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From Twitter

06 September 2023
Other
#IPMPopillia
Monitoring
We thought it would be useful to update the list of P. japonica host plants. In this respect, the dataset deposited by Tayeh et al. (2023) serves two purposes: (1) to provide a list of the host plants of Popillia japonica via a comprehensive review o...
29 August 2023
Citizen Science
Pest management
#IPMPopillia
Regulatory reporting  of invasive alien species or controlled pests such as the Japanese beetle to national authorities can be challenging for citizens. Therefore, in the IPM Popillia Horizon 2020 project, the "Automated Reporting System" (ARS) ...
26 July 2023
Pest management
#IPMPopillia
Monitoring
Europe is facing the first Japanese beetle outbreak north of the alps. The phytosanitary service of Zurich in Switzerland has detected Popillia japonica in monitoring traps and on herbs and shrubs in an area close to the airport of Zurich. The delimi...

How polyphagous is the Japanese beetle? Spoiler: over 400 host plants!

We thought it would be useful to update the list of P. japonica host plants. In this respect, the dataset deposited by Tayeh et al. (2023) serves two purposes: (1) to provide a list of the host plants of Popillia japonica via a comprehensive review of the scientific literature; (2) to classify these host plants as main or secondary host, based on t...
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  143 Hits

Automated reporting of Japanese beetle observations to national authorities within the IPM Popillia Citizen Science App

Regulatory reporting  of invasive alien species or controlled pests such as the Japanese beetle to national authorities can be challenging for citizens. Therefore, in the IPM Popillia Horizon 2020 project, the "Automated Reporting System" (ARS) was developed by SPOTTERON for the IPM Popillia Citizen Science App to process automated reports and...
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  148 Hits

A review of the progress made by PESSL IV

PESSL INSTRUMENTS GmbH Pessl Instruments GmbH has been producing reliable measuring instruments for 38 years and has developed various devices for the measurement and monitoring of different agricultural parameters, being one of the leading IoT providers for agriculture offering innovative and cost-effective solutions for more efficient farm manage...
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  284 Hits

First outbreak of Japanese beetle north of the alps

Europe is facing the first Japanese beetle outbreak north of the alps. The phytosanitary service of Zurich in Switzerland has detected Popillia japonica in monitoring traps and on herbs and shrubs in an area close to the airport of Zurich. The deliminated infested zone is rather small, and the low numbers of beetles caught indicate that the outbrea...
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  432 Hits

Updated interactive map of the Japanese beetle invasion in Continental Europe

Here's our updated map illustrating the dynamics of the ongoing invasion of the Japanese beetle in Continental Europe.  This current version (V3, June 2023) includes regions Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Valle Aosta (Italy), and Ticino (Switzerland) over the period 2015-2022. The map captures the dynamics of the invasion at the...
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  768 Hits

New insights in Popillia japonica life

In the past months many field trials and lab experiments gave their results, and they are good results! In our lab, we found that a family of molecules called "saponins", that are naturally present in alfalfa plants, have a significant antifeedant and insecticidal effects on Popillia. Basing on this molecules, it will be possible to devel...
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  384 Hits

Popillia japonica documentary on SRF Wissen

After the Azores and Italy, the Popillia japonica beetle is already present in Switzerland. SRF Wissen has recently published a documentary about invasive species in Europe, that vividly shows how important research and methods are when it comes to tackle the problem. Agroscope, coordinator of the Horizon 2020 project IPM Popillia, is rep...
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  266 Hits

Testing long-lasting insecticide-treated nets

Some years ago, when I was in Kenya to carry out a part of my PhD program on the adaptations to terrestrial life in fiddler crabs, I slept in a bed protected by an insecticide net that prevented from mosquitos' bites and related diseases. At that time I would have never thought that one day I would have used them in my research!    Nets a...
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  364 Hits

Open- day at CREA

Today 20th December 2022,  some students from the University of Florence and Pisa come to visit CREA @CREAricerca in an Open-Day program. We talked about the answers that Research can provide to the new challenges in agriculture, our works and, of course, the IPM-POPILLIA project.
  486 Hits

The Big Field Experiment

In September 2021 we started the big field experiment in the Piedmont region, a highly infested zone. Giovanni Bosio from the plant health service of the Piedmont region found meadows which were not treated yet and with willing owners to let us do experiments with different biological control agents (BCA). We treated the meadows with 2 different st...
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  709 Hits

A review of the progress made by PESSL III

 PESSL INSTRUMENTS GmbH Pessl Instruments GmbH has been producing reliable measuring instruments for 38 years and has developed various devices for the measurement and monitoring of different agricultural parameters, being one of the leading IoT providers for agriculture offering innovative and cost-effective solutions for more efficient farm ...
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  892 Hits

IPM Popillia Citizen Science App has been updated!

 The IPM Popillia Citizen Science App is constantly evolving and improving to meet targets and be a brilliant tool for finding and recording sightings of the invasive Popillia japonica.

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  759 Hits

A review of the progress made by PESSL II

PESSL INSTRUMENTS GmbH Pessl Instruments GmbH has been producing reliable measuring instruments for 38 years and has developed various devices for the measurement and monitoring of different agricultural parameters, being one of the leading IoT providers for agriculture offering innovative and cost-effective solutions for more efficient farm manage...
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  1018 Hits

Effects of test treatments on P. japonica gene expression

In collaboration with colleagues from CREA (Florence), we have treated popillias with three experimental control protocols that appear as promising candidates in their hands. Treated popillias have been snap frozen for molecular analysis. In the next months we will evaluate the effects of different treatments in terms of gene expression. With these...
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  944 Hits

Field work for an economist

Definitely not my ususal workweek! I am an economist at the Technical University of Munich, usually sitting in an office with a computer and conducting research there. But not this time… As I am part of the IPM Popillia project, which consists of an interdisciplinary research team, I was invited by our partner Agroscope to join them in th...
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  680 Hits

Interactive map of the Japanese beetle's invasion in Continental Europe

The Japanese beetle was accidentally introduced to mainland Europe and detected for the first-time near Milan (Italy) in 2014. As a quarantine insect pest, its populations are strictly monitored. However, we did not find a map illustrating the dynamics of the ongoing invasion. So, we produced it! At first, the interactive map that we make available...
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  3069 Hits

Azorean field work between islands

Having field work on different islands of an archipelago is a peculiarity to which the IPM Popillia team of the University of the Azores has got used to. We are currently working with Popillia from São Miguel Island, where we are actually based, and from São Jorge Island. Last October, our team traveled a two-flight trip in order to perform efficac...
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  963 Hits

Another Day in the Field

We need more larvae, a lot more larvae! That's our mission, our first in this year. This time we were headed to a field in Vercelli, Piedmont. While driving, the bus would shake and make weird noises when applying the brakes which is why we stopped a first time to inspect our tires and a second time at a mechanics to let him check properly.  W...
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  872 Hits

Frontiers in Insect Science launches Research Topic on Popillia

One of the world's leading open science platforms puts a focus on Japanese Beetle research! Frontiers has launched the research topic "Focus on Popillia japonica" in its Open Access Journal "Frontiers in Insect Science". The aim is to compile the latest findings in P. japonica research in one special issue, which will be a key resource of knowledge...
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  1058 Hits

The Horizon 2020 Citizen Science App for Popillia sightings is released!

A deliverable is done. We just have released the first version of the IPM Popillia Citizen Science App! This first release marks a significant achievement; from now on, our consortium members and farmers on location can start recording Popillia japonica sightings on their smartphones and contribute to the IPM Popillia data-set. The App running...
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  1014 Hits

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 EU Flag This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 861852

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