Nonindigenous forest insects and pathogens affect a range of ecosystems, industries, and property owners in the United States. Evaluating temporal patterns in the accumulation of these nonindigenous forest pests can inform regulatory and policy decisions. We compiled a comprehensive species list to assess the accumulation rates of nonindigenous forest insects and pathogens established in the Un...

Some ant species of the genus Monomorium Mayr occur worldwide and are considered important urban pests. The larvae of only a few species of this genus have been described, and these descriptions are either superficial or incomplete. This study aimed to determine the number of larval instars and describe the immature stages of the ant Monomorium floricola Jerdon (Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Specime...

Pests in the home are a health risk because they can be vectors for infectious disease, contribute to allergies and cause damage to buildings. The aims of this study were to record which categories of pests were reported in homes and to use a social cognition model, the health belief model, to investigate which psychological factors influence householders' intentions to control pests. An online...

While many studies have demonstrated the sensitivities of plants and of crop yield to a changing climate, a major challenge for the agricultural research community is to relate these findings to the broader societal concern with food security. This paper reviews the direct effects of climate on both crop growth and yield and on plant pests and pathogens and the interactions that may occur betwe...

1 This publication was developed to provide a summary of information about common boll-feeding bugs (heteropteran pests), stress proper identification of these pests, and acquaint the reader with the recommended strategies for management of boll-feeding bugs in cotton. The first section of this publication emphasizes the recent importance of boll-feeding bugs in cotton and provides a brief disc...

To study the feasibility of monitoring the diseases and insect pests in tobacco using hyperspectral remote sensing, leaf spectrum of tobacco infected with diseases and insect pests at different severity levels was measured by using ASD hand-held spectroradiometers. The reflectance data was transformed by the method of the first differential coefficient. Meanwhile, the correlation between severi...

Going hungry: The Irish Famine of the 1840s may appear a distant memory, but new strains of the pathogen that triggered it are still emerging and threatening food security. The image shows the Famine Monument at Dublin. (Photo: Professor Colin R. Howard (http://www.colinhoward.co.uk/photography.htm).) A simple line graph can tell a story of unimaginable tragedies. The population of Ireland incr...

Nature of Work: Japanese beetles, Popillia japonica Newman, are destructive, polyphagous insects that feed on over 300 different plant species, including many ornamental landscape plants. Since their introduction into the United States, Japanese beetles have spread rapidly throughout the Eastern United States with isolated populations in the Western United States and Canada. Due to the large nu...

The idea of genetic control of insect pests and vectors was invented independently three times in the 1930s-40s. Results with releases of radiation-sterilized male tsetse have been encouraging. Much work was done in the 1970s on mosquitoes with sterile males and systems that could potentially be used for gene driving. Chemosterilized Anopheles separated from females by a genetic sexing system w...