Technological Advances to Address Current Issues in Entomology: 2020 Student Debates.

The 2020 Student Debates of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) were live-streamed during the Virtual Annual Meeting to debate current, prominent entomological issues of interest to members. The Student Debates Subcommittee of the National ESA Student Affairs Committee coordinated the student efforts throughout the year and hosted the live event. This year, four unbiased introductory speakers provided background for each debate topic while four multi-university teams were each assigned a debate topic under the theme 'Technological Advances to Address Current Issues in Entomology'. The two debate topics selected were as follows: 1) What is the best taxonomic approach to identify and classify insects? and 2) What is the best current technology to address the locust swarms worldwide? Unbiased introduction speakers and debate teams began preparing approximately six months before the live event. During the live event, teams shared their critical thinking and practiced communication skills by defending their positions on either taxonomical identification and classification of insects or managing the damaging outbreaks of locusts in crops.

Epicuticular Wax Rice Mutants Show Reduced Resistance to Rice Water Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Fall Armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

Plant structural traits can act as barriers for herbivore attachment, feeding, and oviposition. In particular, epicuticular waxes (EWs) on the aerial surfaces of many land plants offer protection from biotic and abiotic stresses. In rice (Oryza sativa L.), mutations that reduce EWs have been previously reported. However, whether such mutations affect rice water weevil (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus Kuschel) and fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda Smith) performance has not been investigated yet. These pests cause significant economic problems in important rice-producing areas of the United States. The aim of our study was to characterize the EWs of EW mutants and wild-type rice plants by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and compare the resistance of mutant and wild-type plants against rice water weevil and fall armyworm. We hypothesized that mutants with reduced EWs would have weaker resistance to pests than wild-type plants. Three mutant lines (6-1A, 7-17A, and 11-39A) and their wild-type parent (cv. 'Sabine') were used to test this hypothesis. Levels of EWs were significantly lower in mutant lines than in the wild-type, and qualitative differences in EW composition were also observed. Reduction in EWs significantly affected performance of insects in experiments conducted under greenhouse conditions. Experiments with rice water weevils were conducted in arenas in which females were given a choice of the mutants and the wild-type for oviposition. Number of first instars emerging from the three EW mutants (an indication of oviposition preference) was higher on the three EW mutants than on wild-type plants with normal wax levels. Similarly, in no-choice experiments using whole plants or detached leaves, weight gains of armyworms on leaves were higher on the mutant lines than on the wild-type. These results indicate that EW traits are involved in rice resistance to weevils and armyworms. Understanding the plant traits that contribute to resistance to rice pests will be helpful for the development of resistant varieties for reducing pest insect damage.

Synergisms in Science: Climate Change and Integrated Pest Management Through the Lens of Communication-2019 Student Debates.

Every year, the Student Debates Subcommittee (SDS) of the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) for the annual Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting organizes the Student Debates. This year, the SAC selected topics based on their synergistic effect or ability to ignite exponential positive change when addressed as a whole. For the 2019 Student Debates, the SAC SDS identified these topic areas for teams to debate and unbiased introduction speakers to address: 1) how to better communicate science to engage the public, particularly in the area of integrated pest management (IPM), 2) the influential impacts of climate change on agriculturally and medically relevant insect pests, and 3) sustainable agriculture techniques that promote the use of IPM to promote food security. Three unbiased introduction speakers gave a foundation for our audience to understand each debate topic, while each of six debate teams provided a strong case to support their stance or perspective on a topic. Debate teams submitted for a competitive spot for the annual ESA Student Debates and trained for the better part of a year to showcase their talents in presenting logical arguments for a particular topic. Both the debate teams and unbiased introduction speakers provided their insight toward a better understanding of the complexities of each topic and established a foundation to delve further into the topics of science advocacy and communication, climate change, and the many facets of integrated pest management.

Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on rice-herbivore interactions are soil-dependent.

The effect of soil type on establishment of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, and their effects on plant growth and resistance to rice pests are poorly understood. We investigated the effects of inoculation with AM fungi on rice plants in two different unsterilized field soils under greenhouse and field conditions in two consecutive years in Louisiana, United States. We tested whether inoculation with AM fungi in the two soils changed plant biomass, nutrient concentration, resistance to pests, and yields. Inoculation with a commercial formulation of AM fungi increased root colonization by fungi in all soils, regardless of soil P availability; it also increased densities of root-feeding rice water weevil larvae and growth of leaf-feeding fall armyworm larvae, but these effects were soil-dependent. Inoculation with AM fungi had no effect on N and P concentrations or rice yields. The effect on plant biomass was also soil-dependent. Our study provides evidence for the first time that inoculation with AM fungi can increase colonization of roots of rice plants, but the effects of colonization on resistance to pests and plant biomass appear to be soil dependent. Moreover, the increased susceptibility to pests of rice colonized by AM fungi does not appear to be related to nutrient concentrations.

