The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the branch of the agriculture department responsible for overseeing GM CROPS,
In 2011, APHIS regulators announced that a herbicide-tolerant Kentucky bluegrass would not fall under their purview,
and was just a test case to see how APHIS would respond. That is not the case for other groups that have been told that their GM products would not be regulated.
Sally  Mackenzie, a plant biologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, contacted APHIS about the high-yield offspring of a transgenic sorghum grass plant
In 2012, APHIS regulators invited Mackenzie to the organization s headquarters in Riverdale, Maryland, and questioned her about this hypothesis. APHIS eventually notified her that it would not regulate her plants a decision that Mackenzie says has accelerated her research
and may allow her to launch a company to develop her grass variety. Agricultural giants Monsanto, based in St  Louis, Missouri,
Have you been through APHIS? says Mackenzie. Other companies are gauging their prospects with different DNA-modification tools,
In 2010, APHIS told Dow Agrosciences of Indianapolis, Indiana, that it would not regulate a herbicide-tolerant maize (corn) made using zinc-finger nucleases.
Massachusetts, says that he would rather be regulated by APHIS to earn the public s trust.
In April 2012, APHIS told him that the agency would regulate his variety in spite of the fact that the genes he introduced came from other apples.
the rate of shift varied significantly for different groups and among individual species. Fungi, beetles, true bugs, mites,
A case in point is the whitefly Bemisia tabaci, an insect that feeds on plant vascular tissue called phloem.
Researchers have managed now to halt the whitefly s march. Strategies such as planting crop varieties that are resistant to the pest,
The idea of introducing aphid alarm pheromones into wheat to protect it against aphid attack that comes out of that group.
which controls populations of aphids whiteflies termites and more. Save the bees from disease and they can in turn save our food.
The report looks at the so-called superbugs that modern American healthcare and farming practices have bred.
but leave behind so-called superbugs that are able survive a round of antibiotics. The low doses used to promote growth are especially prone to leaving superbugs behind.
Eventually the resistant microbes come out of the animals uhh other ends and from there may spread to crops as fertilizer get carried around by birds
and years of antibiotic use and you eventually breed large populations of superbugs. Getting farms to stop using antibiotics unnecessarily would be a major step toward slowing the evolution of superbugs.
The argument now is whether the FDA s new program actually does this. Critics worry that farms will continue to use antibiotics widely
Aphids bees and ants can reproduce asexually. Virgin births sometimes occur among hammerhead sharks turkeys boa constrictors and komodo dragons.
kills mites fleas bed bugs insects parasites<PARASITES! OMG!!!I am a groomer and breeder of expensive (show quality) Miniature schnauzers (my last sold for $1500. 00)
Also note the FAO APHIS and FDA all acknowledge the risks involved with GMO's. Their adverse affects on environment have been shown
There's no known treatment for sick trees nor any pesticide that is able to kill sufficient numbers of the illness'carrier an insect called the Asian citrus psyllid to totally prevent the disease's spread.
#Why Do Cicadas Invade In Such Crazy Numbers? Magicicada is a plague unlike any other here in the northeast.
And it is a plague with a reason: emerging in absurd over-the-top biblical numbers is the cicada's bizarre--but effective--means of survival.
The Magicicada the genus of cicada that's about to blanket the northeast United states is a very odd creature.
It is in the animal kingdom a very tasty treat which is unfortunate for the cicada but not so odd.
What's odd is that it has literally no protection against getting eaten: it has a mouth
The cicada sits there on a tree and makes noise to attract a mate while looking shiny and obvious and defenseless and delicious.
Literally every insectivorous animal in the northeast--songbirds carnivorous birds (hawks owls) opossums foxes cats shrews snakes spiders and even dogs--will gorge on cicadas.
There could be up to 1. 5 million cicadas per acre so even a loss of 40 percent leaves well probably still a couple billion cicadas from this brood alone.
Gilbert estimates that the brood will need between 3000 and 4000 cicadas per acre to swamp the predators.
So each acre will need significantly more cicadas than that to survive to breed in that area again.
The Magicicada attack is an unusual event in the northeastern ecosystem; there are very few events in the lives of flora
So the ecosystem doesn't depend on the cicadas the same way some animals may rely on certain seasonal fruits
Instead the cicadas serve as a kind of bonus or treat. Redwing blackbirds and eastern bluebirds have been found to have much stronger and healthier broods in years that coincide with Magicicada's emergence as do mammals like foxes and raccoons.
