or OMPS that flies aboard the Suomi-NPP satellite measures relative aerosol concentrations such as those generated by wildfires.
#Medfly and other fruit flies entrenched in California, study concludesresearch published today in the international journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B clearly demonstrates that at least five and as many as nine species of tropical fruit flies including the infamous Medfly are established permanently in California
and inexorably spreading despite more than 30 years of intervention and nearly 300 state-sponsored eradication programs aimed at the flies.
The new study by a trio of scientists affiliated with the University of California Davis has significant implications for how government agencies develop policies to successfully manage pests that pose a threat to California's $43. 5 billion agricultural industry.
and establishment of these insects virtually all of the fruit-fly species targeted by eradication projects have been reappearing in the same locations--several of them annually
--and gradually spreading in the state said UC Davis entomology professor James Carey an international authority on fruit-fly invasion biology
which examined more than 60 years of state fruit-fly capture data. Regulatory policies as well as pest management and agricultural practices need to be revised to reflect the reality that these insects are here to stay.
Fortunately the multiple small populations of fruit flies in the state and the long lag times in the growth of these populations will give policymakers
This work is the most comprehensive analysis of populations of tropical fruit flies in California to date
Frank Zalom incoming president of the Entomological Society of America and a UC Davis entomology professor said the new study provides a careful and systematic analysis of fruit-fly finds
I hope that it helps lead to new discussions on a long-term approach for dealing with fruit flies
and European nations with conditions equally hospitable to fruit flies as well as similar patterns of international travel and detections of fruit flies in cargo at ports of entry do not have established fruit-fly populations.
This combination of findings definitively rebuts the hypothesis that the multiple detections of many species of fruit flies in California each year are the result of repeated new introductions he said.
Papadopoulos the study's lead author and an internationally renowned expert on fruit-fly demography and invasion biology was formerly a postdoctoral fellow
and visiting scholar at UC Davis. These findings may have wider implications regarding management of fruit-fly invasions that may go well beyond California Papadopoulos said.
and possibly several more fruit-fly species are established in California said Plant who provided mathematical modeling and statistical analysis for the study.
The researchers applied computerized data-mapping technology to analyze historical fruit-fly detection data. Using this analysis they determined that besides the olive fly
which is confirmed as established the Mediterranean Mexican oriental melon peach and guava fruit flies are established now also in California.
Fruit-fly history in Californiatropical fruit flies have been a concern to California for nearly 60 years with the first fruit fly discovered here in 1954.
Since then 11386 individual flies including adults and larvae representing 17 different fruit-fly species have been detected in nearly all regions of the state.
Both adult and larval fruit flies pose a threat with the larvae (maggots) actually burrowing into
and damaging a wide range of fruits and vegetables. Because of the state's geographic location and climate California is considered particularly vulnerable to introduction and establishment of tropical fruit-fly populations.
The pests were thought to be arriving either on cargo shipments or on infested fruits carried in by travelers from regions of the world where fruit flies were had native
or become established. State and federal agencies have for many years coordinated efforts to prevent the invasive fruit flies from establishing breeding populations in California and other vulnerable states.
Such activities include restricting commodity imports from regions with ongoing fruit-fly outbreaks requiring postharvest treatments for produce grown in areas with established fruit-fly populations maintaining large-scale fruit-fly monitoring programs for early detection
and release of sterile fruit flies to slow or prevent reproduction of the invasive flies. The potential costs associated with established fruit-fly populations are substantial.
For example a 1995 study estimated that a confirmed Medfly establishment alone in California would result in $493 million to $875 million in annual direct costs
and the imposition of a related embargo on shipping fruits and vegetables from the state would cause an additional loss of $564 million.
The state economy could lose $1. 2 billion in gross revenue and more than 14000 jobs the earlier study suggested.
New study findingsin the new published study the researchers report that several lines of evidence now indicate that the fruit flies have become self-sustaining
and thus established in California including: Collectively the data suggest that much like other invasive species tropical fruit flies can be present in low numbers for decades Carey said.
This'lag time'which is such a hallmark of invasion biology explains why California can be harboring very small established populations of these pests with only periodic captures that reveal their presence.