Entomology in the 21st Century: Tackling Insect Invasions, Promoting Advancements in Technology, and Using Effective Science Communication-2018 Student Debates.

The 2018 student debates of the Entomological Society of America were held at the Joint Annual Meeting for the Entomological Societies of America, Canada, and British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. Three unbiased introductory speakers and six debate teams discussed and debated topics under the theme 'Entomology in the 21st Century: Tackling Insect Invasions, Promoting Advancements in Technology, and Using Effective Science Communication'. This year's debate topics included: 1) What is the most harmful invasive insect species in the world? 2) How can scientists diffuse the stigma or scare factor surrounding issues that become controversial such as genetically modified organisms, agricultural biotechnological developments, or pesticide chemicals? 3) What new/emerging technologies have the potential to revolutionize entomology (other than Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)? Introductory speakers and debate teams spent approximately 9 mo preparing their statements and arguments and had the opportunity to share this at the Joint Annual Meeting with an engaged audience.

Belowground Inoculation With Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Increases Local and Systemic Susceptibility of Rice Plants to Different Pest Organisms.

Plants face numerous challenges from both aboveground and belowground stressors, and defend themselves against harmful insects and microorganisms in many ways. Because plant responses to biotic stresses are not only local but also systemic, belowground interactions can influence aboveground interactions in both natural and agricultural ecosystems. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are soilborne organisms that form symbiotic associations with many plant roots and are thought to play a central role in plant nutrition, growth, and fitness. In the present study, we focused on the influence of AMF on rice defense against pests. We inoculated rice plants with AMF in several field and greenhouse experiments to test whether the interaction of AMF with rice roots changes the resistance of rice against two chewing insects, the rice water weevil (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus Kuschel, RWW) and the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, FAW), and against infection by sheath blight (Rhizoctonia solani, ShB). Both in field and greenhouse experiments, the performance of insects and the pathogen on rice was enhanced when plants were inoculated with AMF. In the field, inoculating rice plants with AMF resulted in higher numbers of RWW larvae on rice roots. In the greenhouse, more RWW first instars emerged from AMF-colonized rice plants than from non-colonized control plants. Weight gains of FAW larvae were higher on rice plants treated with AMF inoculum. Lesion lengths and susceptibility to ShB infection were higher in rice plants colonized by AMF. Although AMF inoculation enhanced the growth of rice plants, the nutritional analyses of root and shoot tissues indicated no major increases in the concentrations of nutrients in rice plants colonized by AMF. The large effects on rice susceptibility to pests in the absence of large effects on plant nutrition suggest that AMF colonization influences other mechanisms of susceptibility (e.g., defense signaling processes). This study represents the first study conducted in the U.S. in rice showing AMF-induced plant susceptibility to several antagonists that specialize on different plant tissues. Given the widespread occurrence of AMF, our findings will help to provide a different perspective into the causal basis of rice systemic resistance/susceptibility to insects and pathogens.

Identification of cold-responsive genes in energycane for their use in genetic diversity analysis and future functional marker development.

Breeding for cold tolerance in sugarcane will allow its cultivation as a dedicated biomass crop in cold environments. Development of functional markers to facilitate marker-assisted breeding requires identification of cold stress tolerance genes. Using suppression subtractive hybridization, 465 cold-responsive genes were isolated from the cold-tolerant energycane Ho02-144. Predicted gene interactions network indicated several associated pathways that may coordinately regulate cold tolerance responses in energycane. Expression analysis of a select set of genes, representing signaling and transcription factors, genes involved in polyamine and antioxidant biosynthesis, protein degradation and in the repair of damaged proteins in the cytosol, showed their time-dependent regulation under cold-stress. Comparative expression profiles of these genes between Ho02-144 and a cold-sensitive clone (L79-1002) showed that almost all genes were induced immediately upon imposition of cold stress and maintained their expression in Ho02-144 whereas they were either downregulated or their upregulation was very low in L79-1002. Simple sequence repeat markers derived from 260 cold-responsive genes showed allelic diversity among the cold-sensitive commercial hybrids that were distinct from the Saccharum spontaneum clones. Future efforts will target sequence polymorphism information of these genes in our ongoing QTL and association mapping studies to identify functional markers associated with cold tolerance in sugar/energycane.