But one of the more surprising beneficiaries are the trees. When cicadas lay eggs they use their proboscis to cut little slits in thin branches
and lay eggs in there. When the larvae hatch they simply plop down onto the ground bury themselves
there is a gene that differentiates the 17-year cicadas from the 13-year cicadas but says Gilbert we don't really have any way to see what the hell they're doing down there for 17 years.
Occasionally if too many cicadas make these slits in branches the branch can break and droop.
And the last year of the cicadas'lives underground is a bit harder on the tree
since the cicada larvae are eating more and more tree juices from the roots to get ready for their brief adulthood.
and the cicadas repay the trees. Cicadas molt when they emerge from the ground leaving behind a chitin exoskeleton clinging to trees.
That exoskeleton is very rich in nitrogen and when it eventually falls to the ground it decomposes
The bodies of the adult cicadas too if they're not eaten decompose in huge numbers making the soil from the year after a Magicicada emergence incredibly rich and fertile.
Here the writer uses a metaphor claiming cicadas are a plague so his usage of the phrase biblical numbers is appropriate.
#Building A Better Bed bug Trap An old folk remedy involving hairy bean leaves strewn around the bedroom may have a new life as a modern bed bug trap according to new research from the University of California Irvine
With insecticide resistance on the rise such a device could be a helpful tool for treating bed bug infestations.
or around the bed to keep bed bugs from biting as he traveled through Europe. In the early twentieth century the approach was also common throughout the Balkans according to a 1927 report from the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Army.
American entomologists studying the effect in the 1940s noted the bed bugs could hardly be induced to move from the leaves
Loudon's team tipped single male bed bugs from a glass vial onto the bottom surface of kidney bean leaves
While there is no evolutionary connection between bed bugs and bean leaves similar trichomes on other plants are known to capture ants aphids bees flies
and leafhoppers among other species. Scientists hypothesize that the structures first evolved for other reasons possibly to retain water with the defensive role coming later.
Of course keeping fresh bean leaves on hand isn't an easy bed bug fix says Loudon: The inconvenience of bean leaves is that not everyone wants them scattered around their bed room.
Synthetics mimicking the surface of the bean leaf however could be placed as a ring around the bed legs a floor mat at the door a strip on the bed board it could be something one put's in one's suitcase Loudon adds
since bed bugs really only get from one place to another by walking or being carried. Ideally a synthetic version would have the same geometry
Of course a bed bug trap only works if a bed bug actually walks through it which means it is unlikely that even a crafty biomimetic material will be a final solution for a bed bug infestation
but instead one part of an approach that may include heat steam vacuuming and insecticides. Brooke Borel is a contributing editor at Popular Science
and is writing a book about bed bugs for the University of Chicago Press. Follow her on Twitter@brookeborel
. What a strange sound Don't let the bed bugs bite. as my mother or grandmother said to me as a child in a tone of voice that made no difference it suggested bugs might actually bite
when she says there is a growing resistance on bed bugs by the use of pesticides. Any scientific break through are positive.
Its a step in the right direction for a more green method to get rid of bed bugs. Many people are looking for much more safe ways to get rid of bed bugs without the use of pesticides
and this could be one one day! I am gonna get ahead of the game and start to plan many many bean plants:).
I try to educate everyone on bed bug prevention methods on my free time or anything bed bug related
so if you have any bed bug questions and would like a professional opinion please visit my site at http://www. bedbugs-brooklyn. com
and click the contact us link and ask away. i try to help out any frantic people on my down time. my company does hundreds of bed bug services monthly so
i have had first experience on bed bug behaviors and methods. again brooke great story i look forward to another bed bug story from you:)
Sooooooo...Brook Borels big blue book of bed bugs...Its one of the best articles i have read about bed bugs.
Its is truely a great method to eradicate bed bug infestation through green methods without using pesticides.
But I will still say prevention is better than curewe should always take precaution to avoid bed bug problem.
For more details on precautions you can visit http://www. brooklynpestcontrolservices. co o
#You've Never Seen Chickens Look This Humanclick here to enter the gallerywho's the fairest fowl of all?
In her new book The Magnificent Chicken Brooklyn-based photographer Tamara Staples makes a strong case for the purebred Gallus gallus domesticus from the ultra-dignified Black Langshan Cockerel to the eccentric
Beaded Buff Laced Polish Frizzle Bantam Hen. If you have never been to a poultry show you've probably never even imagined chickens as diverse and stunning as the ones in Staples'portraits.
