|
ISSUE 3 | January 2019
Happy New Year to all our readers. In this, the first Bio-Protection newsletter for 2019, we cover many of the pressing issues facing New Zealand's environment and pastoral sector. We look at: progress on cheap and portable DNA tests to identify diseases such as kauri dieback and myrtle rust; the limitations of seed banking; work to develop the bacterium Yersinia entomophaga into a broad-spectrum biopesticide, and more.
|
|
|
Quick, cheap, and game-changing
Field testing for diseases and pathogens is set to become a whole lot easier, thanks to collaborative research involving Massey University researchers and other Bio-Protection Research Centre partners
Their work is already bearing fruit in bioprotection and wildlife conservation, including tests for Phytophthora agathidicida and Austropuccinia psidii, the organisms responsible for kauri dieback and myrtle rust. Read more...
|
|
|
Don't bank on seed banks to save New Zealand trees
New Zealand can’t rely on seed banking to save many of its iconic trees, such as kauri, from disease, a new international study shows.
The study by scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has been published in the international journal Nature Plants. Lead author Dr Sarah Wyse (pictured) now works with the Bio-Protection Research Centre. Read more...
|
|
|
Finding the switch to a biopesticide
Discovering an organism that could become a biopesticide is only the first step in the lengthy process of developing a commercially viable product.
AgResearch and Bio-Protection Research Centre PhD student Marion Schoof is playing a part in that process, trying to develop the bacterium Yersinia entomophaga into a broad-spectrum biopesticide.
More than 20 years ago, AgResearch scientist Mark Hurst isolated Y. entomophaga from a diseased grass grub and showed that it was active against a broad range of insect pests. Read more...
|
|
|
Scientists home in on where pests come from
A team of scientists at the Bio-Protection Research Centre is working to make Biosecurity New Zealand’s (BNZ) pest incursion investigators' jobs much easier.
When deciding how to deal with a pest insect that’s new to New Zealand, BNZ needs to know where the insect was born. Read more...
|
|
|
Student takes on the challenge to spot wilding pines from space
Drive around the beautiful wide landscapes of the Mackenzie Country and you’re bound to spot some wilding pine trees.
PhD student Rowan Sprague has been working on a way to find wilding pines in remote areas by using image data collected from satellites and aeroplanes.
Because they mature early and produce a large number of relatively small seeds, wilding pines have invaded an estimated 1.8 million hectares across New Zealand, ranging from tussock grasslands and high-country farmland to native forests. Read more...
|
|
|
|
Scientists keen to explore biological control
An international workshop on conservation biological control of insect pests, hosted at Lincoln University by the Bio-Protection Research Centre, has been so successful organisers are planning a follow-up in 2019. Read more...
|
|
|
|
|
Find us on social media
During 2018, the Bio-Protection Research Centre has built a strong presence on social media.
Keep up with our news and events between newsletters by following us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
|
|
|
|
Dr Amanda Black, a Principal Investigator with the BPRC based at Lincoln University, won the AsureQuality Emerging Leader Award in the New Zealand Biosecurity Awards. Her citation says she has "not only been a leading scientist in the biosecurity space, she has also been a voice for nature, making sure that the systems for biosecurity improve".
Assoc Prof Peter Fineran, from the University of Otago, won the United Kingdom Microbiology Society's 2019 Fleming Prize for outstanding early career research. Peter's research aims to understand the interactions between mobile genetic elements such as bacteriophages and plasmids, and their bacterial hosts.
Lincoln University has awarded Prof Phil Hulme the title of Distinguished Professor. And he has also been named on the list of highly cited researchers in 2018. As well as being a Professor of Plant Biosecurity at Lincoln and a project leader at the Centre, Phil is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and a member of the New Zealand Biosecurity Ministerial Advisory Committee.
Dr David Winter, a postdoctoral research fellow based at Massey University, Palmerston North, has been awarded a $300,000 Marsden Fast Start grant for his research project "Treasure from the junk pile. Do transposable elements drive the evolution of gene expression?"
