Lab Report

SHRESTHARubyRaj_2835633_assignsubmission_file_ShresthaRubyRaj1.docx

Marking Guide

	Inadequate (Deficient to Poor)	Fair to Good	Excellent	Your mark
Executive summary Approx 250 words	Very brief, does not adequately describe the case study, approach taken, findings, and has few substantial recommendations	Fair to good attempt to describe the case study, approach taken, findings, and has some substantial recommendations but is not altogether clear how these relate to the case study	Good to excellent description of the case study, approach taken, findings, and has substantial recommendations that are well supported
	0-1.5	2-3	3.5-4.5	3
Terms of reference (Approx 150 words)	Vague statements of terms of reference which provide little information on the expected content of the case study	Fair to good statement of terms of reference that provides a sound though somewhat limited guide to content of the case study	Good to excellent statement of terms of reference that provides clear guide to content of the case study
	0-0.5	1-2	2.5-3	2
Fall army worm life cycle Approx 400 words	Vague statements showing limited understanding of the pests life cycle	Fairly clear to clear statements showing substantial understanding of the pests life cycle	Clear and incisive statements showing comprehensive understanding of the pests life cycle
	0-1.5	2-3	3.5-4.5	3.5
The potential cause(s) of the Australian outbreak and how this relates to interactions between agriculture and the environment Approx 500 words	Vague statements showing limited understanding of the potential cause(s) of the Australian outbreak and how this relates to interactions between agriculture and the environment	Fairly clear to clear statements showing substantial understanding of the potential cause(s) of the Australian outbreak and how this relates to interactions between agriculture and the environment	Clear and incisive statements showing comprehensive understanding of the potential cause(s) of the Australian outbreak and how this relates to interactions between agriculture and the environment
	0-1.5	2-3	3.5-4.5	3
Implications of the outbreak on human impacts on the environment Approx 500 words	Vague and incomplete statements that show little understanding of the implications of the outbreak on human impacts on the environment	Fair to good statements that show substantial understanding of the implications of the outbreak on human impacts on the environment	Good to excellent statements that show comprehensive understanding of the implications of the outbreak on human impacts on the environment
	0-1.5	2-3	3.5-4.5	2
Recommendations Approx 200 words	Imprecise recommendations not well supported by foregoing material	Fairly precise recommendations supported by foregoing material, but some limitations in scope	Comprehensive and precise recommendations supported by the forgoing material, covers the scope of the topic chosen
	0-1.5	2-3	3.5-4.5	2.5
In text Referencing, Bibliography and report structure	Limited, too much reliance on a few references, diversity of sources not evident, relies on a few sources, non- standard citation and bibliographic listing, report does not follow structure provided	Reasonably comprehensive, some errors in citation and bibliographic listing, some limitations in diversity of sources and some over-reliance on a few references, few deviations from report structure provided	Comprehensive, correctly cited and presented, uses a diversity of source, does not rely on a limited number of sources, and follows report structure provided.
	0-1.5	2-3	3.5-4.5	1.5

Total Marks: __17.5___/30

Comments: The impacts on the environment were limited to pesticides while in reality there are others. This limited the recommendations. Limited number of references used possibly limited this thinking as well.

Report on the Fall Armyworm Outbreak in Northern Australia

Student Name: Ruby Raj Shrestha

Student no.: u1129492

Course Code: AGR8003

Course Name: Critical Issues in Agriculture

Instructors Name: Keith Pembleton

Date of Submission: 03/09/2020

I. Index

Fall Armyworm Outbreak 1

Adult 7, 9, 11

Agricultural 4, 5, 6, 10, 14

Alkaline 12

Bacillus thuringiensis13

Beauveria bassianam 13

Black Death 11

Caterpillars 7

Cocoon 8

Comprehensive 5

Deltamethrin12, 14

Department of Agriculture 11, 14

Drought 5

Ecosystem 10, 14

Eggs 7, 9

Eradicate 11

Famine 5

Farmers 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Feeding 4, 7, 9, 10

Female 7, 8, 9

Foliar 9

Food chain 10

Food security 10

Government 5, 10

Greenhouse 10

Half-life 12

Horticultural 4, 5, 6

Host 9, 10

Humans 11

Information 11

Insecticides 4, 10, 12

Instars 7

Institut Pasteur de Madagascar 12

Larva 4, 7, 8, 9, 13

Life cycle 4, 5, 7, 10

Lifetime 9

Maize 9, 10, 13

Male 7, 8, 9

Migration 4, 9

Minimize 11

Mission 5

Mortality 12

Moth 4, 7, 8, 9

Northern Eastern Australia 9

Organochlorine dieldrin 12

Outbreak 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

Oviposition 9

Patches 7

Pesticides 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Pests 4, 9, 10, 11