The book begins with an interview and essay by This American Life host Ira Glass.
HDOA and APHIS are also working to develop a long-term federally funded eradication effort which may include the controlled introduction of biological predators like a fungus that's known to attack the beetle.
It is spread by a tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid that feeds on the trees leaving bacteria that starve the tree of nutrients.
In the battle against greening UF/IFAS researchers have tried everything from working on ways to eradicate the psyllid to grafting trees that show better resistance to greening.
Whitefly experimentation to prevent contamination of agricultureon November 8th Jove the Journal of Visualized Experiments will introduce a new technique to aid in the development of defenses against diseases threatening food crops worldwide.
The method published under the title Transmitting Plant viruses Using Whiteflies is applicable to such at-risk crops as tomatoes and common bean plants.
The whitefly method provides a means of interfering with the plant-contamination process as well as the cultivation of plants that are altogether resistant to infection.
and her colleagues write that numerous genera of whitefly-transmitted plant viruses (such as Begomovirus Carlavirus Crinivirus Ipomovirus Torradovirus) are part of an emerging and economically significant group of pathogens affecting important food
The technique includes reliably rearing whiteflies with a specific virus while omitting the possibility of cross-contamination to other viruses--an easily encountered problem because of the sheer number of whiteflies used in testing.
Such contamination would jeopardize the results of an entire experiment. After exposing large numbers of a particular plant species to a specific whitefly-transmitted virus a researcher can then note which individual plants resisted infection and why.
This article outlines how to generate hundreds or thousands of infected plants year-round by exposing them to whiteflies each week.
Therefore the whitefly-assisted transmission method provides researchers with a powerful means for continued experimentation in developing plant defenses against the threat of whitefly-transmitted disease.
Polston said that she published this technique through Jove's video format because it was difficult to explain it through traditional text-only journals.
The mutually beneficial interaction between laurels and ants which also involves tiny sap-sucking bugs called scale insects that make the honeydew is a well-known example of
Instead they host scale insects familiar to gardeners as common backyard pests which produce the honeydew.
Scale insects are the middlemen in this protection racket: through the scale insects the trees indirectly pay a carbon fee in the form of sugar-rich sap that is distilled into honeydew to the ants in exchange for guard duty.
Pringle and her colleagues found that at the drier study sites laurel trees support more scale insects which in turn produce more honeydew.
The ant colonies that feast on this bounty are correspondingly larger and defend trees more effectively responding more quickly to disturbances.
which are used for food by the trees the scale insects and the ants. Defoliation is a greater potential threat at the drier sites
The lab's new research has given us compounds that serve as repellents making possible safe alternatives to DEET for a variety of applications including control of mosquitoes flies and possibly lice bed bugs ants cockroaches grain pests and agricultural pests.
These bacteria are carried from tree to tree by two species of the citrus psyllid a winged insect that is about one-eighth inch long
As the citrus psyllid feeds on a leaf it can pick up the bacteria from a diseased tree
However the citrus psyllid that transmits the bacteria was first found in California in 2008
and bedbugs thanks to a less expensive way of making large amounts of the once rare and pricey ingredient scientists say.
Nootkatone is a broad-spectrum ingredient that has been shown to be effective as a control agent for mosquitoes ticks and bedbugs.
#How bedbugs shrug off pesticides and simple measures to deal with itthe bedbug's most closely guarded secrets--stashed away in protective armor that enables these bloodsucking little nasties to shrug off insecticides
and thrive in homes and hotels--are on the agenda today at a major scientific meeting in Indianapolis.
In a talk at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) scientists are describing identification of the genes responsible for pesticide-resistance in bedbugs
and the implications for millions of people trying to cope with bedbug infestations that have been resurging for more than a decade.
The bedbug presentation is part of an international research award symposium at the ACS National Meeting
The surprise discovery we never expected is that most of the genes responsible for pesticide resistance in the bedbug are active in its outer skin-like shell or cuticle.
The bodies of bedbugs she explained are extremely flat before the creatures slurp up a meal of human blood.
That profile adapts bedbugs for a life of hiding in the seams of mattresses upholstered chairs the lining of suitcases and other concealed locations.
But it also creates a vulnerability to environmental toxins giving bedbugs an unusually large surface area where pesticides can enter their bodies.
