Minutes of the Technical Committee for Cooperative Regional Research Project W2185

Minutes of the Technical Committee for Cooperative Regional Research Project W2185

Biological Control in Pest Management Systems of Plants.

Kona, Hawaii, 16-18, October 2007

Technical Committee Member and Visitors Present: Kona, Hawaii, 16-18, October 2007

Balciunas, JoeExotic & Invasive Weeds Res. Unit, USDA-ARS/WRRC, Albany, CA

Cooksey, DonaldDepartment of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside, CA

Collier, TimUniversity of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

Coombs, EricOregon Department of Agriculture, Salem, OR

Ehler, LesDepartment of Entomology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA

Ellington, JoeDept. of Ento., Plant Path. & Weed Sci., New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces, NM

Foottit, RobertAgriculture & Agri-FoodCanada, Ottawa, Canada

Gariepy, TaraUniversity of Hawaii, Kauai

Gardner, KevinNew MexicoState Univesity, Las Cruces

Grevstad, FritziUniversity of Washington, Seattle

Hinz, HarrietCABI Europe-Switzerland, Delemont, Switzerland

Johnson, TracyUSFS, Volcano National Park, Hawaii

Lashomb, JamesRutgers University, New Brunswick

Littlefield, JeffreyDepartment of Entomology, MontanaStateUniversity, Bozeman, MT

McEvoy, PeterDept. of Botany & Plant Path., OregonStateUniversity, Corvallis, OR

Messing, RussellPlant and Environ. Protection Sci., Univer. of Hawaii, Kapaa, HI

Miller, RossColl. of Nat. & Applied Sciences, Univer. of Guam, Mangilao, GUAM

Moore, AubreyUniversity of Guam, Mangilao, GUAM

Muratori, FredericUniversity of Hawaii

Nechols, JimDepartment of Entomology, KansasStateUniversity, ManhattanKS

Neumann, GaborUSDA-ARS-PBARC, Hilo, HI

Norton, AndrewDept. Bioagric. Sci. & Pest Mgmt, Colorado State U., Fort Collins, CO

Nowierski, BobUSDA-CSREES, Washington DC

Pickett, CharlieBiological Control Program, CDFA, Sacramento, CA

Pike, KeithWashingtonStateUniversity, Prosser, WA

Piper, GaryWashingtonStateUniversity, Pullman, WA

Pitcairn, MichaelBiological Control Program, CDFA, CA

Rector, BrianUSDA-ARS-EBCL, Montpellier, France

Reddy, G.V.P.University of Guam, Mangilao

Reimer, NeilHawaii Department of Agriculture,

Rudyj, EricUSDA-APHIS-PPQ Science Planning & Issues Mgmt, Washington, DC

Shwarzlander, MarkUniversity of Idaho, Moscow, ID

Smith, LincolnExotic and Invasive Weeds Res. Unit, USDA-ARS/WRRC, Albany, CA

Story, JimMontanaStateUniversity, Bozeman

Thompson, DavidDept. of Ento., Plant Path. & Weed Science, New MexicoStateUniversity, Las Cruces, NM

Usnick, ShaharraUSDA-APHIS-PPQ, Western Region, Fort Collins, CO

Vorsino, AdamUniversity of Hawaii, Kapaa, HI

Wright, MarkUniversity of Hawaii, Manoa, HI

Chair, Ross Miller; Secretary: Michael Pitcairn; Member-at-Large: Peter McEvoy

Minutes:

Chair, Ross Miller; Secretary: Michael Pitcairn; Member-at-Large: Peter McEvoy

Committee Chair Ross Miller, University of Guam, opened the meeting at 8:30 AM Wednesday, 17 October, at the Sheraton Hotel in Kona, Hawaii, with a welcome to everyone. The formal business meeting began with comments from the projects’ Administrative Advisor, Don Cooksey, UC Riverside. Cooksey reported that the project was approved for another five years under the name W2185. He went briefly over the reviewers’ comments concerning the renewal paperwork, indicating that the project received favorable reviews but reviewers requested more emphasis on outreach and impacts (results observed in the field) resulting from the work. Bob Nowierski, USDA-CSREES, Washington DC, added that informal reports summarizing field impacts are important, too. Miller next introduced Michael Pitcairn, California Department of Food and Agriculture, as the host of next year’s meeting (elected last year in Tuscan, Arizona). Pitcairn presented information on two venues for the meeting in 2008: the StanfordSierraConferenceCenter near South Lake Tahoe and the AsilomarConferenceCenter near Monterey, California. Following the presentation, a vote was taken and the StanfordSierraConferenceCenter won (14 to 9). Pitcairn agreed to make the necessary arrangements on behalf of the group. Miller next reported that Peter McEvoy, OregonStateUniversity, was also elected member-at-large for 2008 at last year’s meeting so an election of a new member-at-large was not necessary. After this, Miller asked that all members briefly introduce themselves and state their major current research interests in biological control.

Federal agency reports followed. Shararra Usnick, USDA-APHIS Western Region, gave a overview of the biological control projects funded by APHIS. Eric Rudyj, USDA-APHIS-PPQ, Washington DC, reported on changes occurring the PPQ permitting unit. Two items of particular interest to the group, Rudyj reported on 1) PPQ’s decision to rescind the policy concerning “no hand carry” and the use of bonded carriers and 2) formation of a Permitting Board of Advisors whose assignment is to review and coach PPQ concerning the its efforts to process permits. Also, Regulatory Change Working Group has been formed that will develop a new draft of permitting regulations. Rudyj said that the target date for the new draft regulations is March 2008.

