Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Crop Diseases, Pests and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #375569
Research Project: Identification of Novel Management Strategies for Key Pests and Pathogens of Grapevine with Emphasis on the Xylella Fastidiosa Pathosystem

Location: Crop Diseases, Pests and Genetics Research

Title: AC-DC electropenetrography: fundamentals, controversies, and perspectives for pest management

Author
item Backus, Elaine
item GUEDES, RAUL - Universidade Federal De Vicosa
item REIF, KATHRYN - Kansas State University

Submitted to: Pest Management Science
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/14/2020
Publication Date: 6/9/2021
Citation: Backus, E.A., Guedes, R.N., Reif, K.E. 2021. AC-DC electropenetrography: fundamentals, controversies, and perspectives for pest management. Pest Management Science. 77(3):1132-1149. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.6087.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.6087

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Studying the intimate association of arthropods with their substrate is both important and challenging. It is important because substrate is a key determinant for organism fitness; challenging because the intricacies of this association are dynamic, and difficult to record and resolve. The advent of electropenetrography (EPG) and subsequent developments allowed researchers to overcome this challenge. Nonetheless, EPG research has been historically restricted to piercing-sucking hemipteran plant pests. Recently, its potential use has been greatly broadened with the newest EPG instrument, the AC-DC electropenetrograph. Thus, blood-feeding arthropods and chewing feeders, as well as non-feeding behaviors like oviposition by both pests and parasitoids, are novel new targets with critical consequences for IPM. EPG can explain mechanisms of crop damage, plant or animal pathogen transmission, and the effects of insecticides, antifeedants, repellants, or transgenic plants and animals, on specific behaviors of damage or transmission. The present review covers the principles and development of EPG technology, emphasizing controversies and challenges remaining with suggested research to overcome them. In addition, it summarizes 60+ years of basic and applied EPG research, and previews future directions for pest management. The goal is to stimulate new applications for this unique enabling technology.