--and accounts for the difficulty in squashing a bedbug. But research by Zhu's team and others has established that it's also a metabolic hot spot to protect against insecticides.
Zhu's team sifted through the bedbug's genome--its complete set of genes--to identify the genes responsible for this pesticide resistance.
They studied 21 populations of bedbugs from cities in Ohio and Kentucky (Cincinnati Lexington and Louisville) that were plagued with bedbug infestations.
We took advantage of cutting-edge next-generation genetic sequencing technology that's now available. It enabled us to perform quickly an analysis that would have taken years in the 1990s--a genome-wide analysis of the insecticide-resistance related genes in bedbugs.
They found 14 genes that in various combinations help bedbugs survive pesticide treatments with pyrethroid-type insecticides.
Most were active in the bug's cuticle and block or slow an insecticide from reaching the nerve cells where it can kill.
In addition to this first-line of defense Zhu's team discovered that bedbugs have developed a second layer of protection.
New pesticides alone however will not be enough to cope with the bedbug resurgence. Zhu cited evidence that bedbugs in laboratory colonies exposed to lethal doses of pyrethroids begin to develop resistance within a few generations
which can be less than one year. It reminds us how quickly a new insecticide can become ineffective she said.
In the future efficient bedbug management should not rely on any single insecticide. We need to combine as many chemical
She cited specifically integrated pest management for bedbugs approaches in which careful use of pesticides combines with other common-sense measures.
Those include removing bedroom clutter where bedbugs can hide frequent vacuuming of dust and other debris washing bed linens in hot water
and the carmine reds extracted from cochineal insects. Those include sustainability and ease of production. Cochineal insects feed on a certain type of cactus native to South america and Mexico.
It takes about 2500 bugs to produce one ounce of cochineal extract used in ice creams yogurts candy beverages and other foods.
However PSP anthocyanins are difficult to extract. Talcott reported on development of a new process that extracts larger amounts of pigment from PSPS.
While much previous research has focused on trying to create a superbug that could tackle the whole job of processing waste plant materials into biofuels Lin
Since this is a growing issue with cockroaches bedbugs fleas potato beetles and other crop pests the discovery could lead to benefits for the pest-control industry and farming.
#Flower power fights orchard pestswashington State university researchers have found they can control one of fruit growers'more severe pests aphids with a remarkably benign tool:
and predator bugs that in turn preyed on woolly apple aphids a pest that growers often control with chemical sprays.
After one week aphid densities were significantly lower on trees adjacent to flowers than on control plots
which have larvae that often feed on aphids. Hoverflies and other insects are attracted to flowers because they can find food in the form of pollen and nectar.
and colleagues found few hoverfly larvae showing that the hoverflies had only a marginal effect on the aphid population.
The mystery of the disappearing aphids seemed solved when the researchers found a diverse community of spiders and predatory insects in the plots with sweet alyssum.
But was it really the flowers that attracted aphid predators? The scientists sprayed protein markers on the sweet alyssum
The woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid attacking tree shoots and roots said Betsy Beers an entomologist based at WSU's Tree Fruit Research
These aphids also secrete a sticky liquid called honeydew which can coat the apples causing much annoyance during harvest.
The aphids were kept previously at bay when orchardists sprayed pesticides to control codling moths. Since the phase out of organophosphate insecticides though the woolly apple aphid has been making a comeback in central Washington and elsewhere.
The researchers state that the use of sweet alyssum for biological control can be integrated easily with standard orchard-management practices
The article Flowers promote aphid suppression in apple orchards was published in the July 2013 edition of Biological Controlstory Source:
#Flower power fights orchard pestswashington State university researchers have found they can control one of fruit growers'more severe pests aphids with a remarkably benign tool:
and predator bugs that in turn preyed on woolly apple aphids a pest that growers often control with chemical sprays.
After one week aphid densities were significantly lower on trees adjacent to flowers than on control plots
which have larvae that often feed on aphids. Hoverflies and other insects are attracted to flowers because they can find food in the form of pollen and nectar.
and colleagues found few hoverfly larvae showing that the hoverflies had only a marginal effect on the aphid population.
The mystery of the disappearing aphids seemed solved when the researchers found a diverse community of spiders and predatory insects in the plots with sweet alyssum.
But was it really the flowers that attracted aphid predators? The scientists sprayed protein markers on the sweet alyssum
The woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid attacking tree shoots and roots said Betsy Beers an entomologist based at WSU's Tree Fruit Research
These aphids also secrete a sticky liquid called honeydew which can coat the apples causing much annoyance during harvest.