Lincoln PhD student Sundar Tiwari won the "Clean and green" prize at the Lincoln University Postgraduate Conference for his oral presentation on "Trap cropping for the wheat bug to minimise ecosystem disservices from prophylactic pesticide use".
Lincoln honours student Joel Faulkner won one of the first two Seed Industry Research Centre scholarships.
|
Prof Jason Tylianakis, University of Canterbury, has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. His citation says he "has achieved a steep trajectory across many measures of research excellence in the area of how environmental changes affect interactions between species and their contribution to ecosystem functioning."
Assoc Prof Matt Templeton, Plant & Food Research, is part of a three-person team to win a $939,000 Marsden Fund award for a project titled "Excuse me, can you show me the way? Microbial chemotaxis and survival in the phyllosphere."
Prof Murray Cox, Massey University, is part of a five-person team to win a $929,000 Marsden Fund award. The project is titled "Getting the balance right: how do allopolyploids successfully integrate interspecific nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes?"
Prof Barry Scott, also Massey University, is part of a three-person team given a $934,000 Marsden Fund award, for a project titled "Molecular basis of diterpene chemical diversity".
Prof Steve Wratten, Lincoln University, has been awarded a James Cook Research Fellowship from the Royal Society Te Apārangi, to study threats to bee populations and their pollination efficacy.
The Royal Society Te Apārangi has awarded Dr Jonathan Tonkin, University of Canterbury, a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship for research entitled: ‘Rethinking ecological networks in changing environments."
The New Zealand Plant Protection Society has awarded Lincoln PhD student Thomas Carlin the Dan Watkins Scholarship in Weed Science.
|
|
The following papers authored or co-authored by BPRC researchers were published in the second half of 2018.
Alizadeh H, Ghasempour R, Shafii MB, Ahmadi MH, Yan WM & Nazari MA (2018). Numerical simulation of PV cooling by using single turn pulsating heat pipe. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 127: 203-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2018.06.108
Allen WJ, Meyerson LA, Flick AJ & Cronin JT (2018). Intraspecific variation in indirect plant–soil feedbacks influences a wetland plant invasion. Ecology 99: 1430-40. DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2344
Ataria J, Mark-Shadbolt M, Mead ATP, Prime K, Doherty J, Waiwai J, Ashby T & Garner GO (2018). Whakamanahia Te mātauranga o te Māori: empowering Māori knowledge to support Aotearoa’s aquatic biological heritage. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 52: 467-86. DOI: 10.1080/00288330.2018.1517097
Black A, Waipara N & Gerth M (2018). Save Maori people's sacred tree species. Nature 561: 177. DOI: 10.1038/d41586-018-06629-1
Blond CLH, Ridgway HJ, Brownbridge M, Chapman RB, Condron LM, Saville DJ & Glare TR (2018). Non-host larvae negatively impact persistence of the entomopathogen Beauveria bassiana in soil. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 156: 19-28. DOI: 10.1016/j.jip.2018.07.001
Bognounou F, Hulme PE, Oksanen L, Suominen O & Olofsson J (2018). Role of climate and herbivory on native and alien conifer seedling recruitment at and above the Fennoscandian tree line. Journal of Vegetation Science 29: 573-84. DOI: 10.1111/jvs.12637
Boitt G, Black A, Wakelin SA, McDowell RW & Condron LM (2018). Impacts of long-term plant biomass management on soil phosphorus under temperate grassland. Plant and Soil 427: 163-74. DOI: 10.1007/s11104-017-3429-0
Boitt G, Schmitt DE, Gatiboni LC, Wakelin SA, Black A, Sacomori W, Cassol PC & Condron LM (2018). Fate of phosphorus applied to soil in pig slurry under cropping in southern Brazil. Geoderma 321: 164-72. DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2018.02.010
Boitt G, Simpson ZP, Tian J, Black A, Wakelin SA & Condron LM (2018). Plant biomass management impacts on short-term soil phosphorus dynamics in a temperate grassland. Biology and Fertility of Soils 54: 397-409. DOI: 10.1007/s00374-018-1269-6
Boitt G, Tian J, Black A, Wakelin SA & Condron LM (2018). Effects of long-term irrigation on soil phosphorus under temperate grazed pasture. European Journal of Soil Science 69: 95-102. DOI: 10.1111/ejss.12512
Bourdôt, G. W., Saville, D. J. (2018). Nassella trichotoma – plant growth rates and effects of timing of grubbing on populations in North Canterbury grassland. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, DOI: doi.org/10.1080/00288233.2018.1483954, 22 pp.
