Pennsylvania is the fourth largest producer of wine in the country, but there's a serious threat affecting some of the vineyards in our area.
Tailgates, football games and festivals. It's a busy time for people to be zig-zagging across Pennsylvania and that's causing new fears from the state. They don't want an invasive bug, the spotted lanternfly catching a ride into our area.
Interactions between insects, predators and plants may be difficult to observe, but they contain powerful clues to how we could save our crops and natural spaces. Enter the world of entomology, where plants and beetles are the masters of natural chemical weapons and the risk of being eaten is real.
Penn State Entomology graduate students were able to bring aspects of their research to the public at the annual Great Insect Fair (GIF). Located in the Snider Agricultural Arena, the GIF theme for 2019 was “A world with(out) insects” and students were able to showcase what our world would look like without some key critters and certainly what outreach efforts look like with graduate students at the forefront.
Pennsylvania’s beekeepers can now get even closer to their six-legged friends. In April, Penn State University, with the help of Callowhill-based geospatial technology company Azavea, released a new tool called Beescape where keepers can get the buzz on their hives (sorry) with a “bee’s eye view” of their environment.
Pennsylvania state officials are asking for the public’s help in controlling the spotted lanternfly — an invasive insect that is both a nuisance and a threat to crops.
Centre County has seen a “dramatic increase” in hospitalizations over the past two years for an infectious bacterial disease primarily spread by deer ticks, according to a Mount Nittany Physician Group infectious disease specialist.
In Amityville, Pennsylvania, 10 acres of grapevines sprawl across the family-owned Manatawny Creek Winery. Owner Darvin Levengood is no stranger to vineyard pests. But he was met with calamity in the fall of 2017 when grape pickers were bombarded by swarms of a new invasive insect, the Spotted Lanternfly. Winery guests couldn’t drink on the open porch without finding the bug, and its “honeydew,” in their glass.
Marten Edwards knows just what to say when friends come to him and admit that they think they’ve seen an alien.
Waking up with a fresh set of itchy bug bites can bring on its own set of worries. What, exactly, was biting you in the middle of the night? Was it a spider? Mosquito? Or—possibly the worst case scenario — could it have been bed bugs?
When it comes to horror, there’s nothing more terrifying than the plausible. As much as we love cowering from supernatural scares, when we leave the cinema, we do so knowing that vampires aren’t really going to hurt us. That a vengeful spirit probably isn’t lurking behind the counter at our local Starbucks.
The tail-end of summer means the moth-like spotted lanternfly will begin laying its eggs in a few weeks. Many Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents aren’t taking the threat of the invasive species lightly, and are increasingly going out of their way to kill the critters and their larvae.
Penn State Extension has established a new vector-borne disease team that focuses on diseases transmitted by ticks and mosquitos. To ensure that its efforts address community needs, the team is launching a survey, the results of which will allow extension educators to deliver responsive programming to educate the public on vector-borne diseases, how to prevent them, and how people can protect themselves.
Hordes of spotted lanternflies are flapping through the state, threatening agriculture. “They jump, they’re big, they’re scary,” one Pennsylvanian said. “It’s like all of your worst nightmares coming to fruition.”
With a theme of “Living With(out) Insects,” the 2019 edition of Penn State's Great Insect Fair will explore the widely publicized, worldwide decline of insects from 10 a.m. to 4 pm. Saturday, September 28, at the Snider Agricultural Arena on the University Park campus.
The Barbercheck Lab is seeking one Master’s student to start in the Summer or Fall of 2020.
In the Great Spotted Lanternfly War, Pennsylvania’s citizen-soldiers are fighting back with fly swatters and vacuums, dish soap and sticky tape. They’re stomping and spraying and zapping and bragging about their kills on social media. “DESTROY THEM,” a propaganda poster urges. “Die, die, die, spotted lanternfly,” a balladeer sings.
The invasive pest has killed vines and forced the closure of wineries in Berks and Lehigh counties. Bucks County is already seeing damages, as researchers study a nearby vineyard with an eye toward solutions.
After entering the museum, visitors who head toward the left wall will encounter a great swarm of insects. The pinned specimens are arranged in 16 repurposed insect drawers, configured in a four-by-four grid. Looking closer, visitors will observe that the insects are clustered, not randomly—but according to their taxonomic group. The eagle-eyed may notice that the size of each cluster is proportional to that group’s diversity: a cloud of flies, a battalion of beetles, a mass of moths and butterflies; just a smattering of scorpionflies, a handful of stick insects. Within the multitudes, 100 specimens are adorned with a number corresponding to a poster with more information about that species.
A unique undertaking in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will shine a light on how solar farms can contribute to healthy ecosystems and boost pollinator populations.
Spotted lantern flies have been destroying fruit trees and vineyards in the Philadelphia area.
Invent Penn State's Tech Tournament is a showcase of disruptive technologies and early-stage companies
The spotted lanternfly is damaging Pennsylvania vineyards and threatening other farm goods and trees. Researchers are looking at a fungus and tiny wasps as options to kill it.
Researchers testing a biopesticide to control spotted lanternfly in areas of Norristown Farm Park this past summer are encouraged by the results and say they may have discovered a very effective weapon to stamp out the invasive pests.
I didn’t think it would happen to me, but I have become one of those parents. You know the ones: the type who are always bragging about their children’s latest achievements, proudly showing photos to anyone who displays even the vaguest interest, and vocally declaring that their progeny are geniuses.
What kinds of ethical considerations, if any, are relevant to research, management, or conservation efforts involving insects? What limits might be appropriate for those actions? These are questions we ask as members of a profession—one that’s devoted to the study of certain organisms.
Marjorie A. Hoy is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking research with the first laboratory-modified natural enemy deployed in a pest management program. The natural enemy had been genetically improved through selection to be resistant to three pesticide classes. Hoy is also highly regarded for the development of classical biological control of invasive pests of Florida citrus.
Rudolf Schilder, assistant professor of entomology at Penn State University, took some time to explain why Pennsylvania residents are seeing so many dragonflies this month. He studies dragonfly factors that impact their flight performance, usually in a laboratory.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Pensylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) is waging an all-out war on a tiny insect called the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula). Researchers at the Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit (BIIRU), a subdivision of the PADA, in Newark, Delaware, have come up with a plan to eradicate the invasive insect once and for all, using a curious weapon: wasps.
The oft-memed slogan “save the bees” has been all the buzz for several years now, but who is actually making an effort to save one of the planet’s most important insects?
