Spotted Lanternfly Found in Finger Lakes Region

Jul 23, 2024

By Carrie Carmenatty

Following a report from an alert town of Romulus resident, Ag and Markets inspectors traveled to the infestation site, where they were able to confirm the presence of SLF nymphs.

The first SLF in the U.S. were confirmed in Berks County, Pennsylvania in 2014 and were believed to be transported with a shipment of stone from Asia. The pests are hitchhikers and easily introduced to new areas through human activity. The New York City Metropolitan area, Long Island and the Hudson Valley saw record numbers of the pest last summer and are expected to see large populations again this year. Sightings have also been reported in Buffalo, Syracuse and Ithaca, but this week’s discovery marked the first time SLF has been discovered in the Finger Lakes grape-growing region.

SLF are a potential economic and lifestyle pest for homeowners, businesses, tourism, and agriculture. Adult lanternfly feed in swarms and excrete a sticky substance called honeydew, which results in sooty mold growth and attracts other insects. The pests are particularly attracted to vineyards and if left unchecked have the potential to distress the wine and juice grape industry.

While this week’s discovery is not welcome news, New York State Integrated Pest Management Associate Director Brian Eshenaur cautioned residents not to panic.

“The most important thing for residents and business owners to recognize is that SLF are not dangerous to humans. They don’t sting or bite, and cannot survive indoors,” Eshenaur said. “Our neighbors in Pennsylvania have been dealing with populations of spotted lanternfly for more than a decade, and their experience has helped to prepare us for how to respond to populations here in the Finger Lakes.”

Individuals who live, work or visit the Finger Lakes are asked to be on the lookout for SLF and take the following steps, should they discover the pest:

Take a photo of the insect
Collect a sample and place it in a freezer or in a jar with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer
Report the sighting to NYS Ag and Markets using their Spotted Lanternfly Public Report form.
After reporting SLF and collecting a sample, kill any remaining SLF

Source : cornell.edu

Video: Wheat Yields in USA and China Threatened by Heat Waves Breaking Enzymes

A new peer reviewed study looks at the generally unrecognized risk of heat waves surpassing the threshold for enzyme damage in wheat.

Most studies that look at crop failure in the main food growing regions (breadbaskets of the planet) look at temperatures and droughts in the historical records to assess present day risk. Since the climate system has changed, these historical based risk analysis studies underestimate the present-day risks.

What this new research study does is generate an ensemble of plausible scenarios for the present climate in terms of temperatures and precipitation, and looks at how many of these plausible scenarios exceed the enzyme-breaking temperature of 32.8 C for wheat, and exceed the high stress yield reducing temperature of 27.8 C for wheat. Also, the study considers the possibility of a compounded failure with heat waves in both regions simultaneously, this greatly reducing global wheat supply and causing severe shortages.

Results show that the likelihood (risk) of wheat crop failure with a one-in-hundred likelihood in 1981 has in today’s climate become increased by 16x in the USA winter wheat crop (to one-in-six) and by 6x in northeast China (to one-in-sixteen).

The risks determined in this new paper are much greater than that obtained in previous work that determines risk by analyzing historical climate patterns.

Clearly, since the climate system is rapidly changing, we cannot assume stationarity and calculate risk probabilities like we did traditionally before.

We are essentially on a new planet, with a new climate regime, and have to understand that everything is different now.