Curran TJ, Perry GLW, Wyse SV & Alam MA (2018). Managing fire and biodiversity in the wildland-urban interface: A role for green firebreaks. Fire 1: 3. DOI: 10.3390/fire1010003
Dickie IA, Boyer S, Buckley HL, Duncan RP, Gardner PP, Hogg ID, Holdaway RJ, Lear G, Makiola A, Morales SE, Powell JR & Weaver L (2018). Towards robust and repeatable sampling methods in eDNA-based studies. Molecular Ecology Resources 18: 940-52. DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.12907
Essl F, Bacher S, Genovesi P, Hulme PE, Jeschke JM, Katsanevakis S, Kowarik I, Kühn I, Pyšek P, Rabitsch W, Schindler S, van Kleunen M, Vilà M, Wilson JRU & Richardson DM (2018). Which taxa are alien? Criteria, applications, and uncertainties. BioScience 68: 496-509. DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biy057
Ferguson CM, Barratt BIP, Bell N, Goldson SL, Hardwick S, Jackson M, Jackson TA, Phillips CB, Popay AJ, Rennie G, Sinclair S, Townsend R & Wilson M (2018). Quantifying the economic cost of invertebrate pests to New Zealand’s pastoral industry. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research. DOI: 10.1080/00288233.2018.1478860
Foti MC, Peri E, Wajnberg E, Colazza S & Rostás M (2018). Contrasting olfactory responses of two egg parasitoids to buckwheat floral scent are reflected in field parasitism rates. Journal of Pest Science. DOI: 10.1007/s10340-018-1045-2
Gillespie MAK, Jacometti M, Tylianakis JM & Wratten SD (2018). Community dynamics can modify the direction of simulated warming effects on crop yield. PloS ONE 13: e0207796. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207796
Godsoe W, Jankowski J, Holt RD & Gravel D (2018). Which coexistence mechanisms should biogeographers quantify? A Reply to Alexander et al. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2018.01.003
Goldson SL (2018). Levy Oration - 2017. Reflections on a unique landscape. Journal of New Zealand Grasslands 80: 11-14
Goldson S, Casanovas P & Tylianakis J (2018). Effects of parasitoid/host adaptive asymmetry on biocontrol stability. In: First International Congress of Biological Control: Biological control for a healthy planet (ed Dewen Q). China Agricultural Science and Technology Press, Beijing, China, pp. 41
Hettiarachchi DK, Cripps M, Jackman SD, Van Koten C, Sullivan JJ & Rostás M (2018). Impact of the biocontrol beetle, Cassida rubiginosa, on the secondary weed target, marsh thistle (Cirsium palustre). New Zealand Plant Protection 71: 66-71. DOI: 10.30843/nzpp.2018.71.145
Hulme PE (2018). Protected land: Threat of invasive species. Science 361: 561-62. DOI: 10.1126/science.aau3784
Hulme PE, Brundu G, Carboni M, Dehnen-Schmutz K, Dullinger S, Early R, Essl F, González-Moreno P, Groom QJ, Kueffer C, Kühn I, Maurel N, Novoa A, Pergl J, Pyšek P, Seebens H, Tanner R, Touza JM, van Kleunen M & Verbrugge LNH (2018). Integrating invasive species policies across ornamental horticulture supply chains to prevent plant invasions. Journal of Applied Ecology 55: 92-98. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12953
Ikegami M, Wandrag E, Duncan RP & Hulme PE (2018). Length of cultivation determines native and non-native weed richness in crop fields worldwide. Biological Invasions. DOI: 10.1007/s10530-018-1828-7
Jado RH, Araj S-E, Abu-Irmaileh B, Shields MW & Wratten SD (2018). Floral resources to enhance the potential of Aphidius colemani for biological control of Myzus persicae. Journal of Applied Entomology. DOI: 10.1111/jen.12556
