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Student 10-Minute Paper

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Student Competition

Student

Grad Competition P-IE: Biocontrol and IPM 1

Beetle herding: Optimizing the biological control of Dioscorea bulbifera

Monday, November 6, 2023
8:00 AM – 8:12 AM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor 2
In-Person Student Competition
Dioscorea bulbifera is an invasive vines species able to grow up into forest canopies and cover forest floors with no known natural predators outside its native range of Asia and Africa. Lilioceris cheni, the air potato beetle, is a Chrysomelidae specialized in eating its host D. bulbifera. Results from our previous studies indicated L. cheni displays a significant response to the presence of a D. bulbifera leaf placed upwind with airflow indicating L. cheni uses volatiles from D. bulbifera for proper host selection. In this study, we investigated attraction of L. cheni to its host plant odor cues when damaged by conspecifics in the presence of airflow using a wind tunnel. Volatile profiles of conspecific adult and larval damaged, mechanically damaged, and undamaged plants were analyzed using gas chromatography mass spectroscopy were then investigated. We found significant differences between the volatile profiles of adult and larval damaged plants to mechanically damaged and undamaged plants, specifically increasing 11 volatile compounds. The results of this research could be broadly used to develop strategies to monitor and attract different biological control agents particularly in invasive plant management.