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Louisiana Resident Perceptions On Invasive Aquatic Plant Species And Their Management, Anna Ribbeck Mar 2023

Louisiana Resident Perceptions On Invasive Aquatic Plant Species And Their Management, Anna Ribbeck

LSU Master's Theses

Determining the public perception of invasive species in Louisiana is an important tool to help shape and develop future management decisions, educational material and ultimately public policy. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of adult Louisiana residents regarding invasive aquatic plant species and their management. An online survey was used to collect data on registered Louisiana residential boaters’ perceptions towards invasive aquatic plants and their management. A postcard with a quick response code leading to the survey was mailed to 6,000 randomly selected Louisiana registered residential boaters. Of the 230 Louisiana registered boaters that …


Invasiveness, Biology, Ecology, And Management Of The Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera Frugiperda, Marc Kenis, Giovanni Benelli, Antonio Biondi, Paul André Calatayud, Roger Day, Nicolas Desneux, Rhett D. Harrison, Darren Kriticos, Ivan Rwomushana, Johnnie Van Den Berg, François Verheggen, Yong Jun Zhang, Lakpo Koku Agboyi, Régis Besmer Ahissou, Malick N. Ba, Julio Bernal, Adeney Freitas De Bueno, Yves Carrière, Geraldo Andrade Carvalho, Xue Xin Chen, Lizette Cicero, Hannalene Du Plessis, Regan Early, Patrick Fallet, Komi K.M. Fiaboe, Dnyaneshwar M. Firake, Georg Goergen, Astrid T. Groot, Raul N.C. Guedes, Ankita Gupta, Gao Hu, F. N. Huang, Lara R. Jaber Jan 2023

Invasiveness, Biology, Ecology, And Management Of The Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera Frugiperda, Marc Kenis, Giovanni Benelli, Antonio Biondi, Paul André Calatayud, Roger Day, Nicolas Desneux, Rhett D. Harrison, Darren Kriticos, Ivan Rwomushana, Johnnie Van Den Berg, François Verheggen, Yong Jun Zhang, Lakpo Koku Agboyi, Régis Besmer Ahissou, Malick N. Ba, Julio Bernal, Adeney Freitas De Bueno, Yves Carrière, Geraldo Andrade Carvalho, Xue Xin Chen, Lizette Cicero, Hannalene Du Plessis, Regan Early, Patrick Fallet, Komi K.M. Fiaboe, Dnyaneshwar M. Firake, Georg Goergen, Astrid T. Groot, Raul N.C. Guedes, Ankita Gupta, Gao Hu, F. N. Huang, Lara R. Jaber

Faculty Publications

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith, 1797), is a serious pest of several crops, particularly maize and other cereals. It has long been known as a pest in the Americas and has invaded most of Africa and parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Australia in the last six years. Its new status as an invasive species causing serious damage in many regions worldwide has highlighted the need for better understanding and has generated much research. In this article, we provide a comprehensive review of FAW covering its (i) taxonomy, biology, ecology, genomics, and microbiome, (ii) worldwide status …


A New Detection Of The Invasive Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) From Georgia In The United States Based On Morphological And Molecular Data, Ilgoo Kang, Blake Wilson, Blake Carter, Rodrigo Diaz Jan 2022

A New Detection Of The Invasive Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) From Georgia In The United States Based On Morphological And Molecular Data, Ilgoo Kang, Blake Wilson, Blake Carter, Rodrigo Diaz

Faculty Publications

The Mexican rice borer, Eoreuma loftini (Dyar), is an invasive herbivore that attacks many gramineous host plants. The species is an economic pest of several grass crops in North America including sugarcane (Saccharum spp.), rice (Oryza sativa), corn (Zea mays), and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). The species was first detected in the United States in 1980 and has since expanded its range eastward along the Gulf Coast reaching Louisiana in 2008. A disjointed introduction was detected in Florida in 2012, though range expansion of this population within the state has been limited. Most recently, a separate introduction was detected along the …


Ecology Of The Roseau Cane Scale (Nipponaclerda Biwakoensis, Hemiptera: Aclerdidae) In Coastal Louisiana, Leslie Alejandra Aviles Lopez Jul 2020

