YHC Beetle Lab Update
December 13, 2006, Vol. 2, Num.
1
This is the
first of our monthly updates on the progress of Sasajiscymnus beetle
production in the Young Harris College Beetle Laboratory for the year
2007. You are receiving this ãnewsletterä because you have shown an
interest in our beetle production facility through phone calls, meetings,
conversations, e-mail, or donations. If you do not wish to receive any
more updates, please let me know by replying to this e-mail indicating such, and
I will drop your e-mail address from my list. If you are aware of other
individuals or organizations that may want to receive information about our
facility, please let me know at ptarnold@yhc.edu.
I.
Brief Statement of Financial Condition
Current
Balance÷
As of
December 11, 2006, we have a current balance of $9,922.00 in our Hemlock Project
restricted account. This is an
increase of over $2000 over our balance at the end of July 2006. Many generous donations have come from
private individuals and foundations over the summer and fall, which puts us in
very good financial condition to begin our 2nd beetle-rearing
season. Since many donors wish to
remain anonymous, it is my policy in this newsletter not to mention the names of
specific donors unless otherwise instructed. However, I do want to give a hearty
ãTHANK YOUä to those who have donated to this project. . . without your help,
there would be no project! Expenses
over the summer and fall were minimal (less than $300 ö primarily for pay to my
student worker.) As the
beetle-rearing season progresses, I will keep you abreast of income and expenses
associated with this project.
II.
Beetle Production Progress
On the
4th of December, we began placing beetles into their oviposition jars
in order to begin egg production.
We began setting up rearing cages Monday (11th of
December). We will begin the season
with 30 oviposition jars, with the hope that we will increase that number during
January or February with the addition of more student labor. For those of you unfamiliar with this
process, 10 female beetles and 5 male beetles are placed in a ãmayonnaiseä jar
along with a ãbouquetä of hemlock twigs that are heavily infested with fresh
Hemlock Wooly Adelgid. Gauze
squares are also placed in this bouquet as a medium on which the beetles lay
their eggs. After one week, the
bouquets are removed and the eggs are counted. The gauze and twigs from the oviposition
jars are then placed in a rearing cage for around 35 days. During that period of time, the eggs
hatch and the larvae mature into adults in these cages. Once the adult beetles emerge from these
cages, they are either placed in release containers for release into the
environment, or they are placed into storage cages.
Last year the
following environmental releases were performed using YHC beetles:
The following
list shows the release sites and the number of adults or eggs released (all
sites with HCA numbers are on National Forest
Land):
1. Soapstone Creek (HCA #53,
2. High Shoals (HCA #52, Towns County) ö 1122 adult beetles on 27 March, 1079 adult beetles on 4 May, 1201 eggs on 9 May, 1116 eggs on 12 May, 1011 adult beetles on 17 May = Total of 5 releases of 3212 adults and 2317
eggs.
3. Blue Hole/Hiawassee River
(
4. Bob Creek (HCA #58, Towns/Union
Counties) ö 1060 adult beetles on 11 April, 1753
adult beetles on
28 April (on Gillam Branch), 1665 eggs on 9 June (on Wimpy
Branch) = Total of 3 releases of
2813 adults and 1665 eggs.
5.
6. Helton Creek (HCA #64,
7. Bowers Cove (HCA #62,
8. Wolf Creek (HCA #63, Union County) ö 1947 adult beetles on 8 May, 2458
eggs on 30 May, 988 eggs on 2 June, 840 eggs on 5 June = Total of 4 releases of 1947 adults and 4286
eggs.
9. Ivylog Creek (HCA #56,
10. Swallows Creek (HCA #42, Towns County) ö
1178 eggs on 12 May, 2777 eggs on 24 May, 1366 adult beetles on 12 June = Total of 3 releases of 1366 adults and 3955
eggs.
11. Scataway Creek (HCA #40,
12. Lordamercy Cove (HCA #66,
13.
14. Tigue Branch (HCA #70,
15. Alex Cove (HCA #65,
16. Slaughter Creek (HCA #71,
Grand Total
of 37 releases on 16 sites, 22,463 adults and 34,440 eggs
released.
We hope to
increase our production this year by starting earlier (last year we started in
January), fine-tuning our rearing procedures to increase the percentage of eggs
that successfully turn into adults, and also hopefully increasing the number of
oviposition jars and rearing cages used (by both increasing our labor force and
increasing our rearing space). We
learned many lessons last year, and we also gained much helpful advice from the
Clemson folks (LayLa Burgess & Cora Allard) who visited our lab during last
yearâs rearing season. After
setting up the oviposition jars last week, we still have over 1500 beetles left
from summer storage which could allow us to set up more jars when our labor
force increases.
This could
prove to be another exciting year for us as we endeavor to expand our
facilities. We are currently
studying our options that may allow us to more than triple our
rearing/oviposition/storage space.
We are currently examining the possibility of ãretrofittingä an existing
building on campus. The expense of
this project has yet to be determined, but we will keep you abreast of this
project. In addition to expanding
our facilities, we are going to increase our paid student workforce. At the beginning of spring semester
(January) we will advertise to the YHC student body additional student worker
positions. This will be on top of
our usual volunteer labor which comes from students and community people. Increased student labor, on top of
additional community volunteers that have expressed interest to me concerning
this project over the summer and fall, will hopefully enable us to increase our
production levels. With the HWA
threat now spreading into 3 additional counties in Georgia (Lumpkin, Fannin
& Stephens), on top of the counties already infested, the need for new
beetles is currently far outpacing the ability to supply them!
During early
fall we did some limited field reconnaissance along with the help of Jim
Wentworth and Rachelle Becker of the Brasstown District Ranger station of the
U.S. Forest Service. We were able
to find beetles in each release area that we visited. Most of the beetles we found were on
trees other than the original release tree(s). This indicates that the beetles have
spread from the initial release site.
We will continue to monitor these areas later in the year. I would welcome any volunteers who
could help us monitor these release sites!
Another
exciting development in the ãbiopredator worldä is the fact that the
We are
looking forward to this yearâs beetle rearing
season!
Anyone
interested in helping us should contact me (706-379-5131 or 706-781-5946), Dr.
John Wells, Interim President of Young Harris College (706-379-5111) or Bert
Huffman, Advancement Director of Young Harris College
(706-379-5112).
III.
A Final Word
This has been
a productive summer and fall as we have met with many groups that have shown an
interest in this project. I want to
specifically thank the Lumpkin Coalition for their invitation to allow me to
speak about the Adelgid at this past Hemlockfest near Dahlonega, and to the
Sierra Club branch in
Currently we
do not have regular lab hours, but I can usually be found in the laboratory each
day for the remainder of December.
We will resume regular laboratory hours in January and I will notify you
of these hours in the next newsletter. I would welcome phone calls from anyone
interested in the project or interested in visiting our lab. My cell phone # is 706-781-5946 ö feel
free to call me.
Respectfully,
Paul T. Arnold
Professor of
Biology & Director of the YHC Predatory Beetle Rearing
Facility