**-  Southern Plains  
-  Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Temple, Texas 
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**Location: Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Temple, Texas**
**2008 Annual Report**
**1a.Objectives (from AD-416)**													The objective of this cooperative research project is to search for, identify, and prioritize biological control agents for saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima), Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), kudzu (Pueraria lobata), Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebrifera), Chinaberry (Melia azedarach), tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), halogeton (Halogeton glomeratus) and other plants of China that have been introduced and have become noxious weeds in the U.S.  Determine host range in both field and laboratory.  Determine the life and seasonal history, method of feeding, mating, oviposition, pupation and overwintering in the field and laboratory, confirm agent identity, establish voucher collection, determine, in consultation with U.S. project leaders, which are the most promising control agents and develop methods of rearing in the laboratory.  Ship living cultures to the U.S. Quarantine Facility, free of parasites and pathogens, if possible.						
**1b.Approach  (from AD-416)**													Candidate insects, mites or plant pathogens will be found by searching the literature and museum collections and by original field surveys.  Identify potential control agents through comparison with published taxonomic works and museum collections, and/or consultation with taxonomic specialists.  Prioritization of candidates will be based on host range, biology and ecology, according to published criteria and in consultation with the ARS Authorized Departmental Officer’s Designated Representative (ADODR).  The critical host-range determinations will be evaluated from literature and museum records, by field collections on the target weed and on other species of the target weed genus and family, and by formal laboratory tests.  Life history, ecology (including parasitism and predation of control insects), and seasonal history will be measured both in the field and in the laboratory.  Laboratory rearing methods will be developed so that the species can be reared through all stages to allow a good reproductive rate and minimal mortality on potted host plants, so that rearing can be successful when they arrive in the U.S. quarantine facility.  Collect and ship candidate control agents to the U.S. Arthropod Containment Facility (quarantine facility) as per standard shipping procedures and per USDA-APHIS-PPQ permitting authorities, and as requested by the ADODR.  Shipped insects should be free of parasites, predators, and pathogens as much as possible.  Reports of research progress, complete with tables, graphs and illustrations, will be submitted annually, and with brief quarterly reports.  Payment will be made following the submission of appropriate invoices and research reports.  Publication of results will be in English.						
**3.Progress Report**													Collaborators and graduate students at Nanjiang University, China, conducted rather complete studies of the laboratory biology and field ecology of the foliage-feeding weevil, Coniatus steveni.  In the laboratory, overwintering females laid an average 194 eggs each (peaking on 22 April), 1st generation 76 eggs (peaking on 25 June), and 2nd generation averaged only 7.5 eggs each (peaking on 5-9 August) as half had entered overwintering diapause.  They found that the lethal LT50 super-cooling temperature was -19° to -21°C, and was 6.7 min at -25°, and 1.0 day at -15° and -10°C.  In the field, comparison of several equations demonstrated that the population in the field, from 20 randomly selected plants, 4 branches per plant, followed a clumped distributional pattern for the egg, pupa, and adult stages, but a regular distribution for the larvae.  The construction of life tables in the field showed mortality from several factors for the egg, 1st and 2nd instar, 3rd instar and 4th instar larvae, pupa, and adult.  Overall survival during the 1st generation was 12.4% and during the 2nd generation was 22.1%.  Most mortality (45-50%) was of eggs, next for the 1st and 2nd instar larval stage (ca. 35%), and only another 8-9% for the 3rd, 4th instar, and pupal stages.  The main mortality factors were unknown for the egg, rain and predators for the larvae, and parasitoids for the pupae.
Coordination through e-mails and reports.						
    Project TeamDeloach, Culver  
Project Annual Reports FY 2009 FY 2008 
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