Imidacloprid Insecticide Treatments for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Adelges
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 5-2008 Imidacloprid Insecticide Treatments for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), Affect a Non- target Soil Arthropod Community Surrounding Eastern Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriere William N. Reynolds University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Reynolds, William N., "Imidacloprid Insecticide Treatments for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), Affect a Non-target Soil Arthropod Community Surrounding Eastern Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriere. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2008. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/1229 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by William N. Reynolds entitled "Imidacloprid Insecticide Treatments for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), Affect a Non-target Soil Arthropod Community Surrounding Eastern Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriere." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Entomology and Plant Pathology. Ernest C. Bernard, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Jerome Grant, Kimberly Gwinn, Nathan Sanders Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by William Nicholas Reynolds entitled “Imidacloprid Insecticide Treatments for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), Affect a Non-target Soil Arthropod Community Surrounding Eastern Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriere.” I have examined the final copy of the thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Entomology and Plant Pathology. Ernest C. Bernard, Major Professor ____________________________ We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Jerome Grant _____________________________ Kimberly Gwinn _____________________________ Nathan Sanders _____________________________ Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School __________________________ (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) Imidacloprid Insecticide Treatments for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), Affect a Non-target Soil Arthropod Community Surrounding Eastern Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriere A Thesis Presented for the Master of Science Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville William Nicholas Reynolds May 2008 Copyright © 2008 by William Nicholas Reynolds All rights reserved ii Dedication For the loving support from… Courtney Marie Hendricks Jennifer Allison Weedman William Stephen Reynolds Timothy James Reynolds Pansy Page Allison Jean Cunningham Reynolds Brent Weedman And in loving memory of… Norman Lee Allison William Clarence Reynolds iii Acknowledgements This research was funded by a United States Department of Agriculture- Forest Health Protection Grant. For which, I would like to thank Rusty Rhea of the USDA Forest Service. I would like to thank the members of my advisory committee who guided my work through the last two years. Dr. Jerome Grant was instrumental to the establishment of the experimental field sites and the application of the treatments. For her help and guidance with the chemical extraction and quantification of imidacloprid in soils, I thank Dr. Kimberly Gwinn. I thank Dr. Nathan Sanders for his mentoring in all things ecological. I would like to acknowledge Courtney Hendricks, Jim Green, Aimee Classen, J.P. Lessard, Greg Crutsinger, and countless others for their help, as well. This work was a collaborative effort. Fellow students Carla Dilling and Abdul Hakeem, under the supervision of Dr. Jerome Grant and Dr. Paris Lambdin, worked on the aboveground effects of these same pesticide treatments. I would especially like to thank Pennie Jennings Long for all of her guidance, assistance, and kindness. Lastly, I would like to thank my major advisor, Ernest Bernard, for his guidance throughout the last four years. Little did he know that by hiring me four years ago as a technician that he would have to tolerate me for so long. From Dr. Bernard’s experience and expertise, I have gained skills and knowledge that will forever benefit my career from its literal beginning. iv Abstract The hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), Adelges tsugae Annand, is an invasive pest that is causing declines in populations of eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis Carriere, in eastern North American forests. The threat of losing the hemlock as a foundation species in eastern forests prompted reserve managers to devise and implement HWA management strategies integrating cultural, biological, and chemical control tactics. Chemical control methods, systemic imidacloprid applications and horticultural oil foliar sprays, provide the most immediate and effective control of HWA in accessible hemlocks. Non-target impacts of HWA chemical control methods on soil arthropod communities are undocumented. Empirical studies in the field and in the laboratory were performed to determine the extent of effects of the common HWA chemical control treatments to non-target soil arthropods. Treatments were the horticultural oil foliar spray (no imidacloprid), imidacloprid trunk injection, imidacloprid soil injection, imidacloprid soil drench, and untreated controls. Microarthropods in soil drench plots displayed marginally non-significant decreases in abundance and richness. Microarthropod species composition was distinct in all of the imidacloprid treatments when compared to controls. Acari, the mites, consisted of approximately 50% of the observed abundance, and showed no responses to imidacloprid or horticultural oil treatments. Abundance and richness of Collembola, in contrast, were markedly decreased by the soil drench treatments. v High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to quantify concentrations of imidacloprid from soils following imidacloprid treatments. Concentrations of imidacloprid observed in soils from imidacloprid treatment plots exceeded the LD50 and ED50 concentrations for Folsomia candida Willem (Collembola: Isotomidae) observed in the laboratory, especially in the soil drench plots, less frequently so in the soil injection plots and in a few of the trunk injection plots. The springtail Folsomia candida were reared in the laboratory on standard soil substrates containing a series of known imidacloprid concentrations to observe impacts to reproduction and survival. The imidacloprid concentration at which Folsomia candida adults displayed 50% mortality in the laboratory, as inferred from regression analysis of observed dose responses (LD50), was 1.38 mg imidacloprid / kg dry soil. The concentration at which F. candida produced half the number of juveniles observed in control microcosms (ED50) was 0.598 mg imidacloprid / kg dry soil. vi Table of Contents Imidacloprid insecticide treatments for hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand (Hemiptera: Adelgidae) affect a non-target soil arthropod community surrounding eastern hemlock Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carrierre .. i Dedication .......................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... iv Abstract ............................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ............................................................................................. vii List of Tables ...................................................................................................... x List of Figures .................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................. 1 Review: Eastern hemlocks, invasive hemlock woolly adelgid, management strategies, and potential for non-target effects on beneficial insects ........... 1 Abstract ............................................................................................................. 2 Importance of hemlocks .................................................................................... 3 Tsuga spp. in Appalachian forests ................................................................ 3 Hemlock influence on aboveground environments and biota ........................ 5 Hemlock influences on aquatic systems ........................................................ 6 Hemlock influences on belowground communities and ecosystem processes .....................................................................................................................