Location: Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit
Project Number: 8010-22000-033-060-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2021
End Date: Oct 15, 2022
Objective:
To continue research to discover and characterize natural enemies of the invasive roseau cane scale (RCS) and determine their natural distribution range in Asia, particularly Taiwan; and characterize their association with host plant genotype differences that may be related to scale insect colonization success. RCS is native to NE Asia and has become invasive along the U.S. Gulf Coast, contributing to coastal erosion and silting of navigation channels. ARS and APHIS are coordinating efforts with U.S. and Asian cooperators to find a biological control solution that can help manage the invasive scale.
Approach:
• Continue work with co-PIs to produce a map of the tentative range of Roseau cane and RCS from museum and archive research.
• Continue work with U.S. co-PIs to organize and conduct spring collections, assisting during their visits to Taiwan. Continue to collect at intervals through the season to provide specimens for genetic characterization and comparison of scale and parasitoid populations from native and introduced ranges for identification of a putative source population. Coordinate with U.S. cooperators by supplying host plant samples collected in Asia for phylogenetic comparison with samples collected earlier in the U.S.
• Rear out any additional parasitoids collected in Asia and send to U.S. collaborators.
• Commence population dynamics research in Taiwan in parallel with the same study to be conducted in Louisiana.
