So far in this course we have dealt entirely with the evolution of characters that are controlled by simple Mendelian inheritance at a single locus. There are notes on the course website about gametic disequilibrium and how allele frequencies change at two loci simultaneously, but we didn’t discuss them. In every example we’ve considered we’ve imagined that we could understand something about evolution by examining the evolution of a single gene. That’s the domain of classical population genetics. For the next few weeks we’re going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach we’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery. If you know a little about the history of evolutionary biology, you may know that after the rediscovery of Mendel’s work in 1900 there was a heated debate between the “biometricians” (e.g., Galton and Pearson) and the “Mendelians” (e.g., de Vries, Correns, Bateson, and Morgan). Biometricians asserted that the really important variation in evolution didn’t follow Mendelian rules. Height, weight, skin color, and similar traits seemed to

Human biochemical genetics

Genetics and analysis of quantitative traits

In colony collapse disorder (CCD), honey bee colonies inexplicably lose their workers. CCD has resulted in a loss of 50 to 90% of colonies in beekeeping operations across the United States. The observation that irradiated combs from affected colonies can be repopulated with naive bees suggests that infection may contribute to CCD. We used an unbiased metagenomic approach to survey microflora in CCD hives, normal hives, and imported royal jelly. Candidate pathogens were screened for significance of association with CCD by the examination of samples collected from several sites over a period of 3 years. One organism, Israeli acute paralysis virus of bees, was strongly correlated with CCD.

/pdf/a-metagenomic-survey-of-microbes-in-honey-bee-colony-ew28wcd3vd.pdf

A Metagenomic Survey of Microbes in Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

A historical review of managed honey bee populations in Europe and the United States and the factors that may affect them.

Plant diseases need to be controlled to maintain the quality and abundance of food, feed, and fiber produced by growers around the world. Different approaches may be used to prevent, mitigate or control plant diseases. Beyond good agronomic and horticultural practices, growers often rely heavily on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Such inputs to agriculture have contributed significantly to the spectacular improvements in crop productivity and quality over the past 100 years. However, the environmental pollution caused by excessive use and misuse of agrochemicals, as well as fear-mongering by some opponents of pesticides, has led to considerable changes in people’s attitudes towards the use of pesticides in agriculture. Today, there are strict regulations on chemical pesticide use, and there is political pressure to remove the most hazardous chemicals from the market. Additionally, the spread of plant diseases in natural ecosystems may preclude successful application of chemicals, because of the scale to which such applications might have to be applied. Consequently, some pest management researchers have focused their efforts on developing alternative inputs to synthetic chemicals for controlling pests and diseases. Among these alternatives are those referred to as biological controls.

/pdf/biological-control-of-plant-pathogens-2035vipjmu.pdf

Biological Control of Plant Pathogens

In the past 100 years many exotic naturalenemies have been imported, mass reared andreleased as biological control agents. Negativeenvironmental effects of these releases haverarely been reported. The current popularity ofinundative biological control may, however,result in problems, as an increasing number ofactivities will be executed by persons nottrained in identification, evaluation andrelease of biological control agents.Therefore, a methodology for risk assessmenthas been developed within the EU-financedproject `Evaluating Environmental Risks ofBiological Control Introductions into Europe[ERBIC]' as a basis for regulation of importand release of exotic natural enemies used ininundative forms of biological control (i.e.not in `classical biological control' thoughsome of the same principles and approachesapply). This paper proposes a general frameworkof a risk assessment methodology for biologicalcontrol agents, integrating information on thepotential of an agent to establish, itsabilities to disperse, its host range, and itsdirect and indirect effects on non-targets. Ofthese parameters, estimating indirect effectson non-targets will be most difficult, asmyriads of indirect effects may occur whengeneralist natural enemies are introduced. Theparameter `host range' forms a central elementin the whole risk evaluation process, becauselack of host specificity might lead tounacceptable risk if the agent establishes anddisperses widely, whereas, in contrast, amonophagous biological control agent is notexpected to create serious risk even when itestablishes and disperses well. Drawing onpublished information and expert opinion, theproposed risk assessment methodology is appliedto a number of biological control agentscurrently in use. These illustrative casehistories indicate that the risk assessmentmethodology can discriminate between agents,with some species attaining low `risk indices'and others scoring moderate or high. Riskindices should, however, not be seen asabsolute values, but as indicators to which ajudgement can be connected by biologicalcontrol experts for granting permission torelease or not.

