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Special Issue "Combining Biological Control and Sterile Insect Technique to Enhance Invasive Pest Species Management"

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A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Insect Pest and Vector Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2023 | Viewed by 5612

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Massimo Cristofaro

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Guest Editor

Biotechnology and Biological Control Agency (BBCA), 00123 Rome, Italy
Interests: sterile insect technique; insect behavior; monitoring; bio-pesticides; integrated pest management; biological control of weeds; integrated weed management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Gianfranco Anfora

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Center for Agriculture, Food Environment (C3A), University of Trento, 38010 San Michele all’Adige, Italy
Interests: semiochemicals; insect chemical ecology; mating disruption; biological control; IPM
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Lloyd Stringer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Plant & Food Research, Auckland, New Zealand
Interests: sterile insect technique; chemical ecology; population modelling; vibrational communication

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ongoing climate change and globalization-related phenomena are increasing the impact of harmful insects, both native and invasive alien, on multiple aspects of the environment and economy, such as biodiversity, human health, and agriculture. The development of biotechnologies for the sustainable, long-lasting, and large-scale control of such organisms is, therefore, crucial.

Area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) actions involve the integration of background knowledge of the biology of the target pest, its distribution in the selected area to manage and the synergistic application of several control strategies, such as Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), biological control, and other pest suppression methods. Among the control methods, SIT, and Biological Control have a peculiar importance, for their least toxic effects on the environment.

This Special Issue of Insects will include original research articles and reviews that are addressed to highlight the complementary relationships between sterile insect technique and biological control to improve the suppression or even the eradication of a given target pest species. Special emphasis must be given to the combination of these two strategies, looking for possible integrations in terms of monitoring, control, dispersal, and direct and indirect synergisms.

Dr. Massimo Cristofaro
Dr. Gianfranco Anfora
Dr. Lloyd Stringer
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

sampling
area-wide pest management
biological control
insect pests
monitoring
parasitoids
predators
sterile insect technique

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of the Sterile Insect Technique on Vibrational Communication: The Case of Bagrada hilaris (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

Chiara Peccerillo

Chiara Elvira Mainardi

and

Insects 2023, 14(4), 353; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14040353 - 02 Apr 2023

Viewed by 613

Abstract

The painted bug, Bagrada hilaris, is an agricultural pest in its original areas (Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East), and it has recently been recorded as an invasive species in southwestern part of the US, Chile, Mexico, and two islands in the Mediterranean basin. Its polyphagous diet causes severe damage to economically important crops. The control of this pest is primarily achieved by means of synthetic pesticides, which are often expensive, ineffective, and harmful to the ecosystem. Recent physiological bioassays to assess its potential control through the sterile insect technique demonstrated that mating between untreated females and males irradiated at doses of 64 and 100 Gy, respectively, resulted in 90% and 100% sterility of the eggs produced by the females. In this study, the mating abilities of virgin males irradiated at 60 and 100 Gy with virgin females were measured through a study of short-range courtship mediated by vibrational communication. The results indicate that males irradiated at 100 Gy emit signals with lower peak frequencies, mate significantly less than unirradiated males do, and do not surpass the early stages of courtship. Conversely, males irradiated at 60 Gy present vibrational signal frequencies that are comparable to those of the control and successfully mated males. Our findings suggest that B. hilaris individuals irradiated at 60 Gy are good candidates for the control of this species, given that they retain sexual competitiveness regardless of their sterility, through an area-wide program that incorporates the sterile insect technique. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combining Biological Control and Sterile Insect Technique to Enhance Invasive Pest Species Management)

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Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Additive Effect of Releasing Sterile Insects Plus Biocontrol Agents against Fruit Fly Pests (Diptera: Tephritidae) under Confined Conditions

Pablo Montoya

Erick Flores-Sarmiento

Patricia López

Amanda Ayala

and

Jorge Cancino

Insects 2023, 14(4), 337; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14040337 - 30 Mar 2023

