Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Plant Science, 199
Research Interests:
<p>Black shaded areas show where broad-acre cereals and oilseeds are grown. At each site large plots (50 m×50 m minimum) with three pest management approaches were assessed. Trials were conducted on canola in 2010 and wheat in 2011.... more
<p>Black shaded areas show where broad-acre cereals and oilseeds are grown. At each site large plots (50 m×50 m minimum) with three pest management approaches were assessed. Trials were conducted on canola in 2010 and wheat in 2011. Land use data comes from ABARES Land Use of Australia, Version 4, 2005/2006 (September 2010 release).</p
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<p>A GAMM analysis was used to assess the effect of three pest management approaches (treatment: conventional, low input (LI), or control) and time (DAE, days after crop emergence) on the abundance of all beneficial arthropods... more
<p>A GAMM analysis was used to assess the effect of three pest management approaches (treatment: conventional, low input (LI), or control) and time (DAE, days after crop emergence) on the abundance of all beneficial arthropods (predators and parasitoids) collected using three different sampling techniques.</p>#<p>A, a significant difference between treatments but the pattern does not follow what we expect; B, a significant difference between treatments and abundance was highest in control (or low input) and lowest in the conventional (control>LI>conven); C, no difference in pest abundance between the treatments. In this case no ranking was provided (NP). <sup>$</sup> P-value of *<0.05, ** <0.01, *** <0.001.</p
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<p>A GAMM analysis was used to assess the effect of three pest management approaches (treatment: conventional, low input (LI), or control) and time (DAE, days after crop emergence) on the abundance of all arthropod pests collected... more
<p>A GAMM analysis was used to assess the effect of three pest management approaches (treatment: conventional, low input (LI), or control) and time (DAE, days after crop emergence) on the abundance of all arthropod pests collected using three different sampling techniques.</p>#<p>A, a significant difference between treatments but the pattern does not follow what we expect; B, a significant difference between treatments and abundance was highest in control (or low input) and lowest in the conventional (control>LI>conven); C, no difference in pest abundance between the treatments. In this case no ranking was provided (NP). <sup>$</sup> P-value of *<0.05, ** <0.01, *** <0.001.</p
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<p>A GAMM analysis was used to assess the effect of three pest management approaches (treatment: conventional, low input (LI), or control) and time (DAE) on plant damage from feeding by pest herbivores. A dash indicates that data... more
<p>A GAMM analysis was used to assess the effect of three pest management approaches (treatment: conventional, low input (LI), or control) and time (DAE) on plant damage from feeding by pest herbivores. A dash indicates that data was not collected during that trial and NA indicates that a model couldn’t be fitted due to zeros in data set.</p>#<p>A, a significant difference between treatments but the pattern does not follow what we expect; B, a significant difference between treatments and damage was highest in control (or low input) and lowest in the conventional (control>LI>conven), or for plant density we expect greatest density in the conventional and lowest in the control (or low input) (conven>LI>control); C, no difference in plant damage or density between the treatments. In this case no ranking was provided (NP). <sup>$</sup> P-value of *<0.05, ** <0.01, *** <0.001.</p
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<p>Growing season rainfall is shown in brackets. In 2010 the crop was canola and in the same location, wheat in 2011.</p>$<p>PS = pre-sow; PSPE = post-sowing, pre-emergence; PE = post-emergence; LS = late season foliar... more
<p>Growing season rainfall is shown in brackets. In 2010 the crop was canola and in the same location, wheat in 2011.</p>$<p>PS = pre-sow; PSPE = post-sowing, pre-emergence; PE = post-emergence; LS = late season foliar treatments.</p>#<p>An aerial application of metaldehyde was used across all plots to control snails late season.</p
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#<p>See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0089119#pone-0089119-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a> for details about insecticide chemicals... more
#<p>See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0089119#pone-0089119-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a> for details about insecticide chemicals used.</p>$<p>Averaged SED for canola is 0.858 and for wheat 0.772.</p
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<p>Trials were conducted at five sites across the grain growing regions of Australia. There were three pest management approaches assessed (conventional, low input, or control). Overall we found no significant effect of pest... more
<p>Trials were conducted at five sites across the grain growing regions of Australia. There were three pest management approaches assessed (conventional, low input, or control). Overall we found no significant effect of pest management approach on crop yield. In SA wheat (B) we found a significant effect but this was sensitive to the presence or absence of one sample point. In WA1 canola there was a marginally significant effect on yield (<i>P</i> = 0.049, (conventional/LI)>control). Bars indicate the mean of 4 replicate plots and 1×SE.</p
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Three insecticide spray trials were conducted on field calendulas and chrysanthemums to test the effectiveness of 10 insecticides against western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis). The efficacy of each insecticide was assessed... more
Three insecticide spray trials were conducted on field calendulas and chrysanthemums to test the effectiveness of 10 insecticides against western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis). The efficacy of each insecticide was assessed between 1 and 11 days post-spraying. Methamidophos was the most effective insecticide, followed to a lesser extent by dichlorvos, ¸Λ -cyhalothrin, fluvalinate, and maldison. Apart from methamidophos, insecticides were generally less than 50% effective at 3 or more days post-spraying. In a separate trial, 5 insecticides were applied as drenches to the soil of pots in which carnations infested with F. occidentalis were grown. The pots were placed in thrips containment cages and adult thrips emerging from the soil were caught on sticky traps. Parathion-methyl and chlorpyrifos reduced thrips emergence from soil by 90–95%.
