Insects & Mites in Florida Landscapes
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8/24/17 Landscape plants provide benefits Insects & mites in Florida • Benefit people • Temperature reduction landscapes • Air filtration • Aesthetic enhancement • Recreation Pests reduce these Adam Dale • Benefit the environment Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist • Carbon sequestration Turf & Ornamental Entomology • Air & water filtration UF/IFAS Entomology & Nematology Department • Wildlife habitat Unfortunately… Landscapes and People Herbivorous insects are more damaging in cities • Over 90% of ~20 million Floridians live among urban landscapes • The evidence • Urban areas are the most rapidly expanding • Azalea lace bug, Stephanitis pyrioides ecosystems on the globe • White peach scale, Pseudaulacaspis pentagona • Oak lecanium scale, Parthenolecanium quercifex • Gloomy scale, Melanaspis tenebricosa This means: • Others… • Pests & our management practices can have a HUGE effect on people Raupp et al. 2010 1 8/24/17 The future brings challenges The future brings challenges • Urbanization-related water use is projected to • Florida’s average temperatures are projected to increase by over 100% by 2070 increase 4-9oF by 2080 • Periods of drought will be come more frequent and severe www.1000friendsofflorida.org/Florida2070 Misra et al. 2011. Climate Scenarios: A Florida-centric view The future brings challenges The future brings challenges • Evidence suggests that some insect pests will • Increasing legal pressures and regulations may become more abundant and damaging with climate reduce management options warming and urbanization • Fertilizer use, water use, pesticide use… Alachua Co. Youngsteadt et al. 2014. Global Change Biology 2 8/24/17 My Overarching Objective Urban & residential landscapes • Most rapidly expanding land-use type in Florida More sustainable solutions • Over 90% of Floridians live here • How can we incorporate ecological principles into current landscape management • Turfgrass and ornamental plants are the practices to reduce non-renewable inputs? vegetation of these ecosystems • Insect pests that attack these plants can directly affect people and the ecosystem Emerging insect pest T.J. Walker John L. Capinera Tuttle mealybug, Brevennia rehi 3 8/24/17 Tuttle Mealybug Tuttle Mealybug (Brevennia rehi) (aka: Rice mealybug) • Hide between the grass blade and stem • Produce a white wax Lyle Buss,UF/IFAS • Found globally • Reported in Orange, Lee, Collier, Duval, Walton, Palm Beach Counties; Little is known about Arizona, California, and Texas its biology or natural • Attacks zoysiagrass and bermudagrass enemies • Bodies are <2 mm long, pink; make white wax Management Options • Reduce habitat that’s conducive to piercing-sucking arthropods • Minimize thatch (verticut) • Moderate fertility • Product options: Use systemic products • If large infestation, combine with a contact toxic product (e.g. pyrethroid) • Use sufficient spray volume in liquid applications 15 16 4 8/24/17 Chinch bugs & caterpillars are still Value of plant diversity on top • Southern chinch bug is the most damaging insect • Urban landscapes are often dominated by one or a pest of turf in Florida few plants, which may set them up for challenges • Tropical sod webworm and fall armyworm are the • As plant diversity increases, plant-feeding insects most damaging caterpillar pests typically become less damaging • Each pest is targeted with wall-to-wall insecticides multiple times a year per lawn Florida Turfgrass Production 4.4 million acres of Type % No. species turf, >50% of which is St. Augustinegrass 51% 1 St. Aug, of which Bahiagrass 33% 1 >80% is ‘Floratam’ Bermudagrass 7.4% Multiple Zoysiagrass 5.1% 2-3 Centipedegrass 3% 1 More Sustainable Turf Pest What if we increase diversity? Management We propose that mixing turfgrass cultivars may reduce pests like chinch bugs and caterpillars, and their damage Six St. Augustinegrass cultivars 3 Treatments • Floratam • Monoculture (M1) • Palmetto • Mixture of 2 cultivars (M2) Ethan Doherty, MS graduate • Mixture of 4 cultivars (M4) student • Bitterblue Brianna Whitman, MS graduate student - How does manipulating turf • Classic - How does manipulating turf diversity diversity affect caterpillar • Seville affect southern chinch bug success? success? • Captiva - How does increasing turf diversity - Tropical sod webworm & Fall affect the lawn and its acceptability? armyworm 5 8/24/17 How does diversity affect caterpillars? • Raised fall armyworms on each treatment of St. Augustine: M1, M2, & M4 • Tracked development rate, body size, survival, and more 200 200 A A 150 150 AB AB 100 B 100 B B B Larval Weight (mg) WeightLarval (mg) WeightLarval Larval weight Larval weight Day10 Day10 50 50 0 0 ResistantCaptiva ResistantCaptivaMostFloratam common MostFloratamMix