To determine whether plant genotype can affect long-term herbivore population dynamics, we used a density manipulation experiment to compare the dynamics of Mexican bean beetle populations living on four genotypes of soybeans. Five densities of beetle populations were created on each plant genotype. Each combination of density and genotype was replicated four times, yielding 80 experimental bee...

Future forests are being shaped bychanging climate and disturbances. Climate change is causing large-scale forest declines globally, in addition to distributional shifts of many tree species. Because environmental cues dictate insect seasonality and population success, climate change is also influencing tree-killing bark beetles. The mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae, is a major dis...

Most species that are negatively impacted when their densities are low aggregate to minimize this effect. Aggregation has the potential to change how Allee effects are expressed at the population level. We studied the interplay between aggregation and Allee effects in the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins), an irruptive bark beetle that aggregates to overcome tree defenses. ...

Novaluron (Rimon 10 EC), a novel insect growth regulator, could play an important role in future management programs for Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say). Studies were conducted to determine the potential of Colorado potato beetle to develop resistance to novaluron before its widespread use in Colorado potato beetle management. Second instars of an imidacloprid-resistant ...

Previous research at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Beaumont on water-seeded rice revealed the possibility that one or more unknown aquatic invertebrate species have been responsible for dramatically reducing rice stands. Preliminary experiments show that there is zero or small reductions in the rice stand of plots when treated with insecticide applied to rice seed, applied...

Beetles are reckoned to make up about one quarter of animal species. Now, the first genome of a beetle--the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, a pest and developmental model system alike--has been sequenced.

Lady beetles typically lay eggs in clusters, and clutch-mates that emerge near to each other might benefit in multiple ways. For example, lady beetle larvae are attracted to the pheromone released by aphids under attack. Thus, one potential advantage to larvae emerging as a group is if one larva captures an aphid, others can share in consuming the same aphid. Sharing a meal likely reduces the p...

Three flea beetle species (Aphthona spp.), first introduced into North America in 1988, have come to be regarded as effective biological control organisms for leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula). The black flea beetles (Aphthona lacertosa and A. czwalinae) in particular have been shown to cause reductions in leafy spurge stem counts in the northern Great Plains, while the brown flea beetle (A. nigri...

1 The eastern larch beetle Dendroctonus simplex LeConte colonizes the phloem of tamarack Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch, preferring recently dead or moribund trees weakened by insect defoliation or other factors that predispose trees to beetle attack. 2 Outbreaks of eastern larch beetles are typically localized, of short duration, and collapse when the supply of stressed hosts is exhausted. Al...