He noted that two aspects of the fruit-fly invasions are advantageous for policymakers and planners:
all detected fruit-fly species are extremely small and may continue to exist for years below detectable levels
and the fairly long lag times provide opportunities for developing new management protocols and programs.
Suggested responsecarey said that an immediate assessment should be made of the economic impact of having each species established in the state projecting the individual and collective effects of the fruit flies for all affected California fruit and vegetable crops.
He also suggests that government agencies might increase fruit-fly monitoring particularly in the Central Valley and California's other agriculturally important areas;
establish fruit-fly-free zones in the state to assure trading partners; and enable farmers to purchase crop insurance that would provide protection against losses due to fruit-fly crop damage
or marketing restrictions. In addition California farmers and packers should consider the presence of established fruit-fly populations
when developing their cropping plans and production strategies he said. In the scientific arena Carey recommends that genetic analyses be developed for all of the fruit-fly species identified in the state to determine
whether single or multiple invasions of each species are occurring and identify new strains that might be introduced in the future.
I predict this paper will be remembered as much for its future impact on how science is used in developing strategies for pest management worldwide as for the conclusions it draws about the state of tropical fruit-fly populations in California he said.
The researchers contrasted their findings with gene-regulation data from another model organism Drosophila to see where the similarities lay.
They found that there were a lot more differences between closely related mouse strains than there are between distantly related fruit-fly strains.
while fruit flies have relatively little. So a mouse's regulatory wiring will just have a lot more wiggle room than a fruit fly's says Paul.
That gives us a clearer picture of what we can expect to learn about mammalian genetic regulation from fruit flies.
The study could help scientists understand how gene regulation differs from one person to the next explaining why genes that cause disease in some people don't have that effect in others.
#Snakes devour more mosquito-eating birds as climate change heats forestsmany birds feed on mosquitoes that spread the West Nile virus a disease that killed 286 people in the United states in 2012 according to the Centers
and causes increases in algal blooms greenhouse gases and insects like mosquitoes that carry disease.
#Second door discovered in war against mosquito-borne diseasesin the global war against disease-carrying mosquitoes scientists have believed long that a single molecular door was the key target for insecticide.
This door however is closing giving mosquitoes the upper hand. In this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences a team of researchers led by Michigan State university has discovered a second gateway that could turn the tide against the mosquitoes'growing advantage.
For many years pyrethroid insecticides have been deployed in developing countries to fend off diseases such as malaria dengue fever and more.
because they eliminate mosquitoes while having few if any side effects on humans said Yuzhe Du MSU electrophysiologist and one of the lead authors.
Our discovery of a second receptor in the mosquitoes'sodium channel gives us a better understanding of how the insecticide works at a molecular level as well as could lead to ways to stem mosquitoes'resistance to pyrethroids.
Mosquitoes don't die from the toxin per se. They die from sodium overdose. With the door jammed wide open their cells gulp down sodium which overexcites their nervous system and eventually leads to paralysis and death.
In the last decade growing resistance in mosquitoes has been detected in many countries. At the molecular level resistance appears as mutations in the primary receptor in the sodium channel that allow mosquitoes to survive exposure to the insecticide.
The discovery of the second receptor in the sodium channel however opens up more avenues to increase pyrethroids'effectiveness.
One of the keys to the success of this research was our cloning of a mosquito sodium channel for the first time said Ke Dong MSU insect toxicologist and neurobiologist and the paper's senior author.
The revelation not only explains much of pyrethroid resistance found in mosquito populations worldwide but also helps answer why they affect insects but not humans and other mammals.
and monitoring of pyrethroid resistance in mosquitoes and other arthropod pests Dong said. It could have broad impacts in agriculture and medicine that affect people's lives especially in developing countries.
Such changes are known to reduce the lifespan of the most widely studied insect the common fruit fly
#Aerial mosquito spraying study finds no immediate public health risksin what researchers say is the first public health study of the aerial mosquito spraying method to prevent West Nile virus a UC Davis study analyzed emergency
This week mosquito control officials said the region's recent rainstorms and warming temperatures have increased stagnant water and favorable conditions for mosquitoes
which will likely magnify the incidence West Nile virus and the risks of human transmission.