Ecology Of The Roseau Cane Scale (Nipponaclerda Biwakoensis, Hemiptera: Aclerdidae) In Coastal Louisiana, Leslie Alejandra Aviles Lopez

LSU Master's Theses

Common reed, Phragmites australis, is the dominant plant in the Mississippi River Delta (MRD), Louisiana. Phragmites australis stands reduce soil erosion from wave action, protect the oil infrastructure, and freshwater habitats. In the fall of 2016, widespread reed die-backs in the MRD were associated with outbreaks of an invasive scale Nipponaclerda biwakoensis (Hemiptera: Aclerdidae). Due to the recent detection of the scale, there was limited knowledge of its ecology in the adventive range, and its impacts on P. australis lineages. Therefore, the objectives of my thesis were to determine (1) the host specificity of the N. biwakoensis in important economic …


Trophic Interactions And Habitat Quality Of Invasive Lionfish In The Gulf Of Mexico, Hanna Bauer Jul 2020

Trophic Interactions And Habitat Quality Of Invasive Lionfish In The Gulf Of Mexico, Hanna Bauer

LSU Master's Theses

Lionfish (Pterois volitans and Pterois miles) are one of the most successful marine invaders of all time and pose a threat to native species that inhabit coral reefs, as well as overall reef health. Current management efforts in the invaded Atlantic region revolve around spearfishing to remove lionfish, often limited to 30 m depth. There is evidence that lionfish may seek refuge from fishing pressure in deeper habitat and replenish shallow sites, undermining this management strategy. To investigate the ecological implications of deep lionfish, size, reproductive capability, and diet were examined across a depth gradient for lionfish in …


Plant Genome Size Influences Stress Tolerance Of Invasive And Native Plants Via Plasticity, Laura A. Meyerson, Petr Pyšek, Magdalena Lučanová, Sara Wigginton, Cao Tri Tran, James T. Cronin May 2020

Plant Genome Size Influences Stress Tolerance Of Invasive And Native Plants Via Plasticity, Laura A. Meyerson, Petr Pyšek, Magdalena Lučanová, Sara Wigginton, Cao Tri Tran, James T. Cronin

Faculty Publications

© 2020 The Authors. Plant genome size influences the functional relationships between cellular and whole-plant physiology, but we know little about its importance to plant tolerance of environmental stressors and how it contributes to range limits and invasion success. We used native and invasive lineages of a wetland plant to provide the first experimental test of the Large Genome Constraint Hypothesis (LGCH)—that plants with large genomes are less tolerant of environmental stress and less plastic under stress gradients than plants with small genomes. We predicted that populations with larger genomes would have a lower tolerance and less plasticity to a …


Biogeography Of Biological Control: Spatial Variation In Agent-Host Interactions, Nathan Harms Apr 2020

Biogeography Of Biological Control: Spatial Variation In Agent-Host Interactions, Nathan Harms

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Management of plant invasions using biological control has the potential to generate spatial patterns which reflect geographic or genetic variation in invader or control agents. Despite its rarity in practice, investigations into the biogeography of interacting species (i.e., plant invader and control agent) in the context of biological control can lend insights into species distribution-abundance patterns and provide predictions for spatial variation in control success. I explored spatial variability in biological control agent-plant interactions using two wetland weed study systems with large geographic distributions: flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus L.) and alligatorweed (Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb). Through literature and …


Modeling Agrilus Planipennis F. (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) Spread In New Jersey, Erik Lyttek, Pankaj Lal, Garrett Nieddu, Eric Forgoston, Taylor Wieczerak, Timothy Schowalter Sep 2019

Modeling Agrilus Planipennis F. (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) Spread In New Jersey, Erik Lyttek, Pankaj Lal, Garrett Nieddu, Eric Forgoston, Taylor Wieczerak, Timothy Schowalter

