Extension News

Entomologists find new stink bug to help soybean farmers control damage

September 9, 2015 by Rob Williams

Cover for 9-10-15 story — Redbanded stink bug. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Mo Way, Texas A&M AgriLife Research-Beaumont)

By Kathleen Phillips, Texas A&M AgriLife Communications

BEAUMONT — Entomologists in Texas got a whiff of a new stink bug doing economic damage to soybeans in Texas and are developing ways to help farmers combat it, according to a report in the journal Environmental Entomology.

Various types of stink bugs have long been a problem on soybean crops, but when sweeps of fields in southeast Texas netted 65 percent redbanded stink bugs, entomologists realized this particular bug had become the predominant pest problem, according to Dr. Mo Way, an entomologist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Beaumont.

Suhas Vyavhare spraying soybeans in a redbanded stink bug experiment---photo by mo way — Suhas Vyavhare spraying soybeans in a redbanded stink bug experiment. Photo by Dr. Mo Way.

The problem was no one in the U.S. knew much about the redbanded stink bug and how it had been able to overcome the previously predominant southern green stink bug, green stink bug and brown stink bug, Way said. An insect’s life cycle and biology have to be understood before scientists can figure out ways to control it.

Texas farmers plant a little less than 200,000 acres of soybeans a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

“The redbanded stink bug has been a serious pest of soybeans in South America since the 1960s,” said Dr. Suhas Vyavhare, a postdoc at the Beaumont center who began his work on the insect as a graduate student there. “It was never a problem in the United States until around 2000. Prior to that, it was known to be in the soybean fields, but that’s when it was first reported in Louisiana as being an economic pest.”

Not only did the research team find insect numbers at economically damaging levels in Texas but also determined that the redbanded stink bug was becoming resistant to the organophosphate chemical that previously had provided effective control, said Vyavhare, who collaborated with Way and AgriLife Research entomologist Dr. Raul Medina in College Station.

“We started by looking at population dynamics, or how abundant redbanded stink bug is in Texas,” Vyavhare said. “We did sweep net surveys across various commercial soybean fields in southeast Texas. We also looked at insect-plant interaction in order to determine what soybean growth stages are most susceptible to redbanded stink bug damage so we could target pest management practices.”

He said the researchers also had an inkling the redbanded stink bug was responsible for what is known as delayed maturity syndrome in which the soybean plant does not grow at its normal rate. They tested this theory by subjecting a controlled growth of soybeans to different densities of redbanded stink bugs and found that the insect is directly connected to the disorder.

“There are more than 50 species of stink bugs found in soybeans. Some of them are beneficial and some are pests,” Vyavhare said. “The redbanded stink bug as compared to the other pest stink bugs is smaller, and it has the ability to fly faster. So it is very agile, and that contributes to its movement into different areas, and it could be one of the reasons why it is not that susceptible to insecticides because when a farmer sprays the field, they could be escaping before the chemical reaches them.”

Finding that the insect is becoming resistant to the common insecticide used as well as the fact that more frequent doses were required to control them was a significant point in the research, Vyavhare said.

“Now we are recommending that farmers use different products rather than the same one over and over,” he said. “So that could reduce the amount of insecticide that is applied. Even if we can reduce the need for one insecticide application, that could save millions of dollars in Texas and the other infected states each year.”

The team is also hoping to continue research with other control possibilities such as using a trap crop planted near soybeans to attract the insects away or developing redbanded stink bug-resistant soybean varieties.

Way said the team also is revising a soybean pest management guide last published in 1999 so farmers will know steps that can be taken to reduce crop damage from the redbanded stink bug.

IPM Professionals Receive Experience at New Training House

August 24, 2015 by Rob Williams

By: Paul Schattenberg, Texas A&M AgriLife Communications

inaugural pest proofing-inside page wordpress — Fourteen pest control professionals and paraprofessionals recently participated in the first IPM Experience House Class presented by the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo)

DALLAS – The Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas recently held an inaugural hands-on integrated pest management, or IPM, training class for more than a dozen professionals and paraprofessionals in the business of pest control.

The class was the first to be offered using the IPM Experience House, a facility designed to train pest-control professionals how to control pests more safely and effectively.

“This was the first time for the center to host a program based on hands-on demonstrations of pest exclusion practices for homes,” said Dr. Mike Merchant, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service urban entomologist in Dallas and a program presenter. “It was our first class to be offered through the IPM Experience House and we hope it will be the first of many such courses to be offered here.”

The class was part of a rodent exclusion hands-on training for pest control apprentices, technicians and commercial applicators offered by the center. It offered six continuing education credits for commercial applicators, while apprentices and technicians received a course certificate for six hours of attendance.

Members of the pest management community had the chance to do hands on training in several areas at the house. — Members of the pest management community learned hands-on different pest control techniques during a recent training.

“Training at the IPM Experience House was among the hands-on educational opportunities offered during the program,” Merchant said. “The house is a former dormitory building near the center that is in the process of being converted into a classroom. It is being designed to provide a realistic, controlled environment in which to practice the skills and craft of integrated pest management.”