Plague 11

Polyphagous 4, 9

Population 10, 11, 12

Poverty reduction 10

Predation 9

Problem statement 5

Pupa 8, 9

Recommendations 4, 5, 12

Report 5, 9, 10, 11, 12

Reproductive 4, 9

Research 6, 12, 14

Resistance 4, 10, 12, 13

Rice 9

Rodents 11, 12

Rural 12

Scientists 10

Soil 4, 8, 10, 12

Sorghum 9

Sprays 9

Sugarcane 9

Summer 4, 8

Territories 5

Tolerance 10

Urban 12, 14

Whorl 4, 9, 13

Winds 9

Wings 8

Winter 8

Yersinia pestis

II. Executive Summary

Fall army worms (Spodoptera frugiperda) are the larval stage of a fall armyworm moth. These species of insects are termed as pests agriculturally as they can destroy a wide variety of crops and has a high invasive behaviour. Outbreaks occur during the early stages of summer. In late 2019, there was an outbreak of fall armyworm in Northern Australia that affected a range of horticultural crops. The approach taken was to determine the cause of the outbreak by; investigating the life cycle, causes of the outbreak and relation to the interaction between agriculture and the environment. Furthermore, to discuss the implications of the outbreak in relation to other potential human impacts on the environment. Results from the investigation concluded that; fall army worms are highly polyphagous, have a high reproductive rate, high migration rate, have obscure behaviour and feeding, have a resistance to pesticides and insecticides and there is a lack of knowledge surrounding pest behaviour, life cycle and feeding habits. Furthermore, due to the adaptability of FAW, farmers have resulted to using high amounts of insecticide which in turn cause alkalinity of the soil hence degrades the quality of soil, affecting the environment in the process. Recommendations given were to reduce the excessive use of pesticides, educate farmers on pest control, introduce better and stronger alternatives of pesticides to farmers, introduction and education of biopesticides as an alternative pesticide, incorporating cultural control and application of wood ashes to leaf whorls.

III. Terms of Reference

1. Mission statement:

To provide a comprehensive report on the fall armyworm which investigates the life cycle, causes of outbreak, interaction between agriculture and environment and implications of the outbreak in relation to other potential human impacts on the environment

2. Problem statement:

The fall armyworm has wrecked havoc agriculturally over the past 3 centuries worldwide devastating the livelihood of many farmers and rendering governments helpless on how to feed their people. Furthermore, the outbreak of the fall armyworm in Northern Australia threatens to spread to other territories causing crop devastation. If the outbreak goes uncontrolled, a bigger problem of drought and famine will arise.

3. Boundaries of the investigation:

Fresh Grow Federation represents the interests of theAustralian horticultural industry overall and it members includes growers, packers,marketers,exporters, and those that support the industry. An investigation into fallarmy worms life cycle, causes of the outbreak and interaction between agriculture and the environment. Recommendations on how potential human impacts on the environment should be minimised in future similar outbreaks will be given

4. Specific issues to be addressed:

i. Fall army worm life cycle

ii. The potential cause(s) of the Australian outbreak and how this relates tointeractions between agriculture and the environment

iii. Implications of the outbreak on human impacts on the environment

5. Desired outcomes:

The desired outcome is ultimately to reduce the number of outbreaks of Fall armyworms and the spread of the pest in the agricultural sector.

6. Persons involved:

One employee in theresearch department of the Australian horticultural industry peak body (Fresh Grow Federation).

7. Project administration

i. Time frame: 2-3 weeks

ii. Resources: internet connection, computers, printers, access to the local library

IV. Fall armyworm life cycle

Egg

The eggs of a fall armyworm are laid by an adult female moth which lays 100-200 eggs. The moth lays the eggs on the underside of leaves, close to the stem and leaf (Capinera 2017). After laying the eggs, the moth covers them with a protective scale rubbed off from its abdomen after laying which gives the eggs a furry look. The FAW eggs are dome shaped; having a flat base and curving upwards with a broadened apex. A female moth lays an average of about 1500-2000 eggs with 100-200 eggs per mass (Capinera 2017).

Fig 1 Egg mass of the FAW. Photograph by James Castner, University of Florida

Larva

Upon hatching, the young caterpillars feed on the undersides of leaves. This feeding produces “windows” or patches on the leaves. The Larva caterpillar can swirl threads that are able to trap the wind and transport them to a new plant. The FAW has six instars with a head capsule widths ranging between 0.35-2.6 mm and length respectively varies between 1.7- 34.2 mm, respectively during these instars (Capinera 2017).