Faculty Publications

Pests and disease have become an increasingly common issue as globalized trade brings non-native species into unfamiliar systems. Emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis), is an Asiatic species of boring beetle currently devastating the native population of ash (Fraxinus) trees in the northern forests of the United States, with 85 million trees having already succumbed across much of the Midwest. We have developed a reaction-diffusion partial differential equation model to predict the spread of emerald ash borer over a heterogeneous 2-D landscape, with the initial ash tree distribution given by data from the Forest Inventory and Analysis. As expected, the model …


Entomology In The 21st Century: Tackling Insect Invasions, Promoting Advancements In Technology, And Using Effective Science Communication - 2018 Student Debates, Casey Parker, Lina Bernaola, Benjamin W. Lee, Dane Elmquist, Abigail Cohen, Adrian Marshall, James Hepler, Adrian Pekarcik, Emily Justus, Kendall King, Tae Young Lee, Carlos Esquivel, Kayleigh Hauri, Christopher Mccullough, Whitney Hadden, Max Ragozzino, Morgan Roth, James Villegas, Emily Kraus, Michael Becker, Megan Mulcahy, Rui Chen, Priyanka Mittapelly, C. Scott Clem, Rachel Skinner, Tanya Josek, Daniel Pearlstein, Jonathan Tetlie, Anh Tran, Anthony Auletta, Edwin Benkert, Dylan Tussey Jul 2019

Entomology In The 21st Century: Tackling Insect Invasions, Promoting Advancements In Technology, And Using Effective Science Communication - 2018 Student Debates, Casey Parker, Lina Bernaola, Benjamin W. Lee, Dane Elmquist, Abigail Cohen, Adrian Marshall, James Hepler, Adrian Pekarcik, Emily Justus, Kendall King, Tae Young Lee, Carlos Esquivel, Kayleigh Hauri, Christopher Mccullough, Whitney Hadden, Max Ragozzino, Morgan Roth, James Villegas, Emily Kraus, Michael Becker, Megan Mulcahy, Rui Chen, Priyanka Mittapelly, C. Scott Clem, Rachel Skinner, Tanya Josek, Daniel Pearlstein, Jonathan Tetlie, Anh Tran, Anthony Auletta, Edwin Benkert, Dylan Tussey

Faculty Publications

The 2018 student debates of the Entomological Society of America were held at the Joint Annual Meeting for the Entomological Societies of America, Canada, and British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. Three unbiased introductory speakers and six debate teams discussed and debated topics under the theme aEntomology in the 21st Century: Tackling Insect Invasions, Promoting Advancements in Technology, and Using Effective Science Communication'. This year's debate topics included: 1) What is the most harmful invasive insect species in the world? 2) How can scientists diffuse the stigma or scare factor surrounding issues that become controversial such as genetically modified organisms, agricultural …


Community Phylogeny Of The Globally Critically Imperiled Pine Rockland Ecosystem, Lauren B. Trotta, Benjamin Baiser, Jennifer Possley, Daijiang Li, James Lange, Sarah Martin, Emily B. Sessa Oct 2018

Community Phylogeny Of The Globally Critically Imperiled Pine Rockland Ecosystem, Lauren B. Trotta, Benjamin Baiser, Jennifer Possley, Daijiang Li, James Lange, Sarah Martin, Emily B. Sessa

Faculty Publications

© 2018 Botanical Society of America Premise of the Study: Community phylogenetic methods incorporate information on evolutionary relationships into studies of organismal assemblages. We used a community phylogenetic framework to investigate relationships and biogeographic affinities and to calculate phylogenetic signal of endemism and invasiveness for the flora of the pine rocklands—a globally critically imperiled ecosystem with a significant portion of its distribution in South Florida, United States. Methods: We reconstructed phylogenetic relationships of 538 vascular plant taxa, which represent 92.28% of the vascular flora of the pine rocklands. We estimated phylogenetic signal for endemism and invasiveness using phylogenetic generalized linear …


Intraspecific Variation In Indirect Plant–Soil Feedbacks Influences A Wetland Plant Invasion, Warwick J. Allen, Laura A. Meyerson, Andrew J. Flick, James T. Cronin Jun 2018

Intraspecific Variation In Indirect Plant–Soil Feedbacks Influences A Wetland Plant Invasion, Warwick J. Allen, Laura A. Meyerson, Andrew J. Flick, James T. Cronin