The mosquito-borne disease first appeared in the state about 10 years ago. It already has been detected in dead birds
and mosquitoes in at least 10 counties in recent weeks including Sacramento and Yolo. However the adult mosquito population has yet to increase to levels that require aerial spraying over heavily urbanized areas as was done in the Sacramento region in previous years.
Unfortunately West Nile virus is endemic in California and the United states and the controversy of mosquito management will likely arise every summer said Estella Geraghty associate professor of clinical internal medicine at UC Davis
and lead author of the study. Findings from studies such as this one help public health and mosquito control agencies better understand the risks and benefits of their practices.
West Nile virus has become an increasingly serious problem throughout the United states and may become more of a threat as the climate warms.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention West Nile virus is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in the United states. The virus is transmitted to humans and animals through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Mosquitoes become infected with the virus when they feed on infected birds. In California around the time of the study#2004 and 2005#hundreds of people were sickened by West Nile virus
Integrated mosquito management#a method to control mosquitoes through targeted interventions based on mosquito biology that includes surveillance of mosquito activity reducing breeding sites such as neglected swimming pools
and the killing of larval and adult mosquitoes#are used all in California to control the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile virus
. When local methods prove inadequate aerial spraying is used to rapidly reduce large adult mosquito populations.
The Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District provided the aerial spraying data. Story Source:
Experiments conducted on the fruit fly Drosophila by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried have shown that hunger not only modifies behaviour but also changes pathways in the brain.
Also the fruit fly Drosophila changes its behaviour depending on its nutritional state. The animals usually perceive even low quantities of carbon dioxide to be a sign of danger
However rotting fruit and plants--the flies'main sources of food--also release carbon dioxide. Neurobiologists in Martinsried have discovered now how the brain deals with this constant conflict in deciding between a hazardous substance and a potential food source taking advantage of the fly as a great genetic model organism for circuit neuroscience.
In various experiments the scientists presented the flies with environments containing carbon dioxide or a mix of carbon dioxide and the smell of food.
It emerged that hungry flies overcame their aversion to carbon dioxide significantly faster than fed flies
--if there was a smell of food in the environment at the same time. Facing the prospect of food hungry animals are
therefore significantly more willing to take risks than sated flies. But how does the brain manage to decide between these options?
and should therefore be generated outside the mushroom body in the fly's brain: previously the nerve cells in the mushroom body were linked only with learning
However when the scientists temporarily disabled these nerve cells hungry flies no longer showed any reaction whatsoever to carbon dioxide.
The behaviour of fed flies on the other hand remained the same: they avoided the carbon dioxide. In further studies the researchers identified a projection neuron
In fed flies nerve cells outside the mushroom body are enough for flies to flee from the carbon dioxide.
If mushroom body or projection neuron activity is blocked only hungry flies are concerned no longer about the carbon dioxide explains Ilona Grunwald-Kadow who headed the study.
The results show that the innate flight response to carbon dioxide in fruit flies is controlled by two parallel neural circuits depending on how satiated the animals are.
If the fly is hungry it will no longer rely on the'direct line 'but will use brain centres to gauge internal and external signals
#The discerning fruit fly: Linking brain-cell activity and behavior in smell recognitionbehind the common expression you can't compare apples to oranges lies a fundamental question of neuroscience:
In the fruit fly the ability to distinguish smells lies in a region of the brain called the mushroom body (MB.
CSHL Associate professor Glenn Turner and colleagues have mapped now the activity of brain cells in the MB in flies conditioned to have Pavlovian behavioral responses to different odors.
--whether a person or a fly--in order to serve as a basis for making vital decisions.
Kenyon cells make up only about 4%of the entire fly brain and are extremely sensitive to inputs triggered by odors in
if they could link these signals with actual behavior in flies. The team used an imaging technique that allowed them to view the responses of over 100 Kenyon cells at a time
This correlated well with the behavior of the flies: when brain activity suggested the flies had difficulty discerning the odors their behavior also showed they could not choose between them.
The activity of these cells also accounts for flies'ability to discern novel odors and group them together.
This was determined in a generalization test in which the degree to which flies learned a generalized aversion to unfamiliar test odors could be predicted based upon the relatively similar activity patterns of Kenyon cells that the odors induced.