The aphids were kept previously at bay when orchardists sprayed pesticides to control codling moths. Since the phase out of organophosphate insecticides though the woolly apple aphid has been making a comeback in central Washington and elsewhere.
The researchers state that the use of sweet alyssum for biological control can be integrated easily with standard orchard-management practices
The article Flowers promote aphid suppression in apple orchards was published in the July 2013 edition of Biological Controlstory Source:
The hemlock woolly adelgid an exotic invasive insect has caused widespread hemlock mortality says Steven Brantley a postdoctoral researcher at Coweeta
Coweeta researchers estimated changes in transpiration at the forest-level since hemlock woolly adelgid infestation by monitoring tree water use
Whiteflies Ambush a Climate-Resilient Cropinterest in cassava has intensified across Africa as rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns caused by climate change threaten the future viability of food staples such as maize and wheat.
because they appear to be one of several factors causing an explosion in whiteflies which carry the viruses that cause CMD
Compounding the effects of rising temperatures scientists also think that genetic changes have led to the emergence of super whiteflies.
We used to see only three or four whiteflies per plant; now we're seeing thousands said James Legg a leading cassava expert at the International Institute of Tropical agriculture (IITA.
You literally have a situation where human beings are competing for food--with whiteflies. Farmers also help spread the disease by planting new fields with infected stem cuttings.
while it would take several years for the disease to spread across the continent via whiteflies alone infected stem cuttings could spark outbreaks in new areas overnight.
and environmentally sustainable ways to control whiteflies as well as proposals for new surveillance systems that can better track
#Bean leaves can trap bedbugs, researchers findinspired by a traditional Balkan bedbug remedy researchers have documented how microscopic hairs on kidney bean leaves effectively stab
and trap the biting insects according to findings published online today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
Bedbugs have made a dramatic comeback in the U s. in recent years infesting everything from homes and hotels to schools movie theaters and hospitals.
Their work was motivated by a centuries-old remedy for bedbugs used in Bulgaria Serbia and other southeast European countries.
The synthetic surfaces snag the bedbugs temporarily but do not yet stop them as effectively as real leaves Loudon said suggesting that crucial mechanics of the trichomes still need to be determined.
Modern scientific techniques let us fabricate materials at a microscopic level with the potential to'not let the bedbugs bite'without pesticides.
Imagine if every bedbug inadvertently brought into a dwelling was captured before it had a chance to bite
The researchers found that a scale insect that exclusively feeds on oak trees was 13 times more abundant on willow oaks in the hottest parts of the city of Raleigh North carolina than in cooler areas of the same city even
In a second experiment they found scale insects collected from trees in hot areas had higher survival rates in hot greenhouses than in cool ones.
The insect's recent invasion to the island of Guam has endangered the island's endemic cycad species. Local biologists introduced a voracious beetle predator to the island to eat the scale insects
Unfortunately the much larger beetle predator could not make the same journey through the trichomes to feed on the scale insects that were feeding on the plant beneath the trichomes.
and ornamental plants such as plant louses. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Plataforma SINC.
Haliaspis spartinae otherwise known as scale insects. These pinhead-sized insects form white protective armor that allows them to live
Funded by a grant from California Sea Grant Long set out to discover exactly how these scale insects affect the growth of cordgrass.
and used toothbrushes to remove scale insects from cordgrass in a particular cropping. They let the scale insects go about their usual business on another set of plants.
After 20 weeks they compared the normally-infested plants with the brushed-off ones. We saw major negative effects from the scale insects Long said.
Plants with scale insects were weighed shorter less and died off earlier in the season than did brushed the-off cordgrass.
This makes sense Long said as scale insects sap the cordgrass of sugars and nutrients. But he was curious
whether another factor might also be at play: soil salinity. Saltiness is a constantly churning variable in a salt marsh
So he performed a second experiment in the lab growing the cordgrass with and without scale insects in either fresh water or seawater.
when it was infested with scale insects than when it wasn't. Long was puzzled initially. Why did these insects appear to help the cordgrass grow in fresh water but not in salt water?
when these plants aren't stressed they can compensate for their grazing by scale insects by growing more Long said.
He found that once the salinity got high enough it negated the positive effects of removing the scale insects.
whether scale insects positively or negatively affect the growth of cordgrass. Long and Porturas published their findings this week in PLOS ONE.
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