Faculty Publications

© 2018 by the Ecological Society of America Plant–soil feedbacks (PSFs) influence plant competition via direct interactions with pathogens and mutualists or indirectly via apparent competition/mutualisms (i.e., spillover to co-occurring plants) and soil legacy effects. It is currently unknown how intraspecific variation in PSFs interacts with the environment (e.g., nutrient availability) to influence competition between native and invasive plants. We conducted a fully crossed multi-factor greenhouse experiment to determine the effects of Phragmites australis rhizosphere soil biota, interspecific competition, and nutrient availability on biomass of replicate populations from one native and two invasive lineages of common reed (P. australis) and …


Cosmopolitan Species As Models For Ecophysiological Responses To Global Change: The Common Reed Phragmites Australis, Franziska Eller, Hana Skálová, Joshua S. Caplan, Ganesh P. Bhattarai, Melissa K. Burger, James T. Cronin, Wen Yong Guo, Xiao Guo, Eric L.G. Hazelton, Karin M. Kettenring, Carla Lambertini, Melissa K. Mccormick, Laura A. Meyerson, Thomas J. Mozdzer, Petr Pyšek, Brian K. Sorrell, Dennis F. Whigham, Hans Brix Nov 2017

Cosmopolitan Species As Models For Ecophysiological Responses To Global Change: The Common Reed Phragmites Australis, Franziska Eller, Hana Skálová, Joshua S. Caplan, Ganesh P. Bhattarai, Melissa K. Burger, James T. Cronin, Wen Yong Guo, Xiao Guo, Eric L.G. Hazelton, Karin M. Kettenring, Carla Lambertini, Melissa K. Mccormick, Laura A. Meyerson, Thomas J. Mozdzer, Petr Pyšek, Brian K. Sorrell, Dennis F. Whigham, Hans Brix

Faculty Publications

© 2017 Eller, Skálová, Caplan, Bhattarai, Burger, Cronin, Guo, Guo, Hazelton, Kettenring, Lambertini, McCormick, Meyerson, Mozdzer, Pyšek, Sorrell, Whigham and Brix. Phragmites australis is a cosmopolitan grass and often the dominant species in the ecosystems it inhabits. Due to high intraspecific diversity and phenotypic plasticity, P. australis has an extensive ecological amplitude and a great capacity to acclimate to adverse environmental conditions; it can therefore offer valuable insights into plant responses to global change. Here we review the ecology and ecophysiology of prominent P. australis lineages and their responses to multiple forms of global change. Key findings of our review …


Biogeography Of A Plant Invasion: Genetic Variation And Plasticity In Latitudinal Clines For Traits Related To Herbivory, Ganesh P. Bhattarai, Laura A. Meyerson, Jack Anderson, David Cummings, Warwick J. Allen, James T. Cronin Feb 2017

Biogeography Of A Plant Invasion: Genetic Variation And Plasticity In Latitudinal Clines For Traits Related To Herbivory, Ganesh P. Bhattarai, Laura A. Meyerson, Jack Anderson, David Cummings, Warwick J. Allen, James T. Cronin

Faculty Publications

© 2016 by the Ecological Society of America. The juxtaposition of plant-species invasions with latitudinal gradients in herbivore pressure is an important yet mostly unexplored issue in invasion biology. Latitudinal clines in defense and palatability to herbivores are expected to exist in native plant species but the evolution of these clines may lag behind for invasive plant species resulting in non-parallel latitudinal clines that may impact invasion success. Our study focused on a native and European invasive lineages of the common reed Phragmites australis in North America. Using native and invasive genotypes of P. australis collected across a 17° latitudinal …


First Record Of The Non-Native Suckermouth Armored Catfish Hypostomus Cf. Niceforoi (Fowler 1943) (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) From Central America, Wilfredo A. Matamoros, Caleb D. Mcmahan, Carlos R. Mejia, Parker H. House, Jonathan W. Armbruster, Prosanta Chakrabarty Jul 2016

First Record Of The Non-Native Suckermouth Armored Catfish Hypostomus Cf. Niceforoi (Fowler 1943) (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) From Central America, Wilfredo A. Matamoros, Caleb D. Mcmahan, Carlos R. Mejia, Parker H. House, Jonathan W. Armbruster, Prosanta Chakrabarty

Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University

We document the first record of Hypostomus cf. niceforoi in Central America. Two specimens of these suckermouth armored catfishes were collected in Lake Nicaragua (Nicaragua) and identified as H. cf. niceforoi. Hypostomus niceforoi is endemic to Andean streams of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru. We hypothesize that its introduction in Central America is related to the aquarium trade, as is the case of other armored catfish species introductions.