Fig 3. Larva of the FAW. Photograph by Lyle J. Buss, University of Florida

Pupa

This stage it takes place in the soil at a depth 2 to 8 cm. The larva builds an oval shape cocoon, by weaving together particles of soil with silk. If the larva lands on hard soil it will build a cocoon from debris of leaves and other materials on the surface of the soil (Capinera 2017). The pupa measures between 15 to 19 mm in length with a width of about 4.5 mm taking a reddish-brown color. The pupa stages last about 9nine days in summer and lasting up to thirty days in winter (Westbrook et al . 2016).

Figure 4 Pupa of the FAW.Photograph by Paul Choate, University of Florida.

Adult

At the adult stage the wings of the moths measure up to 40 mm. The male moth bears gray and brown triangular white spots at the tip while the female is marked with grayish brown wings with a fine mottling of brown and gray. The adult moths are active during warm, humid evenings. The adult life of a moth is estimated to be 12 days (Capinera 2017).

Figure 6 Typical adult female FAW. Photograph by Lyle J. Buss, University of Florida.

V. Potential cause(s) of the Australian outbreak and how it relates to interactions between agriculture and the environment

Highlypolyphagous- One of the reasons for the outbreak can be attributed to the fact that the pest feeds on various plants. They feed on more than 350 host plant species from eighty plant families. In Northern Eastern Australia FAW has been reported to feed on sorghum,sugarcane,riceand maize (Curtis et al .1998).

High reproductive rate – As mentioned above adult females’ moths are capable of laying 2000 eggs in their lifetime. They lay an average of 100 eggs in a mass at the base of leaves (Mason et. al . 2010). Thus the pest is able to secure its continuation despite the use of pesticides.

High migration rate– A fully developed adult able to travel over 90 km per night and when assisted by strong winds they are able to travel more than 400 km prior to oviposition. At the larvae stage, some move to more suitable crops (Mason et al . 2010).

Obscure behavior and feeding– During the day the adults while larvae hide under leaves and dried plants and feed deep in the whorl. Such tendencies make it hard for farmers to control them thus allowing FAW to go unnoticed. FAW pests also avoid predation especially at the pupa stage where they form whorls. Thus, it has become hard to reach them with foliar sprays (Curtis et al . 1998).

Resistance to pesticides and insecticides – In recent times it has been reported that FAW have developed tolerance to some strong insecticides and pesticides and have demonstrated resistance to insecticides (Westbrook et al. p.259. 2016).

Lack of knowledge- Another reason for the increase could be a lack of knowledge of the pest’s behavior, life cycle and feeding habits. Without this knowledge farmer are not able to take appropriate action in time thus the pest becomes fully grown and reproduces within no time (Boaventura 2020).

The outbreak in Australia threatened the agricultural sector’s contribution to food security and poverty reduction. The pest presence has given the government and farmers a hard time to control in Australia at a time when population increase is on the rise. FAW brought losses in nearly an unlimited number of plants (Westbrook et al. 2016). FAW have caused the damage of other crops other than their host plants. In the case of bean plants that rely on maize for support and sunlight, the pests migrate from the maize plant to the bean plant causing extensive damage.

As a result, scientistshave had to develop stronger pesticides and insecticides to control the effects of these pests. Environmentally, the use of pesticides and insecticides has contributed to the greenhouse effect. Generally,Pesticides contaminate water, change soil pH, and destroy nearby vegetation. They can be harmful to birds, fish and beneficial insects such as bees (Luet al . 2019). This affects the food chain as some animals rely on other animals for survival. For example, in Australia the rainbow bird, feeds on the bees which is in turn eaten by wild dogs. A disruption in the food chain can have diverse effect on ecosystem management.

VI. Implications of the outbreak on human impacts on the environment

FAW pests have shown adaptability and have been able to go undetected by farmers. A lack of understanding on pest control and management has led to an increase in the growth of the worms(Boaventura 2020). Many farmers are not able to access the pesticides and information regarding these pests. This has caused farmers to take drastic actions once they have become aware of the problem. Under the pressure to eradicate the pests to minimize damage on crops, farmers have been reported to use increased dosage in pesticides. This does not necessarily solve the problem as half the pest’s population have developed into full adults and migrated to other areas. Thus, birds, bees and other untargeted animals die or fall sick. These animals are important for pollination and as a food source across the food chain (Boaventura 2020).

