Impacts of Invasive Insect Pests to Agriculture

1. ChiroSurveillance: The Use of Native Bats to Detect the Invasive Brown Marmorated Stink BugBrooke Maslo1,2*, Rafael Valentin1, Karen Leu1, Kathleen Kerwin1, Amanda Bevan1, George C. Hamilton2,3, Nina H. Fefferman1, and Dina M. Fonseca1,2,3 1Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 2Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 3Department of Entomology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

2. Impacts of Invasive Insect Pests to Agriculture annual economic value of U.S. crop losses by invasive insect pests: $13 billion annual costs for associated control measures: $500 million invasive species management strategies evolve with time since introduction management efficiency decreases over time Simberloff et al. 2013

3. Challenges of Monitoring & Surveillance of BMSB Current BMSB Monitoring Tools black light traps aggregation pheromones (MDT) natural pheromones (SSRS, RSRS) Neilsen et al. 2013

4. Bats as Agents of Invasive Species Surveillance? temperate insectivorous bats consume a diverse array of insects expansive foraging range is ~5km central place foragers, returning to same roost nightly easy to sample bats may be important sentinels if: 1. they identify non-native species as prey 2. we can reliably detect non-native species in bat guano (even when pest is rare)

5. Study Sites apple/peach orchards with resident maternity colonies of big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus Longmeadow Farms (Brad Burke): ~30 bats 2 hectares Strawberry Hill Farm (Ross Kiesling): ~100 bats 23 hectares WM Schober Sons (John Schober): ~100 bats 121 hectares

6. Weekly Density of BMSB through Black Light Trap Monitoring quantified weekly trap counts of BMSB used inverse distance weighted algorithm to extrapolate statewide BMSB densities generated weekly maps corresponding to the 7 nights preceding guano collection dates

7. Dietary Analysis of BatGuano for BMSB Bat Guano Collection: weekly collection of 100 intact fecal pellets from resident colony of big brown bats; randomly subsampled 16-20 pellets for pooling Sample Preparation pulverization, DNA extraction Molecular Analysis quantitative polymerase chain reaction using a BMSB-specific assay targeting the ITS region in the rDNA

8. Bats Identify & Regularly Consume BMSB >50% of the pooled guano samples (34/60) tested positive for BMSB Ct values ranged from 23.7-34.3 positive detections occurred even at low BMSB densities big brown bats detected BMSB 3-4 weeks earlier than black light traps

9. Bat Predation of BMSBis Density-Dependent BUT… bat predation and black light traps occur at different scales Early Spring: BMSB stage in woodlands Mid-Summer: BMSB adults active in fields Late Summer: BMSB respond to aggregation pheromones

10. Significance of Correlation ImprovesWith Data Transformation

11. Conclusions/Next Steps • Bats as Agents of Invasive Species Surveillance: • Big brown bats recognize BMSB as a common prey item across the season • Density-dependent predatory response • Bats detected BMSB 3-4 weeks earlier than black light traps • currently testing chiroSurveillance on tufted apple budmoth, codling moth, and Oriental fruit moth • Next Steps: • Comparison of bat predation with newer pheromones needed to verify the patterns identified here • Robust economic analyses to determine cost-effectiveness of chirosurveillance • Can bats be effective agents of control?

12. Acknowledgements Larry Katz Anne Neilsen George Hamilton Dave Schmitt Dean Polk John Schober Brad Burke Ross Kiesling Mike Russo Doug Race Joe Nichols N.H. Fefferman M. Valent J.F. Gumbs M. Hall Danielle Podmayersky Brittany Chrans Chloe Lewis Rachael Sacatelli