|
Karp DS, Chaplin-Kramer R, Meehan TD, Martin EA, DeClerck F, Grab H, Gratton C, Hunt L, Larsen AE, Martinez-Salinas A, O’Rourke ME, Rusch A, Poveda K, Jonsson, M, Rosenheim JA, Schellhorn NA, Tscharntke T, Wratten SD, et al. (2018). Crop pests and predators exhibit inconsistent responses to surrounding landscape composition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115: E7863-E7870. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1800042115
Kurenbach B, Hill AM, Godsoe W, Van Hamelsveld S & Heinemann JA (2018). Agrichemicals and antibiotics in combination increase antibiotic resistance evolution. PeerJ 6: e5801. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.5801
Lambert S, Waipara N, Black A, Shadbolt M & Wood W (2018). Indigenous biosecurity: Māori responses to kauri dieback and myrtle rust in Aotearoa New Zealand. In: The human dimensions in forest and tree health (eds Urquhart J, Marzano M & Potter C), Palgrave-Macmillian, Cham, p 109-37. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-76956-1
Lopes RB, Faria M & Glare TR (2018). A nonconventional two-stage fermentation system for the production of aerial conidia of entomopathogenic fungi utilizing surface tension. Journal of Applied Microbiology. DOI: 10.1111/jam.14137
Ma LS, Wang L, Trippel C, Mendoza-Mendoza A, Ullmann S, Moretti M, Carsten A, Kahnt J, Reissmann S, Zechmann B, Bange G & Kahmann R (2018). The Ustilago maydis repetitive effector Rsp3 blocks the antifungal activity of mannose-binding maize proteins. Nature Communications 9: 1-15. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04149-0
Martoni F, Bulman SR, Pitman A, Taylor G & Armstrong KF (2018). DNA barcoding highlights cryptic diversity in the New Zealand Psylloidea (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha). Diversity 10: 50. DOI: 10.3390/d10030050
McKinnon AC, Glare TR, Ridgway HJ, Mendoza-Mendoza A, Holyoake A, Godsoe WK & Bufford JL (2018). Detection of the entomopathogenic Fungus Beauveria bassiana in the rhizosphere of wound-stressed Zea mays plants. Frontiers in Microbiology 9. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01161
Mendoza-Mendoza A, Zaid R, Lawry R, Hermosa R, Monte E, Horwitz BA & Mukherjee PK (2018). Molecular dialogues between Trichoderma and roots: Role of the fungal secretome. Fungal Biology Reviews 32: 62-85. DOI: 10.1016/j.fbr.2017.12.001
Nboyine JA, Boyer S, Saville DJ & Wratten SD (2018). Agroecological management of a soil-dwelling orthopteran pest in vineyards. Insect Science 25: 475-86. DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.12425
Nogueira-Lopez G, Greenwood DR, Middleditch M, Winefield C, Eaton C, Steyaert JM & Mendoza-Mendoza A (2018). The apoplastic secretome of Trichoderma virens during interaction with maize roots shows an inhibition of plant defence and scavenging oxidative stress secreted proteins. Frontiers in Plant Science 9: 1-23. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2018.00409
Pauchard A, Meyerson LA, Bacher S, Blackburn TM, Brundu G, Cadotte MW, Courchamp F, Essl F, Genovesi P, Haider S, Holmes ND, Hulme PE, Jeschke JM & Zenni RD (2018). Biodiversity assessments: Origin matters. PLoS Biology 16: e2006686. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2006686
