Previous exploration has found that bee visitation tends to benefit yields of many pollinator-independent crops. However, the reverse of this relationship—if pollinator-independent crops benefit bees—has not been extensively studied or explicitly reviewed. Therefore, we initiated a review of the literature using Web of Science and EBSCOhost to determine whether: 1) bees collect pollen from pollinator-independent crops, and 2) pollinator-independent crops provided adequate nutrition for bees.These factors help establish if pollinator-independent crops could benefit bees. We found 45 peer-review articles that included bee pollen trap data on 13 pollinator-independent crops (self-pollinating and wind-pollinated plants), with Zea mays, Brassica napus, and Glycine max pollen most often found in pollen traps. Pollinator-independent crops averaged 12% of total pollen loads, but due to high variability, the median was only 1.6%. Pollen from pollinator-independent crops increased in landscapes with more agricultural cover, but our data was heavily skewed towards honey bees (Apis mellifera). We found the average crude protein for B. napus and G. max was high enough to support honey bee requirements (>20%), along with providing essential amino acids; however, average crude protein and essential amino acids may be lacking in Z. mays. Although some pollinator-independent crops are found in pollen traps and provide adequate resources for bees, they may fail to provide temporally stable resources and chemical-free space. For improved health and reproduction, bees need access to semi-natural landscapes within diverse cropping systems to increase diet mixing. This will help amplify the mutualistic relationship between bees and pollinator-independent crops.

Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) (Lepidoptera Danaidae Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus)) are an iconic species of conservation concern due to declines in the overwintering colonies over the past twenty years. Because of this downward trend in overwintering numbers in both California and Mexico, monarchs are currently considered ‘warranted-but-precluded’ for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Monarchs have a fascinating life history and have become a model system in chemical ecology, migration biology, and host–parasite interactions, but many aspects of monarch biology important for informing conservation practices remain unresolved. In this review, we focus on recent advances using experimental and genetic approaches that inform monarch conservation. In particular, we emphasize three areas of broad importance, which could have an immediate impact on monarch conservation efforts: 1) breeding habitat and host plant use, 2) natural enemies and exotic caterpillar food plants, and 3) the utility of genetic and genomic approaches for understanding monarch biology and informing ongoing conservation efforts. We also suggest future studies in these areas that could improve our understanding of monarch behavior and conservation.

Graphical Abstract

Impacts of specific threats including natural enemies and habitat impacts throughout the monarch life cycle. Life cycle Illustrations by Henry Crawford Adams.

Crop wild relatives (CWRs) have high levels of genetic diversity compared to their domesticated descendants. Soybean (Glycine max) has over 20 species of CWRs, most of which are in secondary and tertiary gene pools. Glycine soja, hereafter ‘soja,’ is the only wild relative in the primary gene pool, i.e., species that readily cross with soybean. Soja has many advantageous traits that may be transferrable to soybean, including resistance to insect pests, with particularly strong sources of resistance to the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Soybean aphid has been a major soybean pest in the United States and Canada since 2000 and a longstanding pest in East Asia. This paper reviews the challenges of developing soybean with durable resistance to soybean aphid in light of multiple, virulent biotypes in North America and China. It also examines particular challenges in evaluating soja germplasm for soybean aphid resistance and resultant solutions to those challenges. Soja germplasm is widely available, but from our experience, the logistics associated with reliably procuring high-quality soja seed has posed the main challenge in working with this CWR. This review highlights soja accessions identified with strong resistance to soybean aphid and their genetic bases, and it discusses possible strategies for exploiting aphid-resistant soja accessions to improve soybean pest management.

Potential reinvasion of the United States by cattle fever ticks, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus (Say) and R. (B.) microplus (Canestrini), which are endemic in Mexico, threatens the domestic livestock industry because these ticks vector the causal agents (Babesia bovis (Babes) (Piroplasmida: Babesidae) and B. bigemina Smith & Kilborne) of bovine babesiosis. The Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program safeguards the health of the national cattle herd preventing reemergence of bovine babesiosis by keeping the United States cattle fever tick-free. Free-living southern cattle tick, R. (B.) microplus, larvae have been collected from vegetation in the wildlife corridor of Cameron Co.- Willacy Co., Texas. Finding R. microplus larvae on vegetation complements reported infestations in wildlife hosts inhabiting the south Texas coastal plains. Substantial population expansion of native white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann) (Artiodactyla: Cervidae), and exotic nilgai antelope Boselaphus tragocamelus (Pallas) (Artiodactyla: Bovidae), both of which are definitive hosts for the cattle fever tick, support local tick populations independent of cattle. Increasing prevalence of native and exotic wild ungulates, widespread tick acaracide resistance, and climate change, undermine efforts to control bovine babesiosis. Thus, ecological conditions have changed since cattle fever ticks were eradicated from the United States in 1943 using cattle-centric control strategies. These changes complicate efforts by the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program to keep cattle in the United States free of these cattle fever disease vectors. Technologies that could be applied to integrated eradication efforts are discussed.