Merchant said special training at the house during the recent program was provided by Tim Madere with the City of New Orleans Mosquito, Rodent and Termite Control Board. Madere is involved in the New Orleans Rat Project, a National Science Foundation-funded multi-disciplinary effort to investigate the ongoing human-rodent interaction after Hurricane Katrina.

After an explanation of learning objectives and review of integrated pest management principles for exclusion at the center, class attendees went to a residential location for instruction on how to seal up a home, including siding, gutters, soffits and flashing. After that, they were taken to the IPM Experience House for additional training.

“IPM Experience House is a facility being designed to provide hands-on training experiences for professionals involved in both structural and landscape pest control,” explained Janet Hurley, AgriLife Extension program specialist for school integrated pest management in Dallas and another of the program presenters. “It is supported by the Texas pest control industry, with staffing and curriculum development being developed by integrated pest management specialists based at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas.”

Hurley said pest management professionals provide critical services to our communities by controlling pests like termites, fire ants, cockroaches, bed bugs, rodents and other important pests.

“Integrated pest management is a way of conducting pest control that seeks the best, science-based solutions, while protecting the environment and human health,” she said.

Merchant added that despite the importance of hands-on learning for adults, most continuing education classes typically involve passive learning, such as listening to lectures and viewing slides.

“But the IPM Experience House adds another dimension to learning and provides an opportunity for hands-on experience that’s usually missing from most IPM training,” he said.

Merchant said a pest control professional and technician from Alvin said they came to Dallas because the program was “a unique opportunity to experience both classroom and hands-on field training in one class.”

“Hands-on training easily becomes a two-way process,” Merchant said. “Not only do students learn from instructors, but we as researchers and teachers learn a lot from our students also. The ultimate goal of IPM Experience House is to raise the level of training of the men and women who come into our homes every day to control rats and wildlife, cockroaches, bedbugs and all sorts of other pests.

“The business of pest control is complex, and each of our experiences are unique, so we all have something to teach. That’s what the IPM Experience House is supposed to be all about — and what we want it to be in the future.”

For more information on the IPM Experience House, go to http://ipmhouse.tamu.edu

To see when the next class will be held, visit http://ipmhouse.tamu.edu/classes

Extension Program Specialist Enjoys Helping the Community

July 22, 2015 by Rob Williams

teaching a training session — Wizzie Brown teaching a course at the Facilities Services training room at Texas A&M University in College Station. Photo by Rob Williams

The Department of Entomology is featuring some of our Extension personnel and how they became interested in entomology and their jobs as entomologists.

Extension Program Specialist Wizzie Brown works in the Austin/Travis county area and handles issues with integrated pest management and urban educational programs.

Brown started her career in Extension in 2002 working as an Extension agent with the integrated pest management (IPM). She said that she was very interested in entomology when she was younger but didn’t start studying it as a possible field of study until she went to college.

“I always liked insects as a child. While I enjoyed insects, I didn’t know that it was a college track or career choice. Fortunately, I discovered that entomology was something I could do for a job.”

After taking an entomology class during her undergraduate years at Ohio State, Brown decided to make entomology a major field of study when she found out that she enjoyed the subject matter.

“I took an entomology class and changed my major after about two weeks,” she said.

After she graduated from Ohio State, she went on to further her education at Texas A&M. Brown did not get interested in working with Extension until after she had worked in industry with her husband when they lived in the Houston area.

“My husband and I were working for a pest control company in Houston. He decided he wanted to start his own pest control business, but we had signed a non-compete clause so we had to move out of the area,” she said. “I started looking for a job and stumbled upon the job listing for Extension. I remember reading the job description and telling my husband that it was perfect and seemed to be written for me.”

As an Extension Program Specialist, she works with the community on urban insect issues, as well as conducting education and training sessions. She also has written several articles and appeared on television and radio talking about pests and integrated pest management.

The best part about working for Extension, Brown said, was connecting with the community.

“I really like the connections that I make with people of all ages,” she said. “People are fascinated, even sometimes disgusted, by insects. When I provide information to them on how to identify something or how to manage a pest they are having problems with, I feel like I’m helping them.”

Department Helps with Annual 4-H Roundup

June 11, 2015 by Rob Williams

Extension Program Specialist Erfan Vafaie judging a contestant's insect collection. Photo by Rob Williams — Extension Program Specialist Erfan Vafaie judging a contestant’s insect collection. Photo by Rob Williams

COLLEGE STATION, Texas–The Heep Center on the Texas A&M Campus was alive this summer with youth, parents, and sponsors attending the annual 4-H Roundup Entomology Contests from all over Texas.

The annual event, which is hosted on the Texas A&M Campus, is a qualifying invitational event that is held for youth between 11 and 18 that have already successfully qualified by participating at the district or regional level or registered to compete in an invitational event at the state level.

