Agriculture Commons^™

Phylogeny And Population Genetic Analyses Reveals Cryptic Speciation In The Bombus Fervidus Species Complex (Hymenoptera: Apidae), Jonathan B. Koch, Juanita Rodriguez, James P. Pitts, James P. Strange

Ecology Center Publications

Bumble bees (Bombus Latrielle) are significant pollinators of flowering plants due to their large body size, abundant setae, and generalist foraging strategies. However, shared setal coloration patterns among closely and distantly related bumble bee species makes identification notoriously difficult. The advent of molecular genetic techniques has increased our understanding of bumble bee evolution and taxonomy, and enables effective conservation policy and management. Individuals belonging to the North American Bombus fervidus species-complex (SC) are homogenous in body structure but exhibit significant body color phenotype variation across their geographic distribution. Given the uncertainty of the genealogical boundaries within the SC, some …

Wild Bees Of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: Richness, Abundance, And Spatio-Temporal Beta-Diversity, Olivia Messinger Carril, Terry Griswold, James Haefner, Joseph S. Wilson

All PIRU Publications

Interest in bees has grown dramatically in recent years in light of several studies that have reported widespread declines in bees and other pollinators. Investigating declines in wild bees can be difficult, however, due to the lack of faunal surveys that provide baseline data of bee richness and diversity. Protected lands such as national monuments and national parks can provide unique opportunities to learn about and monitor bee populations dynamics in a natural setting because the opportunity for large-scale changes to the landscape are reduced compared to unprotected lands. Here we report on a 4-year study of bees in Grand …

South American Leaf-Cutter Bees (Genus Megachile) Of The Subgenera Rhyssomegachile And Zonomegachile, With Two New Subgenera (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), Víctor H. González, Terry Griswold, Michael S. Engel

All PIRU Publications

Leaf-cutter bees (genus Megachile Latreille) are among the most common and diverse group of bees. However, the identity and taxonomic placement of many species are problematic and species identification is often difficult. Some species are known only from a single specimen or from one of the sexes, and identification keys are not available for many groups. We address these taxonomic issues for the subgenera Rhyssomegachile Mitchell and Zonomegachile Mitchell, two poorly known South American lineages of leaf-cutter bees. We provide comparative diagnoses, redescriptions, illustrated identification keys, new geographical records, and designate needed neotypes for Megachile cara Mitchell, M. gigas Schrottky, …

Nebline, Nov./Dec. 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Youth Voice benefits youth, communities

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Nebline, October 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Nebraska Extension’s CHIME program: Enhancing childcare professionals’ well-being with mindfulness

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Wild, Native Bees And Managed Honey Bees Benefit From Similar Agricultural Land Uses, Elaine Evans, Matthew Smart, Dan Cariveau, Marla Spivak

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Although both managed and unmanaged bees are important pollinators of crops and wild plants, efforts to address questions about landscapes that best support pollinators often focus on either wild pollinators or honey bees. This study examined if there was concordance between the success of wild bee communities and managed honey bee colonies at sites varying in floral availability and disturbance level in a predominantly agricultural landscape. We also determined which agricultural land uses best supported wild bee communities. The study area in the state of North Dakota in Northern Great Plains in North America is home to understudied native bee …

Nebline, September 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Septic systems need regular maintenance to function properly

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Confirming World-Wide Distribution Of An Agriculturally Important Lacewing, Chrysoperla Zastrowi Sillemi, Using Songs, Morphology, Mitochondrial Gene Sequencing, And Phylogenetic Reconstruction, Zoe Mandese

Honors Scholar Theses

The Chrysoperla carnea-group of green lacewings is a cryptic species complex. Species within the group are morphologically similar, yet isolated from one another via reproductive mating song. Chrysoperla zastrowi, a species within the carnea-group, is currently described with a distribution ranging from South Africa to the Middle East and India. However, recent collections of carnea-group lacewings from Guatemala and California were preliminarily identified as Chrysoperla zastrowi based upon similarities in their vibrational courtship songs. This analysis aims to place six specimens, collected by collaborators in Guatemala, Armenia, Iran, and California, into a pre-existing phylogeny of the …

Nebline, August 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Nutrition Education Kits developed by Extension help LPS students learn about nutrition and physical activity

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Special pullout section: Lancaster County Super Fair 2018 Schedule & Map

Nebline, July 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Pretty things that sting

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Nebline, June 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Nebraska Pollinator Habitat Certification program

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Nebline, May 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Farmers: Use climate for planning, weather for doing

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Nebline, April 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Can You Pass This Food Safety Quiz?

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Special Pullout Section: Weed Awareness

Sequence Analysis Of The Potato Aphid Macrosiphum Euphorbiae Transcriptome Identified Two New Viruses, Marcella A. Texeira, Noa Sela, Hagop S. Atamian, Ergude Bao, Rita Chaudhury, Jacob Macwilliams, Jiangman He, Sophie Mantelin, Thomas Girke, Isgouhi Kaloshian

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, is an important agricultural pest that causes economic losses to potato and tomato production. To establish the transcriptome for this aphid, RNA-Seq libraries constructed from aphids maintained on tomato plants were used in Illumina sequencing generating 52.6 million 75±105 bp paired-end reads. The reads were assembled using Velvet/Oases software with SEED preprocessing resulting in 22,137 contigs with an N50 value of 2,003bp. After removal of contigs from tomato host origin, 20,254 contigs were annotated using BLASTx searches against the non-redundant protein database from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) as well as IntereProScan. …

Nebline, March 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Early Spring Care for Fruit Trees

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Nebline, February 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program Teaches Limited-Resource Families Through Peer Education

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Resistance In Rice To Tibraca Limbativentris (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) Influenced By Plant Silicon Content, Lincoln Luis França, Cássio Antonio Dierings, André Cirilo De Sousa Almeida, Marcio Da Silva Araújo, Elvis Arden Heinrichs, Anderson Rodrigo Da Silva, José Alexandre Freitas Barrigossi, Flávio Gonçalves De Jesus

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Tibraca limbativentris Stål (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is a major pest causing economic losses to rice cultivation in Brazil. The objectives of this work were to assess different sources of silicon in the induction of plant resistance, to examine the interaction of rice varieties with silicon-based resistance, and to determine the effects of varieties and silicon on stink bug biology. The interaction of rice cultivars BRS Esmeralda, IRGA 429 (widely cultivated in Brazil), and Canela de Ferro (a resistant cultivar), and 2 sources of silicon (K silicate, and Ca + Mg silicate) were studied. Plant parameters measured were percentage of damaged stems, …

Nebline, January 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Extension 2017 Highlights

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Horticulture

Pests & Wildlife

4-H & Youth

Early Childhood

and other extension news and events

Hart Prairie Preserve Site Visit To Assess Aspen Health Nature Conservancy, Flagstaff, Az, Amanda Grady

Aspen Bibliography

On June 11, 2018, Amanda Grady, Entomologist, Arizona Zone, Forest Health Protection, performed a site visit to evaluate aspen health on the Nature Conservancy lands at Heart Prairie Preserve (HPP) near Flagstaff. Specifically, the evaluation was to determine whether or not the aspen within exclosures on Fern Mountain have symptoms or signs of Oystershell scale (OSS), an emergent forest pest contributing to aspen decline in northern Arizona.