Submitted by Nicholas Mills on
The Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) is an invasive leafrolling moth from Australia that was first found in California in 2007. Worries over the effects of this invasive species on California agriculture have prompted research into its potential geographic range and biological control factors, such as natural insect parasitism and diseases. Over the past 10 years, LBAM has experienced a decline that is unusual for an invasive species, a decline which is not fully explained by parasitism and disease. This project examines a new possible control agent for LBAM; induced plant defenses. Plants respond to insect herbivory by increasing their allocation to defensive chemicals. To investigate the possible effects of induced plant defenses on the control of LBAM, we are running cage experiments in the spring and fall. These involve adding varying levels of inducing larvae to plants, allowing them to feed, then allowing a bioassay larvae to feed on leaves taken from the plants to determine if higher damage levels are associated with lower larval weight gain in the bioassay larvae. During the summer, we are also doing field sampling of known LBAM populations around the Bay Area, which includes counts and collections for parasitism analysis.
Running an experiment requires maintaining a colony of LBAM. The colony must be maintained in a healthy state over the summer to allow for growth for the fall experimental season, as specific instar stages are necessary for accurate bioassay performance.
Colony maintenance tasks include:
1) Cutting eggs from oviposition cups
2) Picking LBAM pupae from diet cups
3) Making LBAM diet/honey
4) Maintaining various greenhouse plants for colonies/experiment
Other tasks include:
1) Recording emergence from field collected LBAM samples
2) Assist with the cage experiments on induced plant defenses
3) Data entry
Anyone interested in working in an insect biology lab is welcome to apply.
The project involves working with insects, which are living organisms that require timely maintenance.
Punctuality, precision, and patience are essential.