Viewed by 511

Abstract

Pest control models integrating the use of the sterile insect technique (SIT) and augmentative biological control (ABC) have postulated that it is possible to obtain a synergistic effect from the joint use of these technologies. This synergistic effect is attributed to the simultaneous attack on two different biological stages of the pest (immature and adult flies), which would produce higher suppression on the pest populations. Here we evaluated the effect of the joint application of sterile males of A. ludens of the genetic sexing strain Tap-7 along with two parasitoid species at the field cage level. The parasitoids D. longicaudata and C. haywardi were used separately to determine their effect on the suppression of the fly populations. Our results showed that egg hatching percentage was different between treatments, with the highest percentage in the control treatment and a gradual reduction in the treatments with only parasitoids or only sterile males. The greatest induction of sterility (i.e., the lowest egg hatching percentage) occurred with the joint use of ABC and SIT, demonstrating that the earlier parasitism caused by each parasitoid species was important reaching high levels of sterility. Gross fertility rate decreased up to 15 and 6 times when sterile flies were combined with D. longicaudata and C. haywardi, respectively. The higher parasitism by D. longicaudata was determinant in the decrease of this parameter and had a stronger effect when combined with the SIT. We conclude that the joint use of ABC and SIT on the A. ludens population had a direct additive effect, but a synergistic effect was observed in the parameters of population dynamics throughout the periodic releases of both types of insects. This effect can be of crucial importance in the suppression or eradication of fruit fly populations, with the added advantage of the low ecological impact that characterizes both techniques. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combining Biological Control and Sterile Insect Technique to Enhance Invasive Pest Species Management)

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Open AccessArticle

Paternity Analyses for the Planning of SIT Projects against the Red Palm Weevil

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Insects 2023, 14(4), 326; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14040326 - 28 Mar 2023

Viewed by 469

Abstract

The red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus is an invasive pest from southeastern Asia and Melanesia that has spread widely across the Middle East and the Mediterranean Basin over the last 30 years. Its endophagous larvae cause huge amounts of damage to several palm tree species from the Arecaceae family. Many of these palms are economically important for agricultural and ornamental purposes. Therefore, a lot of attention has recently been focused on studying this species with the aim of identifying sustainable and effective eradication strategies. Sterile insect techniques are biological control strategies that are currently being investigated for their potential to eradicate this pest in selected invasion areas. Mating system features (e.g., polyandry and related features) can affect the success and suitability of these approaches. The main goal of this research was to assess the performance of a previously developed microsatellite panel in terms of the paternity assignment of progeny from laboratory mating experiments. Using a simulation approach, we evaluated the reliability of the microsatellite markers in the paternity tests both in complex laboratory experiment scenarios and on the progeny of wild-caught gravid females to help future studies on the RPW mating system. As a case study of the simulation results, we performed two double-mating experiments, genotyped the progeny and estimated the P₂ values to compare to the expected progeny genotypes according to the crossing scheme of each experiment. The results of our simulations on laboratory experiments showed that it was possible to carry out paternity assignments for all progeny with reliable statistical confidence using our 13 microsatellites set. On the contrary the low genetic variability measured in red palm weevil populations in invaded areas made the resolution power of our loci too low to carry out paternity analyses on natural populations. Results of laboratory crossing were completely congruent with the expectations from the Mendelian laws. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combining Biological Control and Sterile Insect Technique to Enhance Invasive Pest Species Management)

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Open AccessArticle

Suitability of Raycell MK2 Blood X-ray Irradiator for the Use in the Sterile Insect Technique: Dose Response in Fruit Flies, Tsetse Flies and Mosquitoes

Hanano Yamada

Bénéwendé Aristide Kaboré

Nanwintoum Séverin Bimbilé Somda

Nonhlanhla L. Ntoyi

Chantel Janet de Beer

and

Insects 2023, 14(1), 92; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14010092 - 15 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1444

