Statistical method for testing the neutral mutation hypothesis by DNA polymorphism.

The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

Summary 1. Neonicotinoids are now the most widely used insecticides in the world. They act systemically, travelling through plant tissues and protecting all parts of the crop, and are widely applied as seed dressings. As neurotoxins with high toxicity to most arthropods, they provide effective pest control and have numerous uses in arable farming and horticulture. 2. However, the prophylactic use of broad-spectrum pesticides goes against the long-established principles of integrated pest management (IPM), leading to environmental concerns. 3. It has recently emerged that neonicotinoids can persist and accumulate in soils. They are water soluble and prone to leaching into waterways. Being systemic, they are found in nectar and pollen of treated crops. Reported levels in soils, waterways, field margin plants and floral resources overlap substantially with concentrations that are sufficient to control pests in crops, and commonly exceed the LC50 (the concentration which kills 50% of individuals) for beneficial organisms. Concentrations in nectar and pollen in crops are sufficient to impact substantially on colony reproduction in bumblebees. 4. Although vertebrates are less susceptible than arthropods, consumption of small numbers of dressed seeds offers a route to direct mortality in birds and mammals. 5. Synthesis and applications. Major knowledge gaps remain, but current use of neonicotinoids is likely to be impacting on a broad range of non-target taxa including pollinators and soil and aquatic invertebrates and hence threatens a range of ecosystem services.

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REVIEW: An overview of the environmental risks posed by neonicotinoid insecticides

Much as Rachel Carson's \"Silent Spring\" was a call to action against the pesticides that were devastating bird populations, Charles S. Elton's classic \"The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants\" sounded an early warning about an environmental catastrophe that has become all too familiar today-the invasion of nonnative species. From kudzu to zebra mussels to Asian long-horned beetles, nonnative species are colonizing new habitats around the world at an alarming rate thanks to accidental and intentional human intervention. One of the leading causes of extinctions of native animals and plants, invasive species also wreak severe economic havoc, causing $79 billion worth of damage in the United States alone. Elton explains the devastating effects that invasive species can have on local ecosystems in clear, concise language and with numerous examples. The first book on invasion biology, and still the most cited, Elton's masterpiece provides an accessible, engaging introduction to one of the most important environmental crises of our time. Charles S. Elton was one of the founders of ecology, who also established and led Oxford University's Bureau of Animal Population. His work has influenced generations of ecologists and zoologists, and his publications remain central to the literature in modern biology. \"History has caught up with Charles Elton's foresight, and \"The Ecology of Invasions\" can now be seen as one of the central scientific books of our century.\"-David Quammen, from the Foreword to \"Killer Algae: The True Tale of a Biological Invasion\

The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants

Since their discovery in the late 1980s, neonicotinoid pesticides have become the most widely used class of insecticides worldwide, with large-scale applications ranging from plant protection (crops, vegetables, fruits), veterinary products, and biocides to invertebrate pest control in fish farming. In this review, we address the phenyl-pyrazole fipronil together with neonicotinoids because of similarities in their toxicity, physicochemical profiles, and presence in the environment. Neonicotinoids and fipronil currently account for approximately one third of the world insecticide market; the annual world production of the archetype neonicotinoid, imidacloprid, was estimated to be ca. 20,000 tonnes active substance in 2010. There were several reasons for the initial success of neonicotinoids and fipronil: (1) there was no known pesticide resistance in target pests, mainly because of their recent development, (2) their physicochemical properties included many advantages over previous generations of insecticides (i.e., organophosphates, carbamates, pyrethroids, etc.), and (3) they shared an assumed reduced operator and consumer risk. Due to their systemic nature, they are taken up by the roots or leaves and translocated to all parts of the plant, which, in turn, makes them effectively toxic to herbivorous insects. The toxicity persists for a variable period of time—depending on the plant, its growth stage, and the amount of pesticide applied. A wide variety of applications are available, including the most common prophylactic non-Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) application by seed coating. As a result of their extensive use and physicochemical properties, these substances can be found in all environmental compartments including soil, water, and air. Neonicotinoids and fipronil operate by disrupting neural transmission in the central nervous system of invertebrates. Neonicotinoids mimic the action of neurotransmitters, while fipronil inhibits neuronal receptors. In doing so, they continuously stimulate neurons leading ultimately to death of target invertebrates. Like virtually all insecticides, they can also have lethal and sublethal impacts on non-target organisms, including insect predators and vertebrates. Furthermore, a range of synergistic effects with other stressors have been documented. Here, we review extensively their metabolic pathways, showing how they form both compound-specific and common metabolites which can themselves be toxic. These may result in prolonged toxicity. Considering their wide commercial expansion, mode of action, the systemic properties in plants, persistence and environmental fate, coupled with limited information about the toxicity profiles of these compounds and their metabolites, neonicotinoids and fipronil may entail significant risks to the environment. A global evaluation of the potential collateral effects of their use is therefore timely. The present paper and subsequent chapters in this review of the global literature explore these risks and show a growing body of evidence that persistent, low concentrations of these insecticides pose serious risks of undesirable environmental impacts.