After a break, Bob Nowierski, USDA-CSREES, Washington DC, presented an overview of the current CRESS program activities, including prioirities for competitive grants programs. Nowierski also reported on the IPM3, a federal interagency IPM training and certification program. Currently, the opportunities for IPM training among federal agencies are inadequate. This new training program, developed in cooperation with university scientists, is a 3-tiered training program consisting of modules on different topics. The beta version is due Fall 2007. Nowierski also reported on some of the other changes occurring in the USDA-APHIS-PPQ Permitting Unit, including the change in the language used on the shipping labels (now “living regulated organisms”), the effort to incorporate the use of bar coding with permitted shipments, and the negotiations between USDA-APHIS and the commercial carriers (FedEx, UPS, et al.) in an effort to get them to accept permitted live organisms for shipment. Talks are still ongoing but it is hoped that a compromise will be reached where biological control researchers can again use commercial carriers to ship beneficial organisms to domestic quarantine facilities. Walker Jones, USDA-ARS European Biological Control Laboratory (EBCL), Montpellier, France, was unable to attend but Brian Rector, USDA-ARS-EBCL, presented a summary of the projects underway at the laboratory, including staffing and a list of the arthropod, weed, and pathogen targets. The final report was presented by Hariet Hinz, Weeds Section Leader for CABI Europe-Switzerland, who provided a brief overview of the weed projects now underway in her section at CABI. Of interest was the list of at least six potential natural enemies for perennial pepperweed collected in Turkey and Kazakhstan. Perennial pepperweed is a serious noxious weed whose range is rapidly expanding in the western US. This ended the Business Meeting.

With the conclusion of the Business Meeting, the remaining time was directed at the Scientific Program. The agenda of this portion of the meeting is presented in the appendix below. All but one of the talks in the first section concerned projects in Guam and Hawaii. All were very interesting and occurred in habitats not typically experience by mainland scientists. The sole exception was a talk by Lincoln Smith, USDA-ARS-Albany, who provided a provocative discussion of several challenges that face biological control in the future: better use of foreign scientists, better prediction (pre-release) of efficacy, how can phylogenetic techniques better help us, the problem with cryptic species, improvements in the regulatory process, improvements in mass rearing technology, is there a role for dedicated insectaries?

The Scientific Program continued Friday morning and consisted of six talks on various topics, some general, some specific. Following the last speaker in the section, Miller provided a recap of the meeting and provided some of his views concerning future challenges facing biological control researchers working in tropical environments. The Scientific Program concluded at noon, Thursday 18 October. The group thanked all of the speakers for an excellent set of presentations then applauded Ross Miller for his efforts in planning and hosting the meeting. The meeting was then adjourned.

Agenda

General Meeting Theme:
Where are we now and where do we want to go in the next five years?

11:30 – 12:00Aubrey Moore & Ross Miller, University of Guam; Establishment of the lady beetle, Rhyzobius lophanthae, on Guam for biological control of the Asian cycad scale, Aulacaspis yasumatsui.

12:00 – 1:15Lunch

1:15 – 1:45Mark Wright, University of Hawaii – Manoa; The use of molecular procedures in determining the origin of Erythrina gall wasp.

1:45 – 2:15Neil Reimer, Hawaii Department of Agriculture; Classical biological control of Erythrina gall wasp in Hawaii.

2:15 – 2:45Robert Foottit, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada - Ottawa; Molecular considerations in host selection for biological control.

2:45 – 3:15Gabor Neumann, USDA-ARS-PBARC (Hilo); Host specificity testing of Encarsia diaspidicola and biological control prospects for white peach scale in Hawaii.

3:15 – 3:45Break

3:45 – 4:15Lincoln Smith, USDA-ARS Albany, CA; Possible ways to revolutionize biological control of weeds.

4:15 – 4:45Adam Vorsino, Anna M Wieczorek, Mark G. Wright, and Russell H. Messing, University of Hawaii; Genetic change associated with a host shift in a biological control agent (Diachasmimorpha tryoni) in the Hawaiian Islands.

4:45 – 5:00Discussion on retaining the USDA scale insect systematist position at the Systematic Entomology Lab in Beltsville

Thursday – 18 October 2007

8:00 – 8:30Charlie Pickett, California Department of Agriculture; Strips of alfalfa as a trap crop in strawberries.

8:30 – 9:00Gary Piper, WashingtonStateUniversity, Pullman; Integrated weed management: The nuts and bolts.

9:00 – 9:30Joe Balciunas, USDA-ARS, Albany; The Code of Best Practices for Biological Control of Weeds: Is it having an impact?

9:30 – 10:00Brian Rector, EBCL, Montpelier, France; All dressed up and no place to go - Biological control candidates of invasive teasels (Dipsacus spp.) looking for a home in the US.

10:00 – 10:30Break

10:30 – 11:00Hariet Hinz, CABI; Exotic invasive knotweeds: ecosystem impact and potential for biological control.

11:00 – 11:30Mark Shwarzlander, University of Idaho, Moscow; A permit for interstate movement and the release of the milfoil weevil Euhrychiopsis lecontei in Idaho - USDA APHIS PPQ versus the State of Idaho.

11:30 – 12:00Ross Miller, Where are we, where do we go? (recap of the meeting)