scholarly journals Using Volunteer-Based Networks to Track Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) an Invasive Pest of Fruit Crops

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah J. Burrack ◽  
J. Powell Smith ◽  
Douglas G. Pfeiffer ◽  
Glen Koeher ◽  
Joseph Laforest
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle T. Fountain ◽  
Amir Badiee ◽  
Sebastian Hemer ◽  
Alvaro Delgado ◽  
Michael Mangan ◽  
...  

Abstract Spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, is a serious invasive pest impacting the production of multiple fruit crops, including soft and stone fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and cherries. Effective control is challenging and reliant on integrated pest management which includes the use of an ever decreasing number of approved insecticides. New means to reduce the impact of this pest that can be integrated into control strategies are urgently required. In many production regions, including the UK, soft fruit are typically grown inside tunnels clad with polyethylene based materials. These can be modified to filter specific wavebands of light. We investigated whether targeted spectral modifications to cladding materials that disrupt insect vision could reduce the incidence of D. suzukii. We present a novel approach that starts from a neuroscientific investigation of insect sensory systems and ends with infield testing of new cladding materials inspired by the biological data. We show D. suzukii are predominantly sensitive to wavelengths below 405 nm (ultraviolet) and above 565 nm (orange & red) and that targeted blocking of lower wavebands (up to 430 nm) using light restricting materials reduces pest populations up to 73% in field trials.


2016 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
pp. 1071-1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Cossentine ◽  
M Robertson ◽  
D Xu

Abstract Whole-culture extracts of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner strains were assayed against larval and adult Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura), an important invasive pest of many thin-skinned soft fruit crops in North America. Of the 22 serovars tested versus larval D. suzukii , strains of Bacillus thuringiensis var. thuringiensis , kurstaki , thompsoni , bolivia , and pakistani caused high (75 to 100%) first-instar mortalities. Pupal mortality, measured as a failure of adults to emerge, varied with serovar. The first D. suzukii instar was the most susceptible of the three larval instars to B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki HD-1. Larval D. suzukii are shielded from crop treatments, as they develop under the skin of infested fruit, and adults would be a more vulnerable target for an efficacious strain of B. thuringiensis . Only one of the 21 B. thuringiensis serovars, var. thuringiensis , prepared as oral suspensions in sucrose for adult D. suzukii ingestion resulted in significant, albeit low mortality within 7 d. It is not a candidate for use in pest management, as it produces β -exotoxin that is toxic to vertebrates.


2020 ◽  
Vol 152 (4) ◽  
pp. 432-449
Author(s):  
William Champagne-Cauchon ◽  
Jean-Frédéric Guay ◽  
Valérie Fournier ◽  
Conrad Cloutier

AbstractDrosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), the spotted-wing drosophila, is an invasive pest of fruit crops, which appeared in eastern Canada in 2010. It represents a major threat to lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton; Ericaceae) in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, Québec, Canada, at the northern limits of its distribution. The dynamics, overwintering capacity, population fluctuations, and damage to lowbush blueberry of D. suzukii are unknown in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. We aimed to 1) document D. suzukii abundance and phenology in lowbush blueberry in separate localities; 2) evaluate the potential of D. suzukii to overwinter and examine population dynamics over three seasons; and 3) study the spatial distribution of D. suzukii in lowbush blueberry fields with respect to forested borders. Drosophila suzukii is abundant in lowbush blueberry fields of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. In spring, D. suzukii were absent until late June, when few summer-morph females appeared. Drosophila suzukii densities started to increase regularly in August, with increasing male proportions, to culminate in fall at high levels with balanced sex ratios. Overwintering remains uncertain, D. suzukii being undetectable in spring despite intensive trapping. Appearance of diapausing winter morphs at high densities indicates that D. suzukii responds appropriately to local conditions preceding cold winter. Models of variation of D. suzukii densities and lowbush blueberry fruit infestation with distance from borders indicate that forest borders are favoured habitats over lowbush blueberry fields and the source of D. suzukii moving to some extent into lowbush blueberry fields.