common of 22 MixMix of 2of2 4 Mix of 4 Floratam TRT TRT Figure 1. Figure 1. St. Aug. TreatmentSt. Aug. Treatment How does diversity affect M1 caterpillars? M4 • Also raised tropical sod webworm on each St. Augustine treatment: M1, M2, M4 M2 • Tracked development rate, body size, survival and more 0.9 P<0.05 0.8 A 0.7 0.6 AB 0.5 0.4 B 0.3 % Survival to Pupation 0.2 0.1 0 Mono M2 M4 St. Augustinegrass Diet Joseph Giuliano 6 8/24/17 Can people tell a difference? Ongoing research • We surveyed 60 turfgrass and landscape • Stay tuned for more results! professionals to see if they could differentiate mixtures from monocultures • Several experiments underway with chinch bugs, caterpillars, and field plots • Presented them with M1, M2, & M4 • See it in person at the field day this fall! 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 of of Respondents 0.4 Percentage 0.3 Percentage 0.2 0.1 0.0 Correct Incorrect Yes Answer No Figure 2. Able to Differentiate Mono and Mixed Florida’s Golf Industry ~64 square • Over 1,100 golf courses and nearly 525 golf miles in communities Miami, FL • Most of any state in the U.S. • The average course is over 100 acres 7 8/24/17 Golf courses can provide benefits Another emerging pest… • Benefit people • Temperature reduction & air filtration in cities • Aesthetic enhancement • Recreation Mitigating pests and • Benefit the environment management inputs is • Carbon sequestration critical! • Air & water filtration • Potential ecological benefits • Habitat for wildlife Bermudagrass mite Management options An eriophyid mite Mow low & remove clippings • Eriophyes cynodoniensis • ~0.2 mm long Resistant cultivars *Golf course use only • May disperse by wind, clippings, or other insects • Tifsport & Tifway* Chemical control • Dursban • Azadirachtin • Divanem 8 8/24/17 How can golf courses play a role in Habitat on golf courses more sustainable management? • 40-70% of U.S. golf course acreage is out-of-play What IPM strategies can we use to: • Often composed of maintained turfgrass 1. Address wildlife conservation challenges, 2. Reduce pest management needs, • Why not reduce or maintain management inputs, and: 3. Conserve natural resources 1. Make the course prettier 2. Reduce insect pest management needs 3. Reduce irrigation, fertilization, and mowing 4. Increase public relations September 2016 April 2017 9 8/24/17 Research objectives 1. Conserve pollinating insects by providing habitat and resources 2. Reduce insect pest management needs by increasing biological control of pests 3. Reduce management inputs and increase golf course environmental stewardship Survey for pollinating insects Undergraduate student, Grace Cope • Set up bee bowls and native bee nests to survey pollinators visiting wildflower plots and turfgrass control plots 10 8/24/17 Biological Control of Pests Survey for predators & parasitoids • Many pollinating insects also attack plant pests Undergraduate student, Rebecca Perry • Wasps, flies • Pitfall traps, yellow sticky cards, and • Predators like beetles benefit from taller, more bee bowls to collect natural enemies complex vegetation Pitfall traps Sticky traps Biological control experiment • Determine if insect pests are less abundant around wildflower plots • Fall armyworms • Mole crickets • Determine if predation rates are higher around wildflower plots 11 8/24/17 Public Engagement Implications • Signs adjacent to wildflower plots allow golfers & the community to learn and engage • Creating wildflower habitats on FL golf courses is an opportunity to: 1. Reduce costs & environmental inputs 2. Reduce insect pests & pest management needs 3. Increase public relations & gain recognition 4. Keep up & adapt to our changing environment & society New EDIS publications Stay tuned ENY-340 ENY-317 Managing Whitefies on Landscape Ornamentals1 Managing Scale Insects and Mealybugs on Turfgrass1 • 2 We should have some great information by the end 2 Eileen A. Buss, Catharine Mannion, Lance Osborne, and Adam Dale Adam Dale of this fall Whitefies are a common pest of many ornamental plants Scale insects and mealybugs are ubiquitous in managed on the same plant material, physically resemble each other, throughout Florida and the world. Tere are more than landscapes. Although they are most commonly managed in and cause similar damage. Mealybugs (Pseudococcidae) 1,500 species worldwide and over 75 reported in Florida. the landscape on ornamental plants, this group of insects and sof scale insects (Coccidae) excrete honeydew as Some of the most economically important species in can also be damaging pests of warm season turfgrasses. To waste, whereas armored scale insects (Diaspididae) do not. • If we see real benefits, even a small percentage of Florida are the sweetpotato whitefy, also called the silver- date, little research has investigated management