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USDA NIFA research investment in Texas A&M AgriLife leads to breakthrough in fighting agricultural plant diseases. Researchers have made a discovery that will help combat fastidious pathogens, which cost U.S. agriculture alone billions of dollars annually.

New research from the University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center (MITPPC) shows a possible path forward in controlling the invasive pest, the emerald ash borer (EAB), that threatens Minnesota’s nearly one billion ash trees.

In a recent study published in Fungal Biology, MITPPC researchers identified various fungi living in EAB-infested trees — a critical first step in finding fungi that may be harnessed to control the spread of EAB, and ultimately, prevent ash tree death. 

Is artificial intelligence (AI) a viable tool in the fight against invasive species? UF/IFAS scientists are exploring that question on a small scale in a project using traps equipped with AI technology. For this study, the traps are targeting Argentine black and white tegus in Fort Pierce. Scientists hope these AI 'smart traps' will help suppress and remove an established population of these lizards that have quickly invaded this Treasure Coast city. St. Lucie county has become a hot spot for tegus over the last seven years.

Virginia Tech entomologist Muni Muniappan has warned of Tuta absoluta’s likely arrival into the United States since he began monitoring the pest's spread throughout Africa in 2012. Thanks to a joint grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Muniappan's team and collaborators will be able to model the pest's entry into the United States — protecting the country's billion-dollar tomato industry — before irreparable damage is caused. Tuta absoluta is a tomato pest native to South America. If left unmitigated, it has the potential to destroy 100 percent of tomato crops. In 2016, the pest caused a "tomato emergency" in such countries as Nigeria, where tomatoes are a lifeline for many smallholder farmers. With the U.S. as one of the world's leaders in tomato production, the pest's impact would be severe if nothing is done to stop it. The USDA's Food and Agriculture Cyberinformatics Tools Initiative awarded the University of Virginia's Biocomplexity Institute and Virginia Tech the four-year, $500,000 grant to project the pest's movement and rate of spread into the U.S. The model, to be developed by the Biocomplexity Institute, will map the spread of invasive species over time, accounting for factors such as climate, biology, and demographic information.

The Mississippi River Delta is home to the world’s largest contiguous swath of Phragmites australis, or more commonly known as the common reed. But the plant that can grow to nearly 20 ft. and has been a critical component in stabilizing the state’s coastal erosion is not actually native to Louisiana—well, not entirely. There are multiple P. australis genotypes. P. australis subspecies (ssp.) americanus is the native subspecies in the U.S. and Canada. However, Phragmites australis ssp. australis originated in central Europe and was subsequently introduced to the U.S. where it is now considered to be one of the most problematic invasive species in North America. "Novel genome characteristics contribute to the invasiveness of Phragmites australis (common reed)" in Molecular Ecology and recently featured in an edition of The Scientist, LSU researchers collaborated with Tulane University and the U.S. Geological Survey to study the genomic bases of P. australis and to investigate what exactly makes the invasive reed grass subspecies thrive in wetlands, in comparison to its native counterpart.