Insect pollinators and insect herbivores affect plant reproduction and fitness. Floral displays are used to attract and manipulate pollinators' behavior to support plant sexual reproduction while rewarding the visitors with access to nectar and pollen. The plant–pollinator interactions use various semiochemicals as important communication channels for successful species interaction networks. Floral display and scents can also attract insect herbivores (in which case they act as kairomones). Consequently, semiochemical-color-based traps used for monitoring pest insects in crop fields often accidentally capture pollinators, and these interactions simultaneously affect pest monitoring, pollinator assemblages, and crop production in agroecosystems. An integrated interdisciplinary approach that would use inter- and intraspecific signals employed by foraging insects for predator's avoidance with the goal of deterring pollinators and beneficial insects from entering pesticide-treated fields is proposed. Specifically, it should be possible to reduce the bycatch of pollinators by pest monitoring traps if these trap lures also include the alarm pheromones of insect pollinators such as bees. In addition, other tactics for pollinator protection could include first the application of nonlethal repellants to fields that have recently been treated with synthetic chemical pesticides to deter pollinators' visitation. A second action would be to incorporate the results of comparative risk evaluations (pollinators vs pests) for botanical pesticides, as well as for synthetic pesticides. Finally, we urge that wild pollinator species be included in pesticide risk assessments, especially for new classes of insecticides. Collectively, these actions should integrate pest and pollinator management strategies.

The longleaf pine Pinus palustris Miller (Pinales: Pinaceae) ecosystem once covered as many as 37 million hectares across the southeastern United States. Through fire suppression, development, and conversion to other plantation pines, this coverage has dwindled to fewer than 2 million hectares. A recent focus on the restoration of this ecosystem has revealed its complex and biologically diverse nature. Arthropods of the longleaf pine ecosystem are incredibly numerous and diverse—functionally and taxonomically. To provide clarity on what is known about the species and their functional roles in longleaf pine forests, we thoroughly searched the literature and found nearly 500 references. In the end, we tabulated 51 orders 477 families, 1,949 genera, and 3,032 arthropod species as having been stated in the scientific literature to occur in longleaf pine ecosystems. The body of research we drew from is rich and varied but far from comprehensive. Most work deals with land management objective associated taxa such as pests of pine, pests of—and food for—wildlife (red-cockaded woodpecker, northern bobwhite quail, gopher tortoise, pocket gopher, etc.), and pollinators of the diverse plant understory associated with longleaf pine. We explored the complex role frequent fire (critical in longleaf pine management) plays in determining the arthropod community in longleaf pine, including its importance to rare and threatened species. We examined known patterns of abundance and occurrence of key functional groups of longleaf pine-associated arthropods. Finally, we identified some critical gaps in knowledge and provide suggestions for future research into this incredibly diverse ecosystem.

Our understanding of how natural selection and demographic processes produce and maintain biological diversity remains limited. However, developments in high-throughput genomic sequencing coupled with new analytical tools and phylogenetic methods now allow detailed analyses of evolutionary patterns in genes and genomes responding to specific demographic events, ecological changes, or other selection pressures. Here, we propose that the mosquitoes in the Culex pipiens complex, which include taxa of significant medical importance, provide an exceptional system for examining the mechanisms underlying speciation and taxonomic radiation. Furthermore, these insects may shed light on the influences that historical and contemporary admixture have on taxonomic integrity. Such studies will have specific importance for mitigating the disease and nuisance burdens caused by these mosquitoes. More broadly, they could inform predictions about future evolutionary trajectories in response to changing environments and patterns of evolution in other cosmopolitan and invasive species that have developed recent associations with humans.

Molecular advances facilitate fruit export by improving rapid pest diagnosis by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and advanced sequencing technology. Improved pest detection provides timely certification of the quarantine pest-free status in the commodity being exported, avoiding unnecessary commodity treatment. The U.S.–Japan Systems Approach to export fresh cherries from the Western United States that targets the codling moth, Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is used as an example. Suspect codling moth larvae interdicted at cherry packing houses are distinguished by PCR from other internal fruit moth larvae such as the oriental fruit moth, Grapholita molesta (Busck) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae); lesser appleworm, G. prunivora (Walsh) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae); cherry fruitworm, G. packardi (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae); and filbertworm, Cydia latiferreana (Walsingham) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Identification is confirmed by sequencing the amplicon of a 301 bp region of the COI gene produced by PCR of the DNA from a suspect moth and comparing this sequence of COI gene sequences of other internal fruit feeders of pome fruit. This sequence comparison results in unambiguous pest identification. These findings are discussed in the context of systems approach research to meet evolving needs of phytosanitary requirements for global export of fruits.

Mosquito hearing is a complex process primarily involved in intraspecific communication between males and females. Although mosquitoes previously were believed to possess a relatively rudimentary auditory system, we now know that they can hear sounds at greater distances and process sounds through an efferent pathway, similar to vertebrates. In mating swarms, mosquitoes use acoustic signals created by conspecific wingbeats to locate and respond to one another through harmonic convergence. Male capture is an emerging area of interest for monitoring sterile insect release programs, and numerous studies have explored using female flight tones (wing-beat frequencies) to attract and capture male mosquitoes by altering or developing novel acoustic traps. It is also important to consider sound pattern, volume, and sound pressure levels of broadcasted noises, as well as implementing other attractive cues, such as swarm markers, to acoustic traps to increase success in the field. Female attraction to sound-baited traps has also been explored in the laboratory and field, using frequencies similar to male wing-beats and stereotypical vertebrate host calls, such as frogs and birds. In this review, the physiological and behavioral aspects of mosquito hearing are explored, as well as the importance of acoustic signals for mate choice and successful mating. The use of acoustic traps for male and female capture are discussed, as well as the implications for vector surveillance, and the limitations to using these traps.