Thesis
Ecology of the Asian egg parasitoid Trissolcus japonicus and impact on eastern Washington pentatomids under field conditions (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae)
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2019
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/107316
Abstract
The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855), is native to eastern Asia, and is considered to be an economic pest of agriculture and an urban nuisance pest. In North America, H. halys has caused serious harm; in 2010, the mid-Atlantic lost over $37 million in apple production, and recently in the Pacific Northwest H. halys has been spreading into commercial orchards. Researchers around the world are pursuing biological control options using natural enemies such as Trissolcus japonicus (Ashmead, 1904) to suppress H. halys populations. The purpose of this study was to monitor for natural enemies adapting to H. halys in urban and natural areas in Washington. A three-year (2016-2018) sentinel egg mass survey was conducted to see which natural enemies were attacking the egg stage of H. halys across eight sites in four locations (Yakima, Prosser, Walla Walla and White Salmon) Washington State. In addition, 1,827 adult T. japonicus were redistributed across Eastern Washington with the aim to establish the parasitoid for suppression of H. halys populations, and ultimately reduce the potential for invasion of commercial agriculture in Eastern Washington. I compared non-target effects of T. japonicus on egg masses of three native orchard stink bug pests Euschistus conspersus (Uhler, 1897), Chlorochroa ligata (Say, 1832), and Chinavia hilaris (Say, 1832) paired with H. halys egg masses in downtown Vancouver, WA. I evaluated whether differences in stink bug eggs were made in host selection for T. japonicus in the field away from the limitations of a laboratory setting. We found that Trissolcus japonicus emerged at higher levels from H. halys egg masses (>80%) compared to the native stink bugs (<10%). This is a good indicator that T. japonicus could be an effective biological control agent for the H. halys with minimal non-target effects on North American stink bugs.
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Details
- Title
- Ecology of the Asian egg parasitoid Trissolcus japonicus and impact on eastern Washington pentatomids under field conditions (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae)
- Creators
- Joshua Michael Milnes
- Contributors
- Elizabeth H. Beers (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Entomology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525280901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis