scholarly journals Conservation Strategy for Palm Groves: Optimal Chemical Control Model for Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 920
Author(s):  
Y. Solano-Rojas ◽  
M. Gámez ◽  
I. López ◽  
J. Garay ◽  
Z. Varga ◽  
...  

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) is an invasive pest species that constitutes one of the most important problems around the Mediterranean region and has been responsible for the loss of over 100,000 palm trees with an estimated annual cost of EUR several hundred million since its introduction into Europe. Methodological approaches of conservation ecology, such as multidisciplinary modelling, also apply in the management of cultural landscapes concerning ornamental plants, such as palm trees of the area. In this paper, we propose a dynamic model for the control of the red palm weevil, contributing in this way to the sustainability of an existing cultural landscape. The primary data set collected is a sample from the density-time function of a two-cohort pest population. This data set suggests a bimodal analytic description. If, from this data set, we calculate a sample from the accumulated density-time function (the integral of the density-time function), it displays a double sigmoid function (with two inflections). A good candidate for the analytical description of the latter is the sum of two logistic functions. As for the dynamic description of the process, a two-dimensional system of differential equations can be obtained, where the solution’s second component provides the analytical description of the original density-time function for the two-cohort population. Since the two-cohort waves appear in all three cycle stages, this reasoning applies to the subpopulations of larvae, pupae and adults. The model fitting is always performed using the SimFit package. On this basis, a mathematical model is proposed, which is sufficiently versatile to be of help in the control of this pest species in other geographical areas.

Author(s):  
N. Alshammari ◽  
Meshari Alazmi ◽  
Naimah A. Alanazi ◽  
Abdel Moneim E. Sulieman ◽  
Vajid N. Veettil ◽  
...  

AbstractSeveral studies have investigated palm trees’ microbiota infected with red palm weevil (RPW) (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus), the major pest of palm trees. This study compared the microbial communities of infected and uninfected palm trees in the Hail region, Northern Saudi Arabia, determined by high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing by Illumina MiSeq. The results indicated that taxonomic diversity variation was higher for infected tree trunk than the healthy tree trunk. Soil samples from the vicinity of healthy and infected trees did not have a significant variation in bacterial diversity. Myxococcota, Acidobacteriota, and Firmicutes were the dominant phyla in RPW-infected tree trunk, and Pseudomonadaceae was the most prominent family. This study is the first report on the characterization of RPW-infected and healthy palm trees’ microbiome.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme B. Dias ◽  
Musaad A. Altammami ◽  
Hamadttu A. F. El-Shafie ◽  
Fahad M. Alhoshani ◽  
Mohamed B. Al-Fageeh ◽  
...  

AbstractThe red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is an economically-important invasive species that attacks multiple species of palm trees around the world. A better understanding of gene content and function in R. ferrugineus has the potential to inform pest control strategies and thereby mitigate economic and biodiversity losses caused by this species. Using 10x Genomics linked-read sequencing, we produced a haplotype-resolved diploid genome assembly for R. ferrugineus from a single heterozygous individual with modest sequencing coverage ($$\sim$$ ∼ 62x). Benchmarking against conserved single-copy Arthropod orthologs suggests both pseudo-haplotypes in our R. ferrugineus genome assembly are highly complete with respect to gene content, and do not suffer from haplotype-induced duplication artifacts present in a recently published hybrid assembly for this species. Annotation of the larger pseudo-haplotype in our assembly provides evidence for 23,413 protein-coding loci in R. ferrugineus, including over 13,000 predicted proteins annotated with Gene Ontology terms and over 6000 loci independently supported by high-quality Iso-Seq transcriptomic data. Our assembly also includes 95% of R. ferrugineus chemosensory, detoxification and neuropeptide-related transcripts identified previously using RNA-seq transcriptomic data, and provides a platform for the molecular analysis of these and other functionally-relevant genes that can help guide management of this widespread insect pest.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme B. Dias ◽  
Musaad A. Altammami ◽  
Hamadttu A.F. El-Shafie ◽  
Fahad M. Alhoshani ◽  
Mohamed B. Al-Fageeh ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is an economically-important invasive species that attacks multiple species of palm trees around the world. A better understanding of gene content and function in R. ferrugineus has the potential to inform pest control strategies and thereby mitigate economic and biodiversity losses caused by this species. Using 10x Genomics linked-read sequencing, we produced a haplotype-resolved diploid genome assembly for R. ferrugineus from a single heterozygous individual with modest sequencing coverage (~62x). Benchmarking against conserved single-copy Arthropod orthologs suggests both pseudo-haplotypes in our R. ferrugineus genome assembly are highly complete with respect to gene content, and do not suffer from haplotype-induced duplication artifacts present in a recently published hybrid assembly for this species. Annotation of the larger pseudo-haplotype in our assembly provides evidence for 23,413 protein-coding loci in R. ferrugineus, including over 13,000 predicted proteins annotated with Gene Ontology terms and over 6,000 loci independently supported by high-quality Iso-Seq transcriptomic data. Our assembly also includes 95% of R. ferrugineus chemosensory, detoxification and neuropeptide-related transcripts identified previously using RNA-seq transcriptomic data, and provides a platform for the molecular analysis of these and other functionally-relevant genes that can help guide management of this widespread insect pest.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-218
Author(s):  
Mohammed M. Alderawii ◽  
◽  
Aqeel A. Alyousuf ◽  
Samir A. Hasan ◽  
Jasim K. Mohammed ◽  
...  