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Plant biosecurity is a global issue that continues to grow in importance as the volume of trade between countries and the number of people travelling increases. Australia is free from many of the pests and diseases that affect plant... more
Plant biosecurity is a global issue that continues to grow in importance as the volume of trade between countries and the number of people travelling increases. Australia is free from many of the pests and diseases that affect plant industries and natural environments in other countries. This freedom provides a competitive advantage to Australia as a major agricultural exporter reliant on its international reputation as a producer of ‘clean and green’ agricultural and food products. Australia also places a high value on protecting our unique environment and lifestyle for future generations. Plant biosecurity is essential to protect these values. Plant biosecurity is focussed on those pests (insects and plant pathogens) that are; not currently present in Australia, are present but not in all production regions of Australia and are being actively controlled, or those pests that represent a new threat as their biology has changed. Plant biosecurity can impact on food safety, food secur...
Research Interests:
This glasshouse study used an improved larval measurement procedure to evaluate the impact of transgenic pea, Pisum sativum L., seeds expressing a-amylase inhibitor (AI)-1 or -2 proteins on pea weevil, Bruchus pisorum L. Seeds of... more
This glasshouse study used an improved larval measurement procedure to evaluate the impact of transgenic pea, Pisum sativum L., seeds expressing a-amylase inhibitor (AI)-1 or -2 proteins on pea weevil, Bruchus pisorum L. Seeds of transgenic 'Laura' and 'Greenfeast' peas expressing alpha-(AI)-1 reduced pea weevil survival by 93-98%. Larval mortality occurred at an early instar. Conversely, in nontransgenic cultivars, approximately 98-99% of the pea weevils emerged as adults. By measuring the head capsule size, we determined that larvae died at the first to early third instar in alpha-(AI)-1 transgenic peas, indicating that this inhibitor is highly effective in controlling this insect. By contrast, transgenic Laura and 'Dundale' expressing alpha-(AI)-2 did not affect pea weevil survival, but they did delay larval development. After 77 d of development, the head capsule size indicated that the larvae were still at the third instar stage in transgenic alpha-(AI)-...
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Western Australian agriculture is free of many serious plant pests because of its geographical isolation, however the potential exotic pest threats to Western Australia are large. Consequently, various lists, based largely on 'gut... more
Western Australian agriculture is free of many serious plant pests because of its geographical isolation, however the potential exotic pest threats to Western Australia are large. Consequently, various lists, based largely on 'gut feeling', have been created to highlight the top/priority pests for specific industries. Due to the variation in individual opinions, these lists vary greatly and contain many subjective and/or unsubstantiated assumptions regarding threat status. There was a clear need for a semi-quantitative model to identify and consistently and objectively analyse top threats based on substantiated data from various authorities. The model described here was developed using Microsoft Access 97®. Thirteen questions (contained in a pest threat questionnaire—PTQ) were developed, allowing for discrete answers carefully weighted in order to arrive at a realistic threat value or 'score' to be calculated for each pest analysed. The questions cover the various st...
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Plant biosecurity is a global issue that continues to grow in importance as the volume of trade between countries and the number of people travelling increases. Australia is free from many of the pests and diseases that affect plant... more
Plant biosecurity is a global issue that continues to grow in importance as the volume of trade between countries and the number of people travelling increases. Australia is free from many of the pests and diseases that affect plant industries and natural environments in other countries. This freedom provides a competitive advantage to Australia as a major agricultural exporter reliant on its international reputation as a producer of ‘clean and green’ agricultural and food products. Australia also places a high value on protecting our unique environment and lifestyle for future generations. Plant biosecurity is essential to protect these values. Plant biosecurity is focussed on those pests (insects and plant pathogens) that are; not currently present in Australia, are present but not in all production regions of Australia and are being actively controlled, or those pests that represent a new threat as their biology has changed. Plant biosecurity can impact on food safety, food secur...
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Barrow Island, north-west coast of Australia, is one of the world's significant conservation areas, harboring marsupials that have become extinct or threatened on mainland Australia as well as a rich diversity of plants and animals,... more
Barrow Island, north-west coast of Australia, is one of the world's significant conservation areas, harboring marsupials that have become extinct or threatened on mainland Australia as well as a rich diversity of plants and animals, some endemic. Access to construct a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant, Australia's largest infrastructure development, on the island was conditional on no non-indigenous species (NIS) becoming established. We developed a comprehensive biosecurity system to protect the island's biodiversity. From 2009 to 2015 more than 0.5 million passengers and 12.2 million tonnes of freight were transported to the island under the biosecurity system, requiring 1.5 million hrs of inspections. No establishments of NIS were detected. We made four observations that will assist development of biosecurity systems. Firstly, the frequency of detections of organisms corresponded best to a mixture log-normal distribution including the high number of zero inspections a...
