Epizootiology of insect diseases. Interactions of pathogens with pest hosts and beneficial insects. Project Information Epizootiology of protozoan diseases of stored-product pests.
Protozoan diseases are common in stored-product insects.
They often cause population crashes in laboratory colonies, but their significance in suppressing natural pest populations remains to be determined. We are accumulating data on factors, such as host range, temperature tolerances, dose response, and dispersal capacity in order to understand their role in natural control and potential to be augmented. Identification of synergists for fungi pathogenic for stored-grain beetles. Ironically, fungi that are pathogenic for insects can be both efficacious and inefficient. The commercially-produced fungus, Beauveria bassiana, kills the lesser grain borer at low concentrations, but only a very small fraction of the spores that impinge on the beetle germinate and attack the host.