The Red Palm Weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) is a devastating invasive pest of palm trees, invading the Iraqi date palm tree in 2015 for the first time in Safwan county, Basrah province. The Red Palm weevil has been categorized as a quarantine pest of date palm trees worldwide. In this study, a five years monitoring program has been achieved by scouting the invasive pest RPW population in Safwan county by using visual sampling and Pheromone baited traps. The results indicated that the number of infested palms, increased from 12 trees in 2015 to 111 in 16 orchards in 2016. The number of the infested palms was minimized to 3 trees in the county in 2019 due to the management protocol of the Ministry of Agriculture. Furthermore, the results of RPW adults appeared monthly in the county with two activity peaks during the moderate-temperature-months. In conclusion, the quarantine and management protocol of RPW decreased the population of the invasive pest which did not spread to other districts of Iraq.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binu Antony ◽  
Jibin Johny ◽  
Nicolas Montagné ◽  
Emmanuelle Jacquin-Joly ◽  
Rémi Capoduro ◽  
...  

AbstractPalm trees are of immense economic, sociocultural, touristic and patrimonial significance all over the world, and date palm-related knowledge, traditions and practices are now included in UNESCO’s list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Of all the pests that infest these trees, the red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) is its primary enemy. The RPW is a category-1 quarantine insect pest that causes enormous economic losses in the cultivation of palm trees worldwide. The RPW synchronizes mass gathering on the palm tree for feeding and mating, regulated by a male-produced pheromone composed of two methyl-branched compounds, (4RS,5RS)-4-methylnonan-5-ol (ferrugineol) and 4(RS)-methylnonan-5-one (ferrugineone). Despite the importance of odorant detection in long-range orientation towards palm trees, palm colonization and mating, nothing regarding the molecular mechanisms of pheromone detection in this species is known. In this study, we report the identification and characterization of the first RPW pheromone receptor, RferOR1. Using gene silencing and functional expression in Drosophila olfactory receptor neurons, we demonstrate that RferOR1 is tuned to both ferrugineol and ferrugineone and binds five other structurally related molecules. We reveal the lifetime expression of RferOR1, which correlates with adult mating success irrespective of age, a factor that could explain the wide distribution and spread of this pest. As palm weevils are challenging to control based on conventional methods, elucidation of the mechanisms of pheromone detection opens new routes for mating disruption and the early detection of this pest via the development of pheromone receptor-based biosensors.


2012 ◽  
Vol 48 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 85-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.S. Riseh ◽  
M. Ghadamyari ◽  
B. Motamediniya

The red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier), is one of the most destructive pests of palm trees in the southeast of Iran. Digestion in the alimentary canal of the red palm weevil is facilitated by some carbohydrases. Results of the in vitro studies indicated the presence of α- and β-glucosidases and α- and β-galactosidases in the digestive system and haemolymph of this pest. In the digestive system of females, the activities of α-glucosidase and β-galactosidase were higher than those of β-glucosidase and α-galactosidase. Also, the specific activity of  α- and β-glucosidases and α- and β-galactosidases in the female digestive system was much higher than that in larvae. Results showed that the highest activities of α- and β-glucosidases were at pH 5 and of α- and β-galactosidases at pH 4. The R. ferrugineus α- and β-glucosidases and α- and β-galactosidases have an optimum temperature activity at 50, 50–60, 40–60, and 40°C, respectively. A zymogram pattern in the native gel revealed that R. ferrugineus α- and β-glucosidases and α- and β-galactosidases in the digestive system showed 2, 3, 1 and 1 major bands, respectively. The activity of α-glucosidase in the digestive system of larvae and female adults was higher than that of the other carbohydrases. Therefore, it is the most important subject for further study and design of a new approach to the control of this pest using carbohydrase inhibitors.  


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