/pdf/environmental-risk-assessment-of-exotic-natural-enemies-used-1gybt6nmbr.pdf

Environmental risk assessment of exotic natural enemies used in inundative biological control

Bacterial community structures in honeybee intestines and their response to two insecticidal proteins

The use of exotic (=alien) arthropods in classical and augmentative biological control programs has yielded huge economic and ecological benefits. Exotic species of arthropods have contributed to the suppression of key pests in agriculture and forestry or have aided in restoring natural systems affected by adventive species. However, adverse non-target effects of exotic biological control agents have been observed in a number of projects. Non-target effects range from very small effects, e.g. 2% parasitization on a non-target insect on a local level, to massive effects on a large scale. Until now, no consensus on how to judge the magnitude of non-target effects and whether these effects can be tolerated or are unacceptable has emerged. In this paper, we briefly review both the benefits of biological control as well as the associated risks including to human and animal health, plant health and particularly the environment. We also make an attempt at identifying the major challenges for assessing risks and for balancing benefits and risks. There is general agreement that sound risk assessment procedures should precede the release of exotic invertebrate biological control agents and a recent shift—especially for arthropod biological control—from introductions done without meaningful risk assessment studies to projects conducting thorough host range testing can be observed. However, overly stringent regulations that would preclude promising agents from being developed must be avoided.

Benefits and risks of exotic biological control agents

Mass rearing and release of Trichogramma for biological control of insect pests of corn in China

* Current status and constraints in the assessment of non-target effects, D Babendreier and F Bigler, and U Kuhlmann * Selection of Non-Target Species for Host Specificity Testing, U Kuhlmann, U Schaffner, and P G Mason, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada * Host Specificity in Arthropod Biological Control, Methods for Testing and Interpretation of the Data, J C van Lenteren, Wageningen University, Netherlands, M J W Cock, CABI Bioscience, Switzerland, T S Hoffmeister, University of Bremen, Germany, and D P A Sands, CSIRO Entomology, Australia * Measuring and Predicting Indirect Impacts of Biological Control: Competition, Displacement, and Secondary Interactions, R Messing, University of Hawaii at Manoa, B Roitberg, Simon Fraser University, Canada, and J Brodeur, Universite Montreal, Canada * Risks of Interbreeding Between Species Used in Biological Control and Native Species, and Methods for Evaluating its Occurrence and Impact, K R Hopper and S C Britch, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, USA, and E Wajnberg, INRA, France * Assessing the Establishment Potential of Inundative Biological Control Agents, G Boivin, Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada, U M Kolliker-Ott, FAL Reckenholz, Switzerland, J Bale, University of Birmingham, UK, and F Bigler * Methods for Monitoring the Dispersal of Natural Enemies from Point Source Releases Associated with Augmentative Biological Control, N J Mills, University of California, USA, D Babendreier and A J M Loomans, Plant Protection Service, Wageningen, The Netherlands * Risks of Plant Damage Caused by Natural Enemies Introduced for Arthropod Biological Control, R Albajes, Universitat de Lleida, Spain, C Castane, R Gabarra and O Alomar, IRTA, Spain * Methods for Assessment of Contaminants of Invertebrate Biological Control Agents and Associated Risks, M S Goettel and G D Inglis, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada * Post-Release Evaluation of Non-Target Effects of Biological Control Agents, B I P Barratt, AgResearch, New Zealand, B Blossey, Cornell University, USA, and H M T Hokkanen, University of Helsinki, Finland * Molecular Methods for the Identification of Biological Control Agents at the Species and Strain Level, R Stouthamer, University of California, USA * The Usefulness of the Ecoregion Concept for Safer Import of Invertebrate Biological Control Agents, M J W Cock, U Kuhlmann, U Schaffner, F Bigler and D Babendreier * Statistical Tools to Improve the Quality of Experiments and Data Analysis for Assessing Non-Target Effects, T S Hoffmeister, D Babendreier and E Wajnberg * Principles of Environmental Risk Assessment with Emphasis on the New Zealand Perspective, A Moeed, ERMA New Zealand, R Hickson, Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, New Zealand and B I P Barratt, * Environmental Risk Assessment: Methods for Comprehensive Evaluation and Quick Scan, J C van Lenteren and A J M Loomans * Balancing Environmental Risks and Benefits: a Basic Approach, F Bigler and U Kolliker-Ott.

Dirk Babendreier

Papers

Environmental risk assessment of exotic natural enemies used in inundative biological control

Bacterial community structures in honeybee intestines and their response to two insecticidal proteins

Benefits and risks of exotic biological control agents

Mass rearing and release of Trichogramma for biological control of insect pests of corn in China

Environmental Impact of Invertebrates for Biological Control of Arthropods: Methods and Risk Assessment