Being able to do this type of'mind-reading'means we really understand what signals these activity patterns are sending says Turner.
Imaging a population code for odor identity in the Drosophila mushroom body is published online in Journal of Neuroscience on June 19 2013.
From a base in Fairbanks Alaska the C-23 flies up to eight hours a day to sites on Alaska's North Slope interior and Yukon river Valley over tundra permafrost boreal
and mild autumn weather result in a higher prevalence of deer keds (louse fly parasite). A great deal of pine forest in the habitat of the moose has the same effect.
#Research aims for insecticide that targets malaria mosquitoesin malaria-ridden parts of Africa mosquito netting protects people from being infected
now a University of Florida entomologist wants to improve the netting by coating it with insecticide toxic only to mosquitoes.
The insecticide would work by interfering with an enzyme found in the nervous systems of mosquitoes and many other organisms called acetylcholinesterase.
If the enzyme can't do its job the mosquito begins convulsing and dies. The research team's goal is to develop compounds perfectly matched to the acetylcholinesterase molecules in malaria-transmitting mosquitoes he said.
A simple analogy would be that we're trying to make a key that fits perfectly into a lock Bloomquist said.
but only in target species. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes in the Anopheles genus notably Anopheles gambiae native to Africa.
which are present in the saliva of infected female mosquitoes and transmitted when the mosquitoes bite.
Bloomquist and colleagues at Virginia Tech where the project is based are trying to perfect mosquito-specific compounds that can be manufactured on a large scale
and applied to mosquito netting and surfaces where the pests might land. It will take at least four to five years before the team has developed
Though they were less toxic to mosquitoes than commercial products the experimental compounds were far more selective indicating researchers are on the right track he said.
and mammals but we need to refine them further make them more toxic to mosquitoes
In Florida malaria was a significant problem in the early 20th century transmitted by native Anopheles mosquitoes.
The disease has been curtailed greatly via mosquito-control practices but even today cases are reported occasionally in the Sunshine state.
and certain click beetles in particular--as well as cave-inhabiting fungus gnats. Since the first discovery of a luminescent cockroach in 1999 more than a dozen species have (pardon the pun) come to light.
This toxic mix of circumstances affecting a tiny fly threatens to shoot down the Rambo root bringing the misery of food insecurity to vast swathes of Africa.
and from Hessian fly in the eastern U s. The physical map developed by the research team provides a roadmap for the mapping of genes that make wheat resistant to diseases heat
The Schmallenberg virus appears to be spread by midges. It causes a relatively mild illness in adult animals
The Department for Environment Food and Rural affairs (DEFRA) believes the disease was brought probably into the UK from infected midges blown across the Channel.
The fact that moths ants and fruit flies are known now to self-medicate has profound implications for the ecology and evolution of animal hosts and their parasites according to Mark Hunter a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and at the School
Perhaps the biggest surprise for us was that animals like fruit flies and butterflies can choose food for their offspring that minimizes the impacts of disease in the next generation Hunter said.
#Fighting disease from within the mosquito: New techniques to help halt the spread of diseasescientists have revealed a new technique to introduce disease-blocking bacteria into mosquitoes with promising results that may halt the spread of diseases such as dengue yellow fever and potentially malaria.
When infected with the bacteria Wolbachia mosquitoes are unable to spread viruses such as dengue a disease
which kills round 40000 people each year with no vaccines or specific treatments currently available. There have been around 2400 cases of dengue infection in Northern Australia in recent years.
However the bacteria has been difficult to spread within the mosquito population because it reduces the mosquitoes'ability to lay viable eggs.
Now Professor Hoffmann from the University of Melbourne and Professor Michale Turelli from the University of California have shown that by introducing an insecticide resistance gene alongside the Wolbachia bacteria into the mosquito that the insects pass on the disease-blocking bacteria to other mosquitoes faster.
The results are published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. This could mean that the spread of disease can be stopped faster
and less infected mosquitoes would need to be released in a disease control program said Professor Ary Hoffmann from the University of Melbourne's Bio21 Institute and Department of Genetics.