Mechanisms Of Regulation Of Invasive Processes In Phytoplankton On The Example Of The North-Eastern Part Of The Black Sea, V. A. Silkin, A. I. Abakumov, L. A. Pautova, S. V. Pakhomova, A. V. Lifanchuk Jun 2016

Mechanisms Of Regulation Of Invasive Processes In Phytoplankton On The Example Of The North-Eastern Part Of The Black Sea, V. A. Silkin, A. I. Abakumov, L. A. Pautova, S. V. Pakhomova, A. V. Lifanchuk

Faculty Publications

© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. In the north-eastern part of the Black Sea, the seasonal complexes of dominant species of phytoplankton were fixed: small-celled diatom (spring), coccolithophores (late spring, early summer) and large diatoms (summer and autumn). In May–June 2005 and 2006, two invasive species of marine diatoms Chaetoceros throndsenii (maximal abundance 1.92 × 105 cells/l) and Chaetoceros minimus (1.6 × 105 cells/l) were recorded. These species have been incorporated in the complex of the late spring and early summer and grew simultaneously with the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi. The coccolithophore was dominant species, whose abundance had reached the level …


Impact Of Nitrogen Fertilization On Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) Injury And Yield In Bioenergy Sorghum, M. T. Vanweelden, B. E. Wilson, J. M. Beuzelin, T. E. Reagan, M. O. Way Jun 2016

Impact Of Nitrogen Fertilization On Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) Injury And Yield In Bioenergy Sorghum, M. T. Vanweelden, B. E. Wilson, J. M. Beuzelin, T. E. Reagan, M. O. Way

Faculty Publications

The Mexican rice borer, Eoreuma loftini (Dyar) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), is a serious pest of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench), corn (Zea mays L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), and related graminaceous bioenergy crops. A two-year field study was conducted in Jefferson County, TX to examine the impact of nitrogen (N) fertilization on E. loftini infestations and subsequent yields in cultivars of high-biomass and sweet sorghum. In 2013, percentage of bored internodes and number of adult emergence holes per stalk increased with higher N rates; however, only the percentage of bored internodes was impacted by N in 2014. Yields …


Biological Invasions: Biogeography And Multitrophic Interactions, Warwick Allen Jan 2016

Biological Invasions: Biogeography And Multitrophic Interactions, Warwick Allen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Species interactions play a prominent role in the establishment and spread of many invasive species. However, rarely are invasions studied in more than a direct pairwise species context, or with consideration to how species interactions can vary biogeographically. I used field surveys combined with common garden and greenhouse experiments to investigate how multitrophic above- and belowground interactions influence plant invasions at large spatial scales. I focused on comparisons between sympatric native and invasive lineages of Phragmites australis, a wetland grass distributed throughout North America. I conducted a field survey to examine support for the enemy release hypothesis in a tritrophic …


Biogeography Of A Plant Invasion: Plant-Herbivore Interactions, James T. Cronin, Ganesh P. Bhattarai, Warwick J. Allen, Laura A. Meyerson Apr 2015

Biogeography Of A Plant Invasion: Plant-Herbivore Interactions, James T. Cronin, Ganesh P. Bhattarai, Warwick J. Allen, Laura A. Meyerson

Faculty Publications

© 2015 by the Ecological Society of America. Theory predicts that native plant species should exhibit latitudinal gradients in the strength of their interactions with herbivores. We hypothesize that if an invasive plant species exhibits a different latitudinal gradient in response to herbivores (e.g., a nonparallel gradient), it can create large-scale heterogeneities in community resistance/susceptibility to the invasive species. We conducted a study of latitudinal variation in the strength of herbivory and defenses of native genotypes of Phragmites australis in North America (NA) and Europe (EU) and European invasive genotypes in NA. Within NA, we tested whether (1) invasive genotypes …


