Chair Scientific Committee: P.G. Mason (Ottawa, CANADA)
Scientific Committee: B. Broadbent (London, CANADA); P. Ellsworth (Tuscon, USA); D. Gillespie (Agassiz, CANADA); P.B. Goodell (Parlier, USA); K. Holmer (Montpellier, FRANCE); B. Foottit (Ottawa, CANADA); U. Kuhlmann (Delémont, SWITZERLAND); O. Olfert (Saskatoon, CANADA); L. Williams (Stoneville, USA).

Please submit the title of your oral (15 min) or poster presentation including an abstract describing the research of the presentation to lygus@cals.arizona.edu . Depending on the number of papers submitted for each scientific session, the scientific committee might accept your paper for presentation in a different format.

The goal of the meeting is to stimulate ideas by presenting new information and therefore all talks and posters should present original data from specific projects. Submissions should be as specific as possible and avoid presenting overviews, summaries, or material that is already widely known (with the exception of the kick-off session).

Kick-off Session 1: Economic Importance of Lygus in Crop Commodities
Papers should deal with the up-to-date economic importance and review the current threshold models as well as Lygus pest management strategies applied in the following commodities such as strawberries, cotton, orchards, greenhouse, field crops (such as canola, etc).

Scientific Session 2: Lygus Community Ecology
Papers are expected to be submitted on the variation in abundance and feeding impact of Lygus plant bugs for different cultivars; variation of Lygus species assemblages in different agro-ecosystems in relation to ecoregion and crops; genetic diversity of Lygus population in crop and non-crop habitats; host plant influence on movement patterns and subsequent distribution; Lygus plant bugs in the montane and alpine biotopes.

Scientific Session 3: Chemical and Behavioral Ecology of Lygus Plant Bugs
Papers should deal with the identification, electroantennogram screening, and field bioassays of volatile chemicals from Lygus; sexual attraction among Lygus; volatile compounds released by Lygus feeding and salivary gland extracts induce volatile emissions in plants; feeding biology of Lygus plant bugs, and behavioural ecology of Lygus plant bugs.

Scientific Session 4: Cultural Controls for Lygus Management
Papers should be submitted dealing with cultural controls for the management of Lygus populations in different crops; efficacy and persistence of insect vacuuming against Lygus plant bugs; assessment of trap crops for Lygus species; effects of water volume rates on spray deposition and control of Lygus plant bug; importance of wild host plants and their management for control of Lygus plant bugs.

Scientific Session 5: Host Plant Resistance
Papers are expected reporting on experimental trials assessing plant lines with potential for resistance to oviposition and feeding, development and deployment of crop varieties tolerant to Lygus attack; availability of insect-resistant cultivars for different crop commodities; measurement of resistance.

Scientific Session 6: Insecticide Efficacy on Lygus Plant Bug Populations
Papers on the following topics should be submitted: effects and tolerance of insecticides on Lygus populations in different crops; susceptibility of Lygus species to insecticides for control; effects of insecticides on the biological fitness of Lygus; toxicity of formulations of insecticide to Lygus plant bugs; effects of Bt cotton on Lygus.

Scientific Session 7: Insecticide Resistance and Insecticide Non-target Impact
Papers should be submitted on all aspects in resistance in Lygus plant bug populations based on the use of insecticides; toxicity of insecticide residues to natural enemies; impact of early-season pesticide treatments for control of Lygus on natural enemies.

Scientific Session 8: Systematics/Taxonomy of Lygus and Biological Control Agents
Papers should report about new trends and approaches in the systematics of Nearctic and Palaearctic Lygus; current status of Lygus phylogeny; new aspects in Peristenus taxonomy in North America and Europe, new species of biological control agents attacking Lygus.

Scientific Session 9: Biological Control Products and Commercialization
Papers should deal with the following topics: pathogenicity of Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and other entomopathogenic fungi against Lygus plant bugs; effect of plant type on the persistence of entomopathogenic fungi; efficacy of antifungal agents to control contamination in Lygus rearing based on artificial diet; inundative releases of egg parasitoids in high value cash crops; mass rearing technology for biological control agents of Lygus species.

Scientific Session 10: Host Specificity of Biological Control Agents
Determining parasitoid species composition in Lygus populations using molecular markers; detecting the egg parasitoid in Lygus eggs by using a molecular approach; ecological host range of Peristenus species in the area of origin; laboratory host specificity testing of Peristenus species.

Scientific Session 11: Post-release Evaluation of Classical Biological Control / Conservation of Biological Control Agents
It is expected that the following research topics can be covered: post-release monitoring for establishment and dispersal of classical biological control agents, impact assessment on Lygus pest populations; field survey and evaluation for potential non-target effects after release of classical biological control agents; in-host compatibility and in-host competition of exotic and native parasitoids.

Scientific Session 12: Biology and Ecology of Biological Control Agents
Papers submitted should provide information on life history and potential for controlling Lygus plant bugs; reproductive biology of biological control agents; biology, host preferences, and abundance of Mesochorus spp. hyperparasitoids of Peristenus; effects of superparasitism; seasonal occurrence, species composition, and parasitism of Lygus species in different cultivars.

Final Session 13: Is IPM feasible to control Lygus in all crop commodities?
A moderated discussion will determine the potential to combine different control measures in an integrated management approach for Lygus control in different crop commodities.

Go to Online Form “Submission of Papers”