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Systemic insecticides (neonicotinoids and fipronil): trends, uses, mode of action and metabolites

Biology and Management of Japanese Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Corn and Soybean

Background Soybean aphid, Aphis glycines (Hemiptera: Aphididae), remains the most significant soybean insect pest in the North Central Region of the USA. The sustainability of reliance on only a few insecticide groups for this pest is questionable. We evaluate afidopyropen, a novel pyropene insecticide (Group 9D), for efficacy against A. glycines in field and greenhouse experiments and toxicity to common natural enemies in laboratory experiments. Results Across 4 site-years of field experiments and a greenhouse experiment, afidopyropen reduced A. glycines populations similar to commonly used broad-spectrum [i.e. lambda-cyhalothrin (Group 3A) and chlorpyrifos (Group 1B)] insecticides and potential selective insecticides [i.e. sulfoxaflor (Group 4C) and flupyradifurone (Group 4D)]. In the greenhouse, however, A. glycines mortality was delayed slightly for afidopyropen compared to the other insecticides. In laboratory experiments with natural enemies of A. glycines, afidopyropen was not toxic to adult or third instar Hippodamia convergens (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) or adult Orius insidiosus (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae), and was only moderately toxic to Aphelinus certus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae). Conclusion Afidopyropen is effective against A. glycines and relatively non-toxic to natural enemies, and appears to be an effective option for integrated pest management and insecticide resistance management programs for A. glycines. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1524&context=ent_pubs

Efficacy of afidopyropen against soybean aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and toxicity to natural enemies

Agricultural professionals are spending increasing amounts of time making treatment decisions for soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura. In an effort to reduce the time required to make treatment decisions, a binomial sequential sampling plan called "Speed Scouting" was developed for soybean aphid. In 2005, we validated Speed Scouting using commercial fields in Minnesota and replicated small plot trials in four states in the North Central Region of the USA (Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). In commercial fields, yield (bu/acre ± S.E.) was significantly higher in areas of the fields where treatment was applied based on Speed Scouting (50.7 ± 1.7) compared to untreated controls (46.9 ± 1.6). When comparing treatment decisions based on Speed Scouting and whole-plant counts, the same decision was reached 79% of the time. Results from 5 of the 6 small plot trials showed no significant yield difference when aphid control decisions were made using Speed Scouting compared to whole-plant counts using an economic threshold of 250 aphids per plant. Speed Scouting is a conservative sampling plan, and consistently recommended treatment before populations reached the economic threshold using whole-plant counts. Using either sampling method, soybean aphid management should rely on multiple samples over time to accurately assess population growth rates to avoid unnecessary foliar applications.

Field Validation of Speed Scouting for Soybean Aphid

Soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura, can be an economically important pest in soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merrill. In 2002 and 2003, we evaluated the use of nonattractive pan traps to estimate soybean aphid densities in commercial soybean fields. A regression analysis indicated a strong relationship between log-transformed pan trap counts and whole-plant counts (r2 = 0.70). To measure soybean aphid dispersion as characterized by each sampling method, Taylor's power law a and b values were calculated. The mean-to-variance ratios for pan trapping (a = 0.85, b = 1.63, r2 = 0.96) were comparable to whole-plant counts (a = 1.67, b = 1.99, r2 = 0.93). The precision and cost (i.e., time) of each sampling method was evaluated using relative net precision. Both sampling methods were generally precise throughout the season (<0.25). However, the relative net precision of whole-plant counts (4.21) was greater than for pan traps (0.67), and therefore whole-plant counts are a more cost effective sampling method. We a...

Pan Trapping for Soybean Aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) in Minnesota Soybean Fields

During the summer of 1985, newspaper, television, and radio media announced the "imminent" arrival of a new pest, dubbed the "killer bee". As a result, our county extension offices received many inquiries about bees and numerous bee samples which were sent in for identification. At the time, there was virtually no chance of these bees being found in Utah, but news reports at the time might have lead many Utah residents to believe otherwise, or at least to become overly concerned.

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Erin W. Hodgson

Papers

Biology and Management of Japanese Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Corn and Soybean

Efficacy of afidopyropen against soybean aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and toxicity to natural enemies

Field Validation of Speed Scouting for Soybean Aphid

Pan Trapping for Soybean Aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) in Minnesota Soybean Fields

Africanized Honey Bee