The Department held two contests during the three day event which included an insect collection exhibition and judging held on Tuesday. Wednesday was dedicated to an insect identification contest where contestants took a written test and an insect identification exam. Collections were displayed at Reed Arena Concourse throughout the day on Wednesday for participants of the event.

During the insect collection judging, volunteers spent a few hours Tuesday morning looking over a total of 12 collections submitted from participants statewide. The collections were judged on different criteria including diversity of insects, and appearance.

During the Wednesday portion of Round Up, participants then are invited to hear presentations from Department Head Dr. David Ragsdale, as well as various other Extension employees about the Department and Extension. After the orientation, they were then sent to the second floor to begin the insect identification contest.

Bryant McDowell, left , Xanthe Shirley, and Ben Diehl sharing their experiences during the afternoon session. Photo by Rob Williams.

The contest ended with a special awards ceremony in the afternoon.

Several Entomology students, staff and Extension personnel spent time helping with the collection contest and grading of participants’ insect identification answer sheets throughout the two-day period.

Grad student Xanthe Shirley said she loved volunteering and seeing all the collections that were there at the judging.

“I am happy I was able to volunteer,” she said. “There are a lot of good collections here today and good diversity. I’m so glad to be a part of this.”

Professor and Extension specialist Robert Puckett also was reviewing collections and said the most interesting arthropod he has seen in the collection was seeing a sun spider that was collected by one student.

“I thought it was very cool,” he said.

Extension Program Specialist Erfan Vafaie was very impressed with the vast array of diverse insects that one student had done on the project.

Bill Ree and Jakalynne Gosnell judging contestants' collections. Photo by Rob Williams. — Bill Ree and Jakalynne Gosnell judging contestants’ collections. Photo by Rob Williams

“These are so great and the kids did a great job with their collections,” he said. “There is a lot of diversity and they were nicely pinned.”

Associate Department Head for Extension Programs Dr. Charles Allen said that the entomology contests are helpful in encouraging students to learn science by learning about entomology and biodiversity of insects through the collections and the identification contests.

“The 4-H Entomology Contest and Collection Contest encourages young people to learn, develop interest and curiosity about insects and science, and develop life skills in focusing on achieving goals,” Allen said. “We hope these young people will have fun learning and developing an interest in science and the world around them. These experiences can be life changing as they can lead to a life-long interest or a career in entomology.”

Extension Program Specialist and insect collection contest supervisor Molly Keck was very impressed by this year’s high quality collections that were submitted by members.

“All of the collections were amazing and the kids did an awesome job,” Keck said.

She also said that the collection contest is a great tool in learning good organization and presentation skills, as well as learning the various insect orders, which helps them when identifying insects during the insect identification contest.

“I think the collections are a great tool for them to learn entomology and science in a different and fun way,” she said.

Texas Master Beekeeper Program Graduates First Class of Apprentice Beekeepers

April 30, 2015 by Rob Williams

The first group of Apprentice Beekeepers. Submitted photo.

BRENHAM, Texas — Sixty-eight beekeepers around the state are now getting closer to becoming Master Beekeepers as the Texas Master Beekeeper Program recently held its exam day for the Apprentice Beekeeper level at the Washington County Fairgrounds on March 27^th.

The day-long event was the first time the testing was administered in Texas. The Texas Master Beekeeper Program (TMBP) consists of 4 levels (Apprentice, Advanced, Master, and Master Craftsman). The day was divided into a review session in the morning and then a written and practical exam in the afternoon.

Texas Apiary Inspection Service Chief Apiary Inspector Mark Dykes speaking to beekeepers during the review session before the exam

Mr. Dykes, Chief Apiary Inspector and TMBP board member, said that the review session in the morning was not a replacement for the training materials that are studied beforehand.

“This review session is not designed to be the only study needed to pass the exam and is more to reinforce what the participants should have already learned,” he said.

The exam included a practical, hands-on section with the hives and other equipment where the participants are tested on their skills in bee husbandry and practical beekeeping while the written portion tested the students’ knowledge of various beekeeping topics.

Once the students pass the exam, they are required to complete five public service credits in addition to their studies before they take the next level’s exam. The credits could come from such events as hosting bee-related lectures/workshops to non-beekeeping groups, holding an office in a local beekeeping association, or assisting members of a youth organization with project work.

“The Apprentice Beekeepers act as bee ambassadors to the non-beekeeper public,” he said. This in turn becomes a force multiplier for our educational efforts.”

“The Texas Master Beekeeper Program is designed to push beekeepers to become more informed in all areas of beekeeping (i.e. biology, ecology, husbandry, etc.) Education is mostly through self-study of required and suggested materials,” he said. “We hope, as the program develops, to provide many more educational opportunities for program participants”

Dykes was very pleased with the turnout and was excited about the future of the program.

“We were very happy with the turnout of the first class,” Dykes said. “Being a new program you never know how it’s going to go but the beekeepers were very interested in the program. We had 68 people test and we currently have over 200 people on the mailing list. Good numbers for a new program I think.”

For more information about the Texas Master Beekeeper program, visit the website at http://masterbeekeeper.tamu.edu.