> Hot cones provide hot meal for major pest
Hot cones provide hot meal for major pest
Contact:
Stephen Takács, 604.506.9096 (cell), stakacs@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
Stephen Takács, 604.506.9096 (cell), stakacs@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
October 22, 2008
A new discovery by a Simon Fraser University biologist could help stop western conifer seed bugs (Leptoglossus occidentalis) from devouring millions of dollars worth of cones in B.C.’s conifer seed orchards.
Stephen Takács is the first scientist globally to discover that a plant-eating animal uses Infra Red (IR) radiation to find its food. In the October issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, Takács describes how IR helps the herbivorous western conifer seed bug locate its only food — western conifer cones.
Working in the lab of his former graduate supervisor, biologist and bug buster Gerhard Gries, Takács observed that spots on the western conifer seed bug’s body pick up IR from hot conifer cones, which are 15 to 40 degrees higher than the ambient temperature of their background — the needles and sky.
The brown bug’s IR-sensitized spots get hotter as the pest nears hot cones found on all major B.C. conifers, including Douglas fir, white pine, spruce, and lodgepole pine. Undetectable by humans, the hot cones’ emission of IR radiation lights up a laboratory imager like a Christmas tree.
“We’re hoping that this discovery will help us build the first mouse-trap for this bug,” says Takács. “Right now the only weapon orchardists have against these destructive bugs is environmentally unfriendly pesticides.”
Takács’ next step is to determine how the western conifer seed bug’s IR receptors integrate with chemical, visual and aural reception, to help it to get to the dinner table.
— 30 — (digital photos available on request)
Stephen Takács is the first scientist globally to discover that a plant-eating animal uses Infra Red (IR) radiation to find its food. In the October issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, Takács describes how IR helps the herbivorous western conifer seed bug locate its only food — western conifer cones.
Working in the lab of his former graduate supervisor, biologist and bug buster Gerhard Gries, Takács observed that spots on the western conifer seed bug’s body pick up IR from hot conifer cones, which are 15 to 40 degrees higher than the ambient temperature of their background — the needles and sky.
The brown bug’s IR-sensitized spots get hotter as the pest nears hot cones found on all major B.C. conifers, including Douglas fir, white pine, spruce, and lodgepole pine. Undetectable by humans, the hot cones’ emission of IR radiation lights up a laboratory imager like a Christmas tree.
“We’re hoping that this discovery will help us build the first mouse-trap for this bug,” says Takács. “Right now the only weapon orchardists have against these destructive bugs is environmentally unfriendly pesticides.”
Takács’ next step is to determine how the western conifer seed bug’s IR receptors integrate with chemical, visual and aural reception, to help it to get to the dinner table.
— 30 — (digital photos available on request)