Biogeographical Approaches For Studying Species Invasion, Ganesh Prasad Bhattarai Jan 2014

Biogeographical Approaches For Studying Species Invasion, Ganesh Prasad Bhattarai

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Many of the most notorious biological invasions occur at continent-wide or global scales but studies investigating mechanisms enhancing species invasions are often conducted at small spatial scales. Moreover, the contribution of mechanisms facilitating invasion might also vary across a geographical space. I used biogeographical approaches to explore the mechanisms enhancing invasion of introduced genotypes of Phragmites australis along the coastal wetlands of North America. I tested the hypotheses that large-scale disturbance events, such as hurricanes and tropical storms, enhance the invasion success of introduced P. australis in North America. The growth rate of P. australis patches was strongly and positively …


Biological Control Of Common Salvinia (Salvinia Minima) In Louisiana Using Cyrtobagous Salviniae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Katherine A. Parys, Seth J. Johnson Mar 2013

Biological Control Of Common Salvinia (Salvinia Minima) In Louisiana Using Cyrtobagous Salviniae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Katherine A. Parys, Seth J. Johnson

Faculty Publications

Common salvinia, Salvinia minima Baker, is an aquatic invasive fern that obstructs waterways and impacts water quality throughout the southeastern United States. In an effort to establish populations for classical biological control of this weed, the weevil, Cyrtobagous salviniae Calder and Sands, was released at multiple sites across Louisiana. Many of the release sites were lost due to a variety of ecological and anthropological disturbances. In 2008, C. salviniae was found to have successfully overwintered on S. minima in Gramercy, Louisiana. Attack by Cyrtobagous salviniae significantly increased the number of damaged terminal buds and decreased the fresh weight biomass of …


Invasion Of Smooth Brome Into North American Tall-Grass Prairies: Impact On Native Plant/Herbivore Species And Mechanisms Responsible For Successful Invasion, Forrest Paul Dillemuth Jan 2012

Invasion Of Smooth Brome Into North American Tall-Grass Prairies: Impact On Native Plant/Herbivore Species And Mechanisms Responsible For Successful Invasion, Forrest Paul Dillemuth

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research in invasion ecology has focused on developing ecological theory that can predict how invasive species interact with invaded communities. However, empirical support for theoretical predictions has been inconsistent. Inconsistencies may be attributed to the lack of data in three core areas; (1) field data with enough resolution to determine population dynamics of invasive species in relation to native species, (2) manipulative field experiments that encapsulate natural variation found among micro-habitats, and (3) field data that incorporate effects of invasive species within and among spatial scales. This dissertation has addressed these concerns by examining the mechanisms responsible for the successful …


Behavioral Flexibility And Species Invasions: The Adaptive Flexibility Hypothesis, T. F. Wright, J. R. Eberhard, E. A. Hobson, M. L. Avery, M. A. Russello Nov 2010

Behavioral Flexibility And Species Invasions: The Adaptive Flexibility Hypothesis, T. F. Wright, J. R. Eberhard, E. A. Hobson, M. L. Avery, M. A. Russello

Faculty Publications

Behavioral flexibility is an important adaptive response to changing environments for many animal species. Such plasticity may also promote the invasion of novel habitats by introduced species by providing them with the ability to expand or change their ecological niche, a longstanding idea with recent empirical support. At the individual level, flexibility may arise through innovation, in which an individual invents a new behavior, or through social learning, in which an individual adopts a behavior used by others. There is increasing evidence that the adaptive value of these two modes of learning, and the overall expression of behavioral flexibility, may …


Releases, Distribution And Abundance Of Gratiana Boliviana (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), A Biological Control Agent Of Tropical Soda Apple (Solanum Viarum, Solanaceae) In Florida, W. A. Overholt, R. Diaz, K. L. Hibbard, A. L. Roda, D. Amalin, A. J. Fox, S. D. Hight, J. C. Medal, P. A. Stansly, B. Carlisle, J. H. Walter, P. J. Hogue, L. A. Gary, L. F. Wiggins, C. L. Kirby, S. C. Crawford Sep 2009

