecular mechanism of nutrition physiology for A. chinensis. We explored the genes in the salivary gland and midgut from A. chinensis by use of transcriptome analysis.
Sequencing of genome of A. chinensis. After almost two years genome sequencing and bio-informatics analysis, Sino-ABCL finally got a high-quality A. chinensis genome assembly, which provides insights into predatory and feeding biology.
Application of A. chinesis for controlling fall armyworm. By the end of 2018, FAW has formed a source base in Myanmar. It invaded the western part of Yunnan province in January 2019. This species seemingly displays a very wide host range, with over 80 plants recorded. The most frequently consumed plants are field corn and sweet corn. In Yunnan, it caused great damage to fresh-eating maize. Sino-ABCL released A. chinensis in maize field in Yunnan to control the FAW damage.
Accomplishments
