The exotic-looking spotted lanternfly has the potential to do serious damage to Pennsylvania\u2019s vineyards, fruit trees and timber industry, which is why the research that Kelly Murman, an East Stroudsburg University graduate student, is doing is so important.<\/p>\n
Murman, a master\u2019s degree candidate in biology, is working this summer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture on a study that could help find ways to eradicate the lanternfly before it can spread across the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re very striking, beautiful insects but they\u2019re still pests,\u201d Murman said.<\/p>\n
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture the lanternfly poses \u201ca significant threat to the state\u2019s more than $20.5 million grape, nearly $134 million apple, and more than $24 million stone fruit industries, as well as the hardwood industry in Pennsylvania which accounts for $12 billion in sales.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murman, of Avoca, Pa., is monitoring the growth and habits of the insect at seven sites around Berks County, which is the county where the invasive species was first seen in the United States in September 2014. The insect is native to such Asian countries as China and India and USDA officials suspect it arrived in the United States accidentally through international trade. To date, lanternflies have also been found in parts of Bucks, Lehigh, Northampton, Chester and Montgomery counties.<\/p>\n
The lanternflies at Murman\u2019s research sites are enclosed in big mesh bags surrounding nine different types of plants so they can\u2019t get out. Murman reports on what they are eating, how many survive and other aspects of their life cycle. The idea is to figure out how to disrupt their life cycle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIdeally, it\u2019s better to understand what\u2019s going on, especially in the immature stages so you can control the fly before it\u2019s a reproductive adult,\u201d Murman said. \u201cIf you can kill a pest before it has a chance to reproduce, that\u2019s just a bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murman was recommended for the volunteer job by ESU Professor of Biology Matthew Wallace, Ph.D. She had asked Wallace, an entomologist, if he knew any suitable projects for her to get some independent study credits and he checked with his contacts in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. They passed the request to a USDA research entomologist who is running the lanternfly program.<\/p>\n
Wallace was glad to recommend Murman for the work. \u201cShe\u2019s one of the best students I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cThis is an important project. I wouldn\u2019t have suggested her if I didn\u2019t think she could do it. It\u2019s very important data she\u2019s collecting.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s critical for researchers to understand which plants are most likely to be harmed by the lanternfly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey all suck sap from various plants and that\u2019s where the problem comes in,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cThey feed on economically important crops.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pests also excrete a substance called \u201choneydew\u201d and a kind of sooty mold grows on the honeydew which can coat the leaves to the point where the plant can\u2019t get enough sunlight to photosynthesize, Murman said. \u201cSo they can cause damage to the plant in that way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At some point in their life cycle, the insects need to feed on a shrub called \u201cTree of Heaven,\u201d which is also an invasive species.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way that this pest spreads a lot of the time is called hitchhiking,\u201d Murman said. \u201cIf someone parks in a parking lot near a tree line and leaves his or her window open even a crack because of the heat, that person could leave with a spotted lanternfly in the car and transport it someplace else.\u201d<\/p>\n
That could be a big problem when people tour different wineries and could spread the lanternfly from one to another, she said.<\/p>\n
Hops farmer Ashley Deitrich is allowing plants on her small farm in Rockland Township, Berks County to be part of the research project. Deitrich had seen the bugs on her parents\u2019 property in Oley Township and was glad to volunteer her land to help advance the eradication efforts. Murman has been great to work with, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to make the environment better,\u201d Deitrich said. \u201cIf you can be part of the solution, why not?\u201d<\/p>\n
Marshalling resources to eradicate an invasive species is no easy task but Murman thinks the public will be able to understand the importance of the work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we stand a good chance because people love their wine and they love their beer,\u201d Murman said.<\/p>\n
Murman said after graduating with her master\u2019s next spring, she hopes to find a research job — \u201cwhatever gets me outside and anything that promotes the understanding of our planet and the various species that inhabit it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The exotic-looking spotted lanternfly has the potential to do serious damage to Pennsylvania\u2019s vineyards, fruit trees and timber industry, which is why the research that Kelly Murman, an East Stroudsburg University graduate student, is doing is so important. Murman, a master\u2019s degree candidate in biology, is working this summer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture on a study that could help find ways to eradicate the lanternfly before it can spread across the state.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":16107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,143,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biology","category-community","category-esu-success-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16104"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16115,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16104\/revisions\/16115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}