Pretty J, Benton TG, Pervez Bharucha Z, Dicks L, Butler Flora C, Godfray C, Goulson D, Hartley S, Lampkin N, Morris C, Pierzynski G, Prasad PVV, Reganold J, Rockström J, Smith P, Thorne P & Wratten S (2018). Global assessment of agricultural system redesign for sustainable intensification. Nature Sustainability 1: 441-46. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-018-0114-0
Rahimi H, Nateq Golestan M & Kakhki A. (2018). Exploring the impact of non-chemical methods on the control of bulb mite (Rhizoglyphus robini Claparède) and yield of saffron (Crocus sativus L.). New Zealand Plant Protection 71: 93-101. DOI: 10.30843/nzpp.2018.71.108
Rayl RJ, Shields MW, Tiwari S & Wratten SD (2018). Conservation biological control of insect pests. In: Sustainable Agriculture Reviews (eds Gaba S, Smith B & Lichtfouse E). Vol. 28. Springer, Cham, p 103-24. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-90309-5_3
Redlich S, Clemens J, Bader MKF, Pendrigh D, Perret-Gentil A, Godsoe W, Teulon DAJ & Brockerhoff EG (2018). Identifying new associations between invasive aphids and Pinaceae trees using plant sentinels in botanic gardens. Biological Invasions. DOI: 10.1007/s10530-018-1817-x
Rezania S, Alizadeh H, Park J, Din MFM, Darajeh N, Ebrahimi SS, Saha BB and Kamyab H (2018). Effect of various pretreatment methods on sugar and ethanol production from cellulosic water hyacinth. BioResources. DOI: 10.15376/biores.14.1.592-606
Sikes BA, Bufford JL, Hulme PE, Cooper JA, Johnston PR & Duncan RP (2018). Import volumes and biosecurity interventions shape the arrival rate of fungal pathogens. PLoS Biology 16. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2006025
Sreerama Kumar P, Migheli Q, Pickett CH & Glare T (2018). Editorial - biocontrol: approaches and applications. Biocontrol Science and Technology 28: 913). DOI: 10.1080/09583157.2018.1528413
Tylianakis JM, Martínez-García LB, Richardson SJ, Peltzer DA & Dickie IA (2018). Symmetric assembly and disassembly processes in an ecological network. Ecology Letters 21: 896-904. DOI: 10.1111/ele.12957
Wyckhuys KAG, Wongtiem P, Rauf A, Thancharoen A, Heimpel GE, Le NTT, Fanani MZ, Gurr GM, Lundgren JG, Burra DD, Palao LK, Hyman G, Graziosi I, Le VX, Cock MJW, Tscharntke T, Wratten SD, Nguyen LV, You M, Lu Y, Ketelaar JW, Goergen G & Neuenschwander P (2018). Continental-scale suppression of an invasive pest by a host-specific parasitoid underlines both environmental and economic benefits of arthropod biological control. PeerJ 6: e5796. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.5796
Wyse SV & Dickie JB (2018). Ecological correlates of seed dormancy differ among dormancy types: A case study in the legumes. New Phytologist 217: 477-79. DOI: 10.1111/nph.14777
Wyse SV & Dickie JB (2018). Taxonomic affinity, habitat and seed mass strongly predict seed desiccation response: A boosted regression trees analysis based on 17 539 species. Annals of Botany 121: 71-83. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcx128
Wyse SV, Dickie JB & Willis KJ (2018). Seed banking not an option for many threatened plants. Nature Plants 4: 848-50. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-018-0298-3
Wyse SV, Wilmshurst JM, Burns BR & Perry GLW (2018). New Zealand forest dynamics: a review of past and present vegetation responses to disturbance, and development of conceptual forest models. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 42: 87-106. DOI: 10.20417/nzjecol.42.18
|
|
|
|
