Billbug (Sphenophorus Spp.) Chemical Ecology and Seasonal Biology in Indiana Turfgrass Alexandra G
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Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Open Access Theses Theses and Dissertations 12-2016 Billbug (Sphenophorus spp.) chemical ecology and seasonal biology in Indiana turfgrass Alexandra G. Duffy Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_theses Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Duffy, Alexandra G., "Billbug (Sphenophorus spp.) chemical ecology and seasonal biology in Indiana turfgrass" (2016). Open Access Theses. 844. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_theses/844 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Graduate School Form 30 Updated PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL Thesis/Dissertation Acceptance This is to certify that the thesis/dissertation prepared By Alexandra G. Duffy Entitled BILLBUG (SPHENOPHORUS SPP.) CHEMICAL ECOLOGY AND SEASONAL BIOLOGY IN INDIANA TURFGRASS For the degree of Master of Science Is approved by the final examining committee: Douglas S. Richmond Chair Ian Kaplan Matthew D. Ginzel To the best of my knowledge and as understood by the student in the Thesis/Dissertation Agreement, Publication Delay, and Certification Disclaimer (Graduate School Form 32), this thesis/dissertation adheres to the provisions of Purdue University’s “Policy of Integrity in Research” and the use of copyright material. Approved by Major Professor(s): Douglas S. Richmond Approved by: Stephen L. Cameron 12/1/2016 Head of the Departmental Graduate Program Date BILLBUG (SPHENOPHORUS spp.) CHEMICAL ECOLOGY AND SEASONAL BIOLOGY IN INDIANA TURFGRASS A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University by Alexandra G. Duffy In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science December 2016 Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana ii This thesis is dedicated to the late Dr. Ernest Daniels. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I will never be able to fully express my appreciation to Dr. Douglas Richmond for his guidance during my time at Purdue University. I will forever be thankful for his patience, encouragement, and invaluable knowledge. I am also very grateful to my graduate committee, Dr. Matthew Ginzel and Dr. Ian Kaplan, for their input and support of this project. None of this work would have been possible without funding from the United States Golf Association and the cooperation of Brian Bornino, the Purdue Sports Turf Crew, and gentleman at the William H. Daniel Turfgrass Research and Diagnostic Center. I would also like to thank Gabriel Hughes and Ulianova Vidal Gómez for assistance with chemical ecology methods. A special thanks to Gareth Powell, without your collaboration, knowledge, and friendship I would have been lost. As well as Garrett Price, Danielle Craig, and the rest of the Turfgrass Entomology and Applied Ecology lab for any assistance, support, and constant laughter. And lastly, my parents- the constant, unwavering love and support of my goals is tremendous. You are so dear to me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES .....................................................................................................vii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................viii ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................x LITERATURE REVIEW ..........................................................................................1 1.1 Genus Sphenophorus ...............................................................................1 1.2 Sphenophorus spp. in managed turfgrass.................................................2 1.3 The bluegrass billbug (S. parvulus) .........................................................4 1.4 The hunting billbug (S. venatus) ..............................................................5 1.5 The lesser (S. minimus) and uneven (S. inaequalis) billbugs ..................7 1.6 Billbug damage, diagnosis, and monitoring ............................................7 1.7 Billbug management ................................................................................9 1.8 Molecular life stage associations in Coleoptera .......................................10 1.9 Volatile chemical communication in Curculionoidea/Sphenophorus ......11 1.10 Contact pheromones in Curculionoidea .................................................13 1.11 Thesis Objectives ...................................................................................14 SPHENOPHORUS SPECIES COMPOSITION, SEASONAL BIOLOGY, AND DNA- BASED LIFE STAGE ASSOCIATION IN INDIANA TURFGRASS ....................17 2.1 Abstract ....................................................................................................17 v 2.2 Introduction ..............................................................................................18 2.3 Methods....................................................................................................21 2.3.1 Adult species composition and seasonal activity ......................21 2.3.2 DNA-based life stage association .............................................23 2.4 Results ......................................................................................................24 2.4.1 Adult species composition and seasonal activity ......................24 2.4.2 DNA-based life stage association .............................................26 2.5 Discussion ................................................................................................27 VOLATILE AND CONTACT CHEMICAL CUES ASSOCIATED WITH Sphenophorus venatus AND S. parvulus (COLEOPTERA: CURCULIONOIDEA) HOST- AND MATE-FINDING BEHAVIOR .................................................................................47 3.1 Abstract ....................................................................................................47 3.2 Introduction ..............................................................................................48 3.3 Methods....................................................................................................52 3.3.1 Insects & plant material ............................................................52 3.3.2 Pheromone-baited trapping .......................................................53 3.3.3Y-tube olfactometer bioassays ...................................................53 3.3.4 Preparation of whole-body cuticular extracts ...........................54 3.3.5 Analysis & identification of cuticular extracts .........................55 3.3.6 Statistical Analyses ...................................................................56 3.4 Results ......................................................................................................57 3.4.1 Pheromone-baited trapping .......................................................57 3.4.2 Y-tube olfactometer bioassays ..................................................57 3.4.3 Cuticular hydrocarbons .............................................................58 vi 3.5 Discussion ................................................................................................59 CONCLUSIONS........................................................................................................74 REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................78 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 1.1 Active ingredients of insecticide products recommended for targeting different life stages of billbugs in turfgrass. ...............................................16 Table 2.1 Field site, grass species surveyed, pitfall trap design, and monitoring dates for billbug species composition survey in Indiana (2009; 2014-2016). ..........................33 Table 2.2 Primers for PCR amplification of COI, 18S, and ITS2 from Sphenophorus spp. larvae (n=10) and S. venatus, S. minimus, S. inaequalis, and S. parvulus adults (n=3 for each species) for DNA-based life-stage association. Taxa and GenBank accession numbers for reference sequences used in the "Wide-Seq" pipeline at the Purdue Genomics Core Facility. ............................................................................................34 Table 2.3 Amplification conditions for PCR reactions. .............................................35 Table 2.4 Billbug species abundances by location. Grass types and years surveyed are indicated in parentheses. ............................................................................................36 Table 2.5 Pairwise distances between taxa expressed as percentage of nucleotide similarities (COI, 18S, ITS2). Values ≥99% are indicated in bold. ..........................37 Table 3.1 Qualitative differences and identification of cuticular hydrocarbon components in whole-body hexane extracts of female (♀) and male (♂) Sphenophorus venatus and S. parvulusa. ...................................................................................................................65 Table 3.2 Univariate F statistics and P-values for the effects of Sphenophorus species, sex, and the interaction of these two factors on mean relative abundance of individual cuticular chemical components (df=28).....................................................................66 Table 3.3 Mean (± SE) relative abundances of cuticular hydrocarbon components for Sphenophorus venatus and S. parvulus. .....................................................................67