Abstract

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is based on the inundatory field release of a target pest following their reproductive sterilization via exposure to radiation. Until recently, gamma irradiation from isotopic sources has been the most widely used in SIT programs. As isotopic sources are becoming increasingly expensive, especially for small programs, and regulations surrounding their procurement and shipment increasingly strict, irradiation capacity is one of the limiting factors in smaller or newly developing SIT projects. For this reason, the possibility of using X-ray irradiators has been evaluated in the recent decade. The availability of “off-the-shelf” blood X-ray irradiators that meet the technical requirements for insect irradiation can provide irradiation capacity for those SIT projects in which the acquisition of gamma ray irradiators is not feasible. Following the recent technical characterization of a Raycell MK2 X-ray blood irradiator, it was found in this study, that MK2 instruments were suitable for the sterilization of fruit flies, tsetse flies and mosquitoes, inducing comparable, even slightly higher, sterility levels compared to those achieved by gamma ray irradiation. This, together with its estimated processing efficiency, shows that MK2 irradiators are suitable for small- to mid-sized SIT programs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combining Biological Control and Sterile Insect Technique to Enhance Invasive Pest Species Management)

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Open AccessArticle

Aedes albopictus Sterile Male Production: Influence of Strains, Larval Diet and Mechanical Sexing Tools

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Insects 2022, 13(10), 899; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13100899 - 03 Oct 2022

Viewed by 918

Abstract

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a biologically based method of pest control, which relies on the mass production, sterilization, and release of sterile males of the target species. Since females can transmit viruses, it is important to develop a mass rearing system to produce a large number of males with a low presence of females. We evaluated the effects of different strains, larval diets and sexing tools on male productivity and residual female presence for the application of SIT against Aedes albopictus. Strains coming from Italy, Germany, Greece, and Montenegro, with different levels of colonization, were reared with three larval diets: IAEA-BY, BLP-B and SLP-BY. Developed pupae were sexed using two different mechanical methods: sieve or Fay-Morlan separator. The results proved that adoption of the Fay-Morlan separator increased the productivity and limited the female presence. The IAEA-BY diet showed the lowest female contamination. Strains with a high number of breeding generations showed a decreased productivity and an increased female presence. Increased female presence was found only in extensively reared strains and only when the sorting operation was conducted with sieves. We hypothesize that extensive colonization may determine a size reduction which limits the sexing tool efficiency itself. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combining Biological Control and Sterile Insect Technique to Enhance Invasive Pest Species Management)

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Gamma Irradiation on the Fecundity, Fertility, and Longevity of the Invasive Stink Bug Pest Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

and

Insects 2022, 13(9), 787; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13090787 - 30 Aug 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 993

Abstract

The bagrada bug, Bagrada hilaris, is an invasive insect pest in the family Brassicaceae that causes economically important damage to crops. It was originally present in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and was reported as invasive in the southwestern part of the US, in Chile, and on a few islands in the Mediterranean Basin. In its native range, B. hilaris is controlled by several egg parasitoid species that are under consideration as potential biological control agents. This research evaluated the impact of gamma irradiation on life history parameters, e.g., the fecundity, fertility, and longevity of B. hilaris, as a critical step towards assessing the feasibility of using the sterile insect technique against this recent invasive pest. Newly emerged adults of a laboratory colony originally collected from the island of Pantelleria (Italy) were gamma-irradiated. Life history parameters were evaluated at nine different doses, ranging from 16 Gy to 140 Gy. The minimal dose to approach full sterility was 100 Gy. Irradiation up to a maximum of 140 Gy apparently did not negatively impact the longevity of the adults. Even if both genders are sensitive to irradiation, the decline in fecundity for irradiated females could be exploited to release irradiated males safely to apply the SIT in combination with classical biological control. The data presented here allow us to consider, for the first time, the irradiation of bagrada adults as a suitable and feasible technique that could contribute to guaranteeing a safe approach to control this important pest species in agro-ecosystems. More research is warranted on the competitive fitness of irradiated males to better understand mating behavior as well as elucidate the possible mechanisms of sperm selection by polyandric B. hilaris females. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combining Biological Control and Sterile Insect Technique to Enhance Invasive Pest Species Management)

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