Author(s):  
Samuel Cruz-Esteban ◽  
Edith Garay-Serrano ◽  
Christian Rodríguez ◽  
Julio C. Rojas

Abstract Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is recognized as an invasive pest in Europe and North America. In Mexico, it is one of the main insect pests of soft-skinned fruits such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, plums, and guava. Previous studies have shown that D. suzukii uses visual and chemical cues during host plant searching. This knowledge has been used to develop traps and attractants for monitoring D. suzukii. In this study, five trap designs were evaluated to monitor D. suzukii under field conditions. Traps were baited with SuzukiiTrap®, Z-Kinol, an attractant based on acetoin and methionol, or apple cider vinegar (ACV) enriched with 10% ethanol (EtOH) with the synergistic action of carbon dioxide (CO2). Our results suggested that the attractant was the determining factor in capturing D. suzukii, while trap design seemed to play a modest role. We found that traps baited with Z-Kinol captured the highest number of D. suzukii compared to that caught by traps baited with SuzukiiTrap®, or ACV + EtOH + CO2. The highest catch numbers occurred in blackberry, followed by strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry. Traps captured more females than males. The results obtained may be useful for monitoring D. suzukii populations in Mexico and elsewhere, particularly in states where soft fruit crops are a component of agricultural activities.


Insects ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurore Panel ◽  
Laura Zeeman ◽  
Bart Van der Sluis ◽  
Peter Van Elk ◽  
Bart Pannebakker ◽  
...  

The mechanisms allowing the widespread invasive pest Drosophila suzukii to survive from early spring until the availability of the first fruit crops are still unclear. Seasonal biology and population dynamics of D. suzukii were investigated in order to better understand the contribution of the early spring hosts to the infestation of the first fruit crops of the season. We identified hosts available to D. suzukii in early spring and assessed their suitability for the pest oviposition and reproductive success under field and laboratory conditions. The natural infestation rate of one of these hosts, Aucuba japonica, was assessed over springtime and the morphology of the flies that emerged from infested A. japonica fruits was characterized under field conditions. Then, these findings were correlated with long-term monitoring data on seasonal reproductive biology and morphology of the pest, using a cumulative degree-days (DD) analysis. Field sampling revealed that overwintered D. suzukii females were physiologically able to lay eggs at 87 DD which coincided with the detection of the first infested early spring hosts. The latter were continuously and increasingly infested by D. suzukii eggs in nature from early spring until the end of May, in particular Aucuba japonica. Individuals emerged from most of these hosts were characterized by a poor fitness and a rather low success of emergence. In the field, only few summer morphs emerged from naturally infested A. japonica fruits around the end of May-beginning of June. However, field monitoring in orchards revealed that D. suzukii individuals consisted solely of winter morphs until mid-June. These observations indicate that overwintered D. suzukii females are the predominant source for the infestations in the first available fruit crops of the season. We discuss these findings in the context of possible pest control strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 485 ◽  
pp. 118942
Author(s):  
Alberto Maceda-Veiga ◽  
Sergio Albacete ◽  
Miguel Carles-Tolrá ◽  
Juli Pujade-Villar ◽  
Jan Máca ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolay P. Kandul ◽  
Esther J. Belikoff ◽  
Junru Liu ◽  
Anna Buchman ◽  
Fang Li ◽  
...  

AbstractOriginally from Asia,Drosophila suzukii(Matsumura, 1931, Diptera:Drosophilidae) is presently a global pest of economically important soft-skinned fruits. Also commonly known as spotted wingDrosophila(SWD), it is largely controlled through repeated applications of broad-spectrum insecticides. There is a pressing need for a better understanding of SWD biology and for developing alternative environmentally-friendly methods of control. The RNA-guided Cas9 nuclease has revolutionized functional genomics and is an integral component of several recently developed genetic strategies for population control of insects. Here we have developed transgenic strains that encode three different terminators and four different promoters to express Cas9 in both the soma and/or germline of SWD. The Cas9 lines were evaluated through genetic crossing to transgenic lines that encode single guide RNAs targeting the conserved X-linkedyellowbody andwhiteeye genes. We find that several Cas9/gRNA lines display very high editing capacity. Going forward, these tools will be instrumental for evaluating gene function in SWD and may provide tools useful for the development of new genetic strategies for control of this invasive species.


2020 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 107389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Hiebert ◽  
Tessa Carrau ◽  
Merle Bartling ◽  
Andreas Vilcinskas ◽  
Kwang-Zin Lee

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