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Large sea-going passenger vessels can pose a high biosecurity risk. The risk posed by marine species is well documented, but rarely the risk posed by terrestrial arthropods. We conducted the longest running, most extensive monitoring... more
Large sea-going passenger vessels can pose a high biosecurity risk. The risk posed by marine species is well documented, but rarely the risk posed by terrestrial arthropods. We conducted the longest running, most extensive monitoring program of terrestrial arthropods undertaken on board a passenger vessel. Surveillance was conducted over a 19-month period on a large passenger (cruise) vessel that originated in the Baltic Sea (Estonia). The vessel was used as an accommodation facility to house workers at Barrow Island (Australia) for 15 months, during which 73,061 terrestrial arthropods (222 species - four non-indigenous (NIS) to Australia) were collected and identified on board. Detection of Tribolium destructor Uytt., a high-risk NIS to Australia, triggered an eradication effort on the vessel. This effort totalled more than 13,700 human hours and included strict biosecurity protocols to ensure that this and other non-indigenous species (NIS) were not spread from the vessel to Barro...
Research Interests: Australia, Agriculture, Multidisciplinary, Insecticides, Humans, and 5 moreAnimals, Plants, PLoS one, Arthropods, and Triticum
Research Interests:
1 Corresponding author: Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, PO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia (e-mail: jmajer@bigpond.net.au). ... 2 Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food, Locked Bag... more
1 Corresponding author: Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, PO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia (e-mail: jmajer@bigpond.net.au). ... 2 Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food, Locked Bag No. 4, Bentley, WA ...
Research Interests:
Plant biosecurity is a global issue that continues to grow in importance as the volume of trade between countries and the number of people travelling increases. Australia is free from many of the pests and diseases that affect plant... more
Plant biosecurity is a global issue that continues to grow in importance as the volume of trade between countries and the number of people travelling increases. Australia is free from many of the pests and diseases that affect plant industries and natural environments in other countries. This freedom provides a competitive advantage to Australia as a major agricultural exporter reliant on its international reputation as a producer of 'clean and green' agricultural and food products. Australia also places a high value on protecting our unique environment and lifestyle for future generations. Plant biosecurity is essential to protect these values. Plant biosecurity is focussed on those pests (insects and plant pathogens) that are; not currently present in Australia, are present but not in all production regions of Australia and are being actively controlled, or those pests that represent a new threat as their biology has changed. Plant biosecurity can impact on food safety, fo...
This glasshouse study used an improved larval measurement procedure to evaluate the impact of transgenic pea, Pisum sativum L., seeds expressing a-amylase inhibitor (AI)-1 or -2 proteins on pea weevil, Bruchus pisorum L. Seeds of... more
This glasshouse study used an improved larval measurement procedure to evaluate the impact of transgenic pea, Pisum sativum L., seeds expressing a-amylase inhibitor (AI)-1 or -2 proteins on pea weevil, Bruchus pisorum L. Seeds of transgenic 'Laura' and 'Greenfeast' peas expressing alpha-(AI)-1 reduced pea weevil survival by 93-98%. Larval mortality occurred at an early instar. Conversely, in nontransgenic cultivars, approximately 98-99% of the pea weevils emerged as adults. By measuring the head capsule size, we determined that larvae died at the first to early third instar in alpha-(AI)-1 transgenic peas, indicating that this inhibitor is highly effective in controlling this insect. By contrast, transgenic Laura and 'Dundale' expressing alpha-(AI)-2 did not affect pea weevil survival, but they did delay larval development. After 77 d of development, the head capsule size indicated that the larvae were still at the third instar stage in transgenic alpha-(AI)-...
Research Interests:
Bruchid larvae cause major losses of grain legume crops through- out the world. Some bruchid species, such as the cowpea weevil and the azuki bean weevil, are pests that damage stored seeds. Others, such as the pea weevil (Bruchus... more
Bruchid larvae cause major losses of grain legume crops through- out the world. Some bruchid species, such as the cowpea weevil and the azuki bean weevil, are pests that damage stored seeds. Others, such as the pea weevil (Bruchus pisorum), attack the crop growing in the field. We transferred the cDNA encoding the a-amylase inhibitor (a-AI) found in the seeds
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Australia, Agriculture, Multidisciplinary, Insecticides, Humans, and 5 moreAnimals, Plants, PLoS one, Arthropods, and Triticum
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
1 Corresponding author: Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, PO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia (e-mail: jmajer@bigpond.net.au). ... 2 Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food, Locked Bag... more
1 Corresponding author: Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, PO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia (e-mail: jmajer@bigpond.net.au). ... 2 Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food, Locked Bag No. 4, Bentley, WA ...