Jason M. Schmidt

Perennial Grass and Native Wildflowers: A Synergistic Approach to Habitat Management

Marginal agricultural land provides opportunities to diversify landscapes by producing biomass for biofuel, and through floral provisioning that enhances arthropod-mediated ecosystem service delivery. We examined the effects of local spatial context (adjacent to woodland or agriculture) and irrigation (irrigation or no irrigation) on wildflower bloom and visitation by arthropods in a biofeedstocks-wildflower habitat buffer design. Twenty habitat buffer plots were established containing a subplot of Napier grass (Pennisetum perpureum Schumach) for biofeedstock, three commercial wildflower mix subplots, and a control subplot containing spontaneous weeds. Arthropods and flowers were visually observed in quadrats throughout the season. At the end of the season we measured soil nutrients and harvested Napier biomass. We found irrespective of buffer location or irrigation, pollinators were observed more frequently early in the season and on experimental plots with wildflowers than on weeds in the control plots. Natural enemies showed a tendency for being more common on plots adjacent to a wooded border, and were also more commonly observed early in the season. Herbivore visits were infrequent and not significantly influenced by experimental treatments. Napier grass yields were high and typical of first-year yields reported regionally, and were not affected by location context or irrigation. Our results suggest habitat management designs integrating bioenergy crop and floral resources provide marketable biomass and habitat for beneficial arthropods.

Elucidating the Common Generalist Predators of Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in an Organic Apple Orchard Using Molecular Gut-Content Analysis.

Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), plum curculio, is a serious direct pest of North American tree fruit including, apples, cherries, peaches and plums. Historically, organophosphate insecticides were used for control, but this tool is no longer registered for use in tree fruit. In addition, few organically approved insecticides are available for organic pest control and none have proven efficacy as this time. Therefore, promoting biological control in these systems is the next step, however, little is known about the biological control pathways in this system and how these are influenced by current mechanical and cultural practices required in organic systems. We used molecular gut-content analysis for testing field caught predators for feeding on plum curculio. During the study we monitored populations of plum curculio and the predator community in a production organic apple orchard. Predator populations varied over the season and contained a diverse assemblage of spiders and beetles. A total of 8% of all predators (eight Araneae, two Hemiptera, and six Coleoptera species) assayed for plum curculio predation were observed positive for the presence of plum curculio DNA in their guts, indicating that these species fed on plum curculio prior to collection Results indicate a number of biological control agents exist for this pest and this requires further study in relation to cultural practices.

Remotely Estimating Beneficial Arthropod Populations: Implications of a Low-Cost Small Unmanned Aerial System

Studies show that agricultural land requires investment in the habitat management of non-cropped areas to support healthy beneficial arthropods and the ecosystem services they provide. In a previous small plot study, we manually counted blooms over the season, and found that plots providing greater numbers of flowers supported significantly higher pollinator populations over that of spontaneous weed plots. Here, we examined the potential of deploying an inexpensive small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as a tool to remotely estimate floral resources and corresponding pollinator populations. Data were collected from previously established native wildflower plots in 19 locations on the University of Georgia experimental farms in South Georgia, USA. A UAV equipped with a lightweight digital camera was deployed to capture images of the flowers during the months of June and September 2017. Supervised image classification using a geographic information system (GIS) was carried out on the acquired images, and classified images were used to evaluate the floral area. The floral area obtained from the images positively correlated with the floral counts gathered from the quadrat samples. Furthermore, the floral area derived from imagery significantly predicted pollinator populations, with a positive correlation indicating that plots with greater area of blooming flowers contained higher numbers of pollinators.

Entomopathogenic Nematodes and Fungi Virulence to Cowpea Curculio (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Larvae1

Abstract Cowpea curculio, Chalcodermus aeneus (Boheman), is the major pest of southern peas or cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.). Throughout the southeastern United States, current management recommendations for cowpea curculio rely on insecticide applications; however, resistance has been observed. Entomopathogenic biocontrol agents, specifically nematodes in the genera Steinernema and Heterorhabditis and fungi in the genera Beauveria and Metarhizium, have shown efficacy with other curculio pests. We conducted laboratory bioassays to assess the virulence of entomopathogenic agents as a first step to provide alternative control strategies against cowpea curculio. Using controlled environmental conditions, we tested the effects of nematodes (Steinernema carpocapsae Weiser, Steinernema feltiae Filipjev, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar, and Heterorhabditis indica Poinar) and two fungi (Beauveria bassiana Balsamo and Metarhizium brunneum Petch) on survival and infectivity of cowpea curculio. Heterorhabditis indica had the greatest effect on cowpea curculio larvae, resulting in less than 20% survival and greater than a 65% infection rate. Conversely, cowpea curculio larvae exposed to fungal pathogens had similar survival to larvae exposed to water and less than 20% infection rates. For fungal pathogens, applying the pathogen to the soil surface prior to introduction of cowpea curculio larvae led to infection of the larvae. Our results suggest nematodes and fungal pathogens are capable of infecting cowpea curculio. Our data provide the basis for further tests examining the timing and application rates in field situations.

Natural Enemy Abundance in Southeastern Blueberry Agroecosystems: Distance to Edge and Impact of Management Practices

Abstract Natural enemies are valuable components of agroecosystems as they provide biological control services to help regulate pest populations. Promoting biocontrol services can improve sustainability by decreasing pesticide usage, which is a major challenge for the blueberry industry. Our research is the first to compare natural enemy populations in managed (conventional and organic) and unmanaged blueberry systems, in addition to the effects of non-crop habitat. We conducted our study in 10 blueberry orchards during the growing season across the major blueberry producing counties in Georgia, United States. To estimate the spatial distribution of natural enemies, we conducted suction sampling at three locations in each orchard: within the forested border, along the edge of blueberry orchard adjacent to forested border, and within the interior of the blueberry orchard. Natural enemies maintained higher abundance over the season in unmanaged areas when compared with organic or conventional production systems. In the conventional orchards, natural enemies were more abundant in the surrounding non-crop area compared with the interior of the orchard. Populations were more evenly distributed in less intensive systems (organic and unmanaged). Our results indicate spatial structure in natural enemy populations is related to management practice, and less intensive management can retain higher abundance of natural enemies in blueberry systems. Considerations must be made towards promoting ecologically based management practices to sustain natural enemy populations and potentially increase the delivery of biological control services.