Cargando…

Entomopathogenic Fungi Associated with Exotic Invasive Insect Pests in Northeastern Forests of the USA

Mycopathogens of economically important exotic invasive insects in forests of northeastern USA have been the subject of research at the Entomology Research Laboratory, University of Vermont, for the last 20 years. Elongate hemlock scale, European fruit lecanium, hemlock woolly adelgid and pear thrip...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gouli, Vladimir, Gouli, Svetlana, Marcelino, José A. P., Skinner, Margaret, Parker, Bruce L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4553507/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26462527
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects4040631
_version_ 1782387906186313728
author Gouli, Vladimir
Gouli, Svetlana
Marcelino, José A. P.
Skinner, Margaret
Parker, Bruce L.
author_facet Gouli, Vladimir
Gouli, Svetlana
Marcelino, José A. P.
Skinner, Margaret
Parker, Bruce L.
author_sort Gouli, Vladimir
collection PubMed
description Mycopathogens of economically important exotic invasive insects in forests of northeastern USA have been the subject of research at the Entomology Research Laboratory, University of Vermont, for the last 20 years. Elongate hemlock scale, European fruit lecanium, hemlock woolly adelgid and pear thrips were analyzed for the presence of mycopathogens, in order to consider the potential for managing these pests with biological control. Fungal cultures isolated from insects with signs of fungal infection were identified based on morphological characters and DNA profiling. Mycopathogens recovered from infected insects were subdivided into three groups, i.e., specialized entomopathogenic; facultative entomopathogens; ubiquitous opportunistic contaminants. Epizootics were caused by fungi in the specialized group with the exception of M. microspora, P. marquandii and I. farinosa. Inoculation of insects in laboratory and field conditions with B. bassiana, L. muscarium and Myriangium sp. caused insect mortality of 45 to 95%. Although pest populations in the field seemed severely compromised after treatment, the remnant populations re-established themselves after the winter. Although capable of inducing high mortality, a single localized aerial application of a soil-dwelling fungus does not maintain long-time suppression of pests. However, it can halt their range expansion and maintain populations below the economic threshold level without the use of expensive insecticides which have a negative impact on the environment.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4553507
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2013
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-45535072015-10-08 Entomopathogenic Fungi Associated with Exotic Invasive Insect Pests in Northeastern Forests of the USA Gouli, Vladimir Gouli, Svetlana Marcelino, José A. P. Skinner, Margaret Parker, Bruce L. Insects Article Mycopathogens of economically important exotic invasive insects in forests of northeastern USA have been the subject of research at the Entomology Research Laboratory, University of Vermont, for the last 20 years. Elongate hemlock scale, European fruit lecanium, hemlock woolly adelgid and pear thrips were analyzed for the presence of mycopathogens, in order to consider the potential for managing these pests with biological control. Fungal cultures isolated from insects with signs of fungal infection were identified based on morphological characters and DNA profiling. Mycopathogens recovered from infected insects were subdivided into three groups, i.e., specialized entomopathogenic; facultative entomopathogens; ubiquitous opportunistic contaminants. Epizootics were caused by fungi in the specialized group with the exception of M. microspora, P. marquandii and I. farinosa. Inoculation of insects in laboratory and field conditions with B. bassiana, L. muscarium and Myriangium sp. caused insect mortality of 45 to 95%. Although pest populations in the field seemed severely compromised after treatment, the remnant populations re-established themselves after the winter. Although capable of inducing high mortality, a single localized aerial application of a soil-dwelling fungus does not maintain long-time suppression of pests. However, it can halt their range expansion and maintain populations below the economic threshold level without the use of expensive insecticides which have a negative impact on the environment. MDPI 2013-11-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4553507/ /pubmed/26462527 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects4040631 Text en © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Gouli, Vladimir
Gouli, Svetlana
Marcelino, José A. P.
Skinner, Margaret
Parker, Bruce L.
Entomopathogenic Fungi Associated with Exotic Invasive Insect Pests in Northeastern Forests of the USA
title Entomopathogenic Fungi Associated with Exotic Invasive Insect Pests in Northeastern Forests of the USA
title_full Entomopathogenic Fungi Associated with Exotic Invasive Insect Pests in Northeastern Forests of the USA
title_fullStr Entomopathogenic Fungi Associated with Exotic Invasive Insect Pests in Northeastern Forests of the USA
title_full_unstemmed Entomopathogenic Fungi Associated with Exotic Invasive Insect Pests in Northeastern Forests of the USA
title_short Entomopathogenic Fungi Associated with Exotic Invasive Insect Pests in Northeastern Forests of the USA
title_sort entomopathogenic fungi associated with exotic invasive insect pests in northeastern forests of the usa
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4553507/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26462527
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects4040631
work_keys_str_mv AT goulivladimir entomopathogenicfungiassociatedwithexoticinvasiveinsectpestsinnortheasternforestsoftheusa
AT goulisvetlana entomopathogenicfungiassociatedwithexoticinvasiveinsectpestsinnortheasternforestsoftheusa
AT marcelinojoseap entomopathogenicfungiassociatedwithexoticinvasiveinsectpestsinnortheasternforestsoftheusa
AT skinnermargaret entomopathogenicfungiassociatedwithexoticinvasiveinsectpestsinnortheasternforestsoftheusa
AT parkerbrucel entomopathogenicfungiassociatedwithexoticinvasiveinsectpestsinnortheasternforestsoftheusa