Abstract

Eastern Hemlock trees, the heart of North American Forests, are bleeding out due to the sap-sucking pest Hemlock wooly adelgid. The invasive pest is able to induce mortality of hemlock trees within 4 years, when the trees should live to see 800 years. Riparian ecosystems are suffering due to this, as they play intrinsic roles such as flood mitigation and cooling streams for fish. Combinations of the specialist adelgid predatory beetles Sasajiscymnus tsugae and Laricobius species with entomopathogenic fungi, could attack HWA populations without endangering other pollinators as the chemical control do. However, biological control agents must demonstrate compatibility. The methodology for the proposed preliminary study on the non-target effects of GHA Beauveria bassiana and the specialist adelgid predator beetle, Sasajiscymnus tsugae that could confirm that they can work in tandem to save life-sustaining Eastern Hemlock trees, was implemented in order to ascertain whether the protocol should be amended. It entailed observing the health, mobility based on flip time(s), and mortality of specialist adelgid predators exposed to GHA conidial suspensions at concentrations of 1.42*10^6 spores/mL and 1*10^8 spores/mL. The study demonstrated the feasibility of rearing beetles prior to laboratory bioassays, the construction of experimental units to store beetles during bioassays, application of conidial suspension treatments with an atomizer spray, observations of beetles in petri dish systems, and the accessibility of materials.