How Ticks Hide in Plain Sight From Predatory Fire Ants
Though tick populations tend to decrease in areas where predatory ants are present, a new study reveals that it's not because the ants prey on the ticks. In fact, predatory ants such as fire ants ignore ticks completely.
For Less Bee Bycatch, Leave Geraniol Out of Japanese Beetle Traps
New research shows traps with eugenol and phenethyl propionate—and leaving out geraniol—remain effective in catching Japanese beetles but significantly reduce bycatch of native bees. Plus, entirely green, brown, black, or red traps are least attractive to native bees.
Impact of Invasive Japanese Barberry Cascades Through Local Food Webs
Dense thickets of invasive Japanese barberry significantly reduce the diversity and numbers of insects and arthropods in forests, according to new research. The ripple effects can extend upward throughout local ecosystems, even affecting human health via an increased presence of Lyme disease.
Research That’s For the Birds: Grazed Land Increases Insect Food Supply for Sage Grouse
A recent Environmental Entomology study sheds new light on how insects fit into the puzzle of sage grouse—and rangeland—conservation.
How Milkweed Location Influences Monarch Egg-Laying and Survival
A study examining monarch butterflies' preferences for laying eggs on milkweed in cropland, open ground, or prairie—as well as predation rates on eggs in those settings—offers some mixed signals for monarch-conservation efforts.
Mixing Lawn Grass Varieties Could Trim Fall Armyworm Infestations
A simple change in the choice of grass varieties for lawns of St. Augustinegrass could be a key tool for fending off fall armyworm infestations, according to new research. While no single St. Augustinegrass cultivar rises above the rest in resisting infestation, mixing varieties may confer some benefits, as fall armyworms clearly preferred single-cultivar plantings in a series of lab tests.
Road Trip: How Hive Transportation Puts Stress on Honey Bees
Honey bees are in high demand for pollinating crops, and hives are often trucked thousands of miles a year to serve different crops in different regions and seasons. But researchers say honey bees show signs of stress from all that travel.
Pollen Sleuths: Tracking Pesticides in Honey Bee Pollen to Their Source Plant
When pesticides show up in the pollen that honey bees collect, can the source plant be pinpointed? A new study is the first to successfully combine chemical analysis of pollen and the keen eye of a palynologist—an expert in identifying pollen microscopically—to track pesticide in bee-collected pollen to a source plant genus.
How Common are Wolbachia and Other Bacteria in Insects?
New research on bacterial endosymbionts in insects suggests that such bacteria may infect a wide variety of insect species but a low proportion of individuals within those species.
Why Pesticides Pose Different Kinds of Risk to Non-Honey Bees
A new collection of reports in Environmental Entomology highlights the need for pesticide risk assessments that account for the differing qualities and behaviors between honey bees and bumble bees, solitary bees, and stingless bees.
No Buzz, No Problem: Study Shows How Honey Bees Pollinate Blueberries
Honey bees are incapable of buzz pollination, but they can (and do) perform pollination duties in highbush blueberry. A new study shows that, while honey bees rarely collect blueberry pollen in the pollen baskets on their hind legs, they frequently contact it with other body parts and transfer it to other flowers.
Glowing on the Golf Course: Fluorescent Imaging Reveals Turfgrass Pest’s Most Active Period
Researchers now know the temperature range in which the annual bluegrass weevil is most active, thanks to a set of tools first adopted for underwater photography.
The Problems Driving Resistance to Bt Crops—and Some Proposed Solutions
Cotton and corn are threatened by growing resistance in the pest Helicoverpa zea (a.k.a. bollworm or corn earworm) to the insecticidal properties of Bt crops. Two researchers identify contributing factors and identify insecticide resistance management practices that could help slow the problem.
Could Insecticide Netting Help Manage Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Infestations in Homes?
New research on brown marmorated stink bug behavior indicates they prefer darker surfaces, doorways, and the north and east sides of homes—and that insecticide-treated netting offers potential as a means of nuisance control.
Meddling in the Mutualism: Fly Larva Uses Nectar to Lure Ants for Lunch
In the Brazilian savanna, the larvae of a fruit-fly species exploits an ant-plant mutualism by trapping and preying on ants atop the plant's nectar deposits.
More Research Needed to Better Balance Honey Bees and Native Bees
A review of existing research on floral resource competition between managed honey bees and wild bees shows gaps in our knowledge about such interactions and calls for further research to better inform decisions on honey bee management and pollinator protection.