The disease-blocking strain of Wolbachia was discovered first in Australian fruit flies in 1988 by Prof Hoffmann
and trials with collaborators at Monash and James Cook Universities in 2011 showed that Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes were unable to spread the dengue virus.
and malaria-prone regions and so this strategy should select for the survival of only the Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes
Prof Hoffmann added that insecticide resistance genes would not spread to the uninfected mosquito populations
and the strategy can utilize insecticides that are no longer part of active mosquito control programs. Story Source:
#NASA flies radar south on wide-ranging expeditiona versatile NASA airborne imaging radar system is showcasing its broad scientific prowess for studying our home planet during a month-long
#Fruit flies fed organic diets are healthier than flies fed nonorganic diets, study findsa new study looking at the potential health benefits of organic
versus nonorganic food found that fruit flies fed an organic diet recorded better health outcomes than flies fed a nonorganic diet.
The study from the lab of SMU biologist Johannes H. Bauer Southern Methodist University Dallas found that fruit flies raised on diets of organic foods performed better on several tests for general health.
what we now need to determine is why the flies on the organic diets did better especially
Fruit flies on organic diets showed improvements on the most significant measures of health namely fertility
We don't know why the flies on the organic diet did better. That will require further research.
The research focus of Bauer's fruit fly lab is nutrition and its relationship to longevity health and diabetes.
The findings Organically grown food provides health benefits to Drosophila melanogaster have been published in the open access journal PLOS One.
Flies on organic food performed better on some health teststhe data demonstrated that flies raised on organic food extracts by and large-large performed better on the majority of health tests reported the researchers.
Fruit flies were fed extracts from produce purchased at a grocery storein order to investigate whether organic foods are healthier for consumers the lab utilized one of the most widely used model systems the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
Because of the low costs associated with fly research and the fly's short life cycle researchers use fruit flies to study human diseases from diabetes to heart function to Alzheimer's disease.
The Bauer lab fruit flies were fed organic and nonorganic produce purchased from a leading national grocery retailer of organic and conventional foods.
The flies were fed extracts made from organic and conventional potatoes soybeans raisins and bananas. They were fed not any additional nutritional supplements.
The researchers tested the effects of each food type independently and avoided any confounding effects of a mixed diet.
To our surprise in the majority of our tests of flies on organic foods the flies fed organic diets did much better on our health tests than the flies fed conventional food Bauer said.
On both of these tests flies fed organic diets performed much better than flies fed conventional diets.
This time the surveyors discovered a crabapple tree that had been infested by a fruit fly that they couldn't identify.
It was possible that the fly's larvae eating away inside the crabapples as they grew toward adulthood belonged to a relatively harmless species that had expanded simply its traditional diet.
But the real fear was represented that they an expansion in the range of the invasive apple maggot fly known to biologists as Rhagoletis pomonella.
and accurately figuring out which one of the flies was in that tree says Jeffrey Feder professor of biological sciences
and a member of the Advanced Diagnostics & Therapeutics initiative (AD&T) at the University of Notre dame. And for these flies it can sometime turn out to be a difficult thing to do.
Fortunately the fly identified Rhagoletis indifferens is known not to infest apples. The Notre dame group further demonstrated that it is possible to genetically identify the correct fly species within two days compared to the four months required to raise
and visually identify the fly. A separate study led by the Feder lab details how the apple maggot fly was introduced recently into the Pacific Northwest region of the U s. likely via larval-infested apples from the East.
The flies have reached subsequently as far north as British columbia Canada and as far south as northern California.
So far though the apple maggot has not been reported infesting any commercial apple orchards in central Washington.
The correct identification of the larvae infesting crabapple trees saved the local state and federal agencies thousands of dollars in monitoring inspection and control costs Yee said.
The cost to growers if the apple maggot had been found to be established in the region would have been very substantial (easily over half a million dollars)
but the rapid diagnostic test developed at Notre dame suspended the need to proceed with the rulemaking process saving staff and administrative costs.
#New insights on invasive fly threatening US fruit cropshumans aren't the only species with a sweet tooth.
Research from North carolina State university shows that the invasive spotted-wing vinegar fly (Drosophila suzukii) also prefers sweet soft fruit--giving us new insight into a species that has spread across the United states over the past four years
The female flies use serrated blades on the tip of their abdomens to cut through the skin of ripe fruit
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