A good example of this is the Black Death which is believed to have been caused by an infection of the bacterium Yersinia pestis.The bacterium Yersinia pestis spreads through wild rodents such as rats that live in large numbers and density(Romero 2019). In an attempt to control the population of the rodents, the bacterium Yersinia pestisspread to humans which caused the death of millions of people. The plague took the lives of nearly200 million people in North Africa and peaked in Europe from 1347 (Romero2019).

According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Australia, (Department of Agriculture) the FAW pests have become resistant to pesticides which has resulted in the development of stronger pesticides and insecticides to control the FAW pets. To prove the growing resistance to insecticides, a research conducted by the Institute Pasteur de Madagascar aimed at determining the response of flea vectors to different types of insecticides (Miarinjara 2016). The researchers found that the fleas responded to 1 out of 12 insecticides suggesting a high level of pesticides resistance. Selection of the samples consisted of both rural and urban rodents taken from eight different regions of Madagascar (Miarinjara et al. 2016). Although the rodents’ mortality rate was found to be different in all eight regions, they were found to be susceptible to six of the insecticides. The researchers found that organochlorine dialdrin, gave more than 90% mortality across all flea populations (Miarinjara et al .2016)

Most pesticides contain dangerouscomponents which haveproved to affect the environment by tightlybinding to soil particles. Studies prove that Deltamethrin is one of the component in pesticides having a half-life of 6-200 days to break down half the amount applied (Lu et al.2019). Half-life is the amount of time taken for the half amount of pesticide applied takes to break down. In the case of Deltamethrin it fails to break down quickly especially in soil that is organic and high clay matter content (Lu et al .2019). This changes the alkaline nature of the soil. The ministry of Agriculture has reported an increased usage of these pesticides by farmers which in turn has affected soil quality.

VII. Recommendations

1. Reduction on the excessive use of pesticides by farmers to reduce the environmental impact such as the death of untargeted animals such as birds and bees and the alkalisation of soil is avoided.

2. Education to farmers on pest control and management of FAW in order to equip them with better strategies on controlling the pest during outbreaks

3. Introduction of better, stronger alternatives of pesticides to farmers to reduce the environmental impact of low-grade pesticides

4. Introduction of the use of biopesticides such as the bacteriaBacillus thuringiensis and fungi Beauveria bassiana which have been proven to be effective in the management of FAW.

5. Education and sensitization on the use of biopesticides asan alternative pesticide in the eradication of FAW which are biodegradable and kind to the environment against the use of synthetic pesticides which cause potential environmental damage and has been known for developed resistance in FAW leading to resurgence of the outbreak

6. Incorporating cultural control where it involves avoidance of late planting, intercropping and rotation of targeted crops such as maize with non-targets such as sunflower and beans

7. Application of wood ashes to leaf whorls to avoid the attaching of the larvae to the base of the leaf

VIII. References

Avelino, J., Ten Hoopen, G.M. and DeClerck, F., 2011. Ecological mechanisms for pest and disease control in coffee and cacao agroecosystems of the Neotropics (pp. 91-117). London: Earthscan.

Boaventura, D., Bolzan, A., Padovez, F.E., Okuma, D.M., Omoto, C. and Nauen, R., 2020. Detection of a ryanodine receptor target‐site mutation in diamide insecticide resistant fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda. Pest management science, 76(1), pp.47-54.

Capinera, J.L., 2017. Fall armyworm. Fall armyworm.

Curtis, A. and De Lacy, T., 1998. Landcare, stewardship and sustainable agriculture in Australia. Environmental Values, pp.59-78.

Department of Agriculture. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.agriculture.gov.au/

Lu, Q., Sun, Y., Ares, I., Anadón, A., Martínez, M., Martínez-Larrañaga, M.R., Yuan, Z., Wang, X. and Martínez, M.A., 2019. Deltamethrin toxicity: A review of oxidative stress and metabolism. Environmental research, 170, pp.260-281.

Mason, D. and Knowd, I., 2010. The emergence of urban agriculture: Sydney, Australia. International journal of agricultural sustainability, 8(1-2), pp.62-71.

Miarinjara, A. and Boyer, S., 2016. Current perspectives on plague vector control in Madagascar: susceptibility status of Xenopsylla cheopis to 12 insecticides. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 10(2), p.e0004414.

Romero, J. and Higuera, G., Universidad de Chile, 2019. Bactericide composition based on a mixture of bacteriophages for the control of black plague in plants or parts thereof, preferably the walnut, caused by xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis; preparation method and application. U.S. Patent Application 16/067,361.

Westbrook, J.K., Nagoshi, R.N., Meagher, R.L., Fleischer, S.J. and Jairam, S., 2016. Modeling seasonal migration of fall armyworm moths. International journal of biometeorology, 60(2), pp.255-267.