Releases, Distribution And Abundance Of Gratiana Boliviana (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), A Biological Control Agent Of Tropical Soda Apple (Solanum Viarum, Solanaceae) In Florida, W. A. Overholt, R. Diaz, K. L. Hibbard, A. L. Roda, D. Amalin, A. J. Fox, S. D. Hight, J. C. Medal, P. A. Stansly, B. Carlisle, J. H. Walter, P. J. Hogue, L. A. Gary, L. F. Wiggins, C. L. Kirby, S. C. Crawford

Faculty Publications

From 2003 to 2008, 176,643 Gratiana boliviana Spaeth (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) were released in Florida as part of a biological control program targeting tropical soda apple (TSA) Solanum viarum Dunal (Solanaceae). The spatial distribution of releases was clustered with more beetles released in south/central Florida than further north. A survey conducted in the fall of 2008 found G. bolviana present at >70% of randomly selected locations between 26° and 29° latitude, but no beetles were found at sites further north. The presence of beetles and beetle damage were associated with smaller TSA plants and fewer fruits per plant. The absence of …


Jamaican Nightshade (Solanum Jamaicense): A Threat To Florida's Hammocks, Rodrigo Diaz, William A. Overholt, Kenneth Langeland Oct 2008

Jamaican Nightshade (Solanum Jamaicense): A Threat To Florida's Hammocks, Rodrigo Diaz, William A. Overholt, Kenneth Langeland

Faculty Publications

Jamaican nightshade is a prickly, perennial, invasive shrub in central and southern peninsular Florida. It was first seen in Florida in 1930 near St. Cloud, and has since been reported at several other locations in the state. Jamaican nightshade is primarily found in wooded habitats, where it can quickly become dominant in the understory, but it also occasionally grows in isolated patches in the open. Although the distribution of Jamaican nightshade does not appear to be rapidly expanding in Florida, land mangers should be made aware of the potential of this weed to establish at new sites, and initiate control …


Characterization Of Polymorphic Microsatellite Loci For The Invasive Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta Monachus), M. A. Russello, V. Saranathan, S. Buhrman-Deever, J. Eberhard, A. Caccone Nov 2007

Characterization Of Polymorphic Microsatellite Loci For The Invasive Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta Monachus), M. A. Russello, V. Saranathan, S. Buhrman-Deever, J. Eberhard, A. Caccone

Faculty Publications

Microsatellite loci were characterized for the monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) from a GTn-enriched genomic library. Twelve of 14 microsatellite loci were polymorphic, averaging 6.7 alleles per locus across the 20 individuals genotyped. Mean expected heterozygosity was 0.72, with locus-specific values ranging from 0.53 to 0.90. An equally high multilocus probability of identity (2.48 × 10-12) was revealed for this set of loci. In addition, all 12 loci were demonstrated to cross-amplify to varying extents within three additional parrot genera suggesting their potential utility for population-level studies in a broad range of Neotropical psittacines. © 2007 The Authors.


The Invasive Tropical Shrub Clidemia Hirta (Melastomataceae) In Its Native And Introduced Ranges: Tests Of Hypotheses Of Invasion, Saara Jennie Dewalt Jan 2003

The Invasive Tropical Shrub Clidemia Hirta (Melastomataceae) In Its Native And Introduced Ranges: Tests Of Hypotheses Of Invasion, Saara Jennie Dewalt

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Exotic pest plants often grow to greater stature, become more abundant, and display increased shade tolerance in their introduced ranges than in their native ranges. These differences have been hypothesized to result from genetic shifts in biomass allocation, growth, or photosynthesis between genotypes in native and introduced ranges or from plastic, phenotypic responses to different environmental conditions, such as lower herbivore or fungal pest loads in areas of introduction. I used the tropical shrub Clidemia hirta (Melastomataceae) as a model exotic pest plant to test these two non-mutually exclusive hypotheses of invasion. Clidemia hirta invades forest understory and is more …