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From Twitter

05 August 2024
Pest management
#IPMPopillia
Pupils from class 2D had a good intuition! In fact, the Fungzuka device is being tested by CREA's researchers since summer 2023. The "Fungzuka" is an "Attract-Infest-Release" device that is conceived to bring adult Popillia japonica insects in c...
10 July 2024
Citizen Science
#IPMPopillia
Monitoring
In recent months, the IPM Popillia Consortium has collaborated with SPOTTERON to create informational and dissemination materials about the invasive Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica), which has been spreading across Europe for several years. R...
10 June 2024
Citizen Science
#IPMPopillia
Prof. Francesco Nardi (University of Siena) and Prof. Rossella Annoni (junior high school G. Falcone, Cassina de' Pecchi, Milan) have been working together, this past year, with class 2D (12-13 years old pupils) on Popillia within the context of the ...

Popillia grub detectives at work in Zurich

Pj-rubs-Hunting_Zurich2 PopilliaJaponica_grub-detectives
Since 2023, the village of Kloten north of Zurich is not only famous for the Zurich Airport and for having a great ice hockey team, but also for harboring the first Popillia population in Europe north of the Alps. In summer and autumn of 2023, huge efforts were made to eradicate this population, including insecticide sprays, the erection of LLINs-t...
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  757 Hits
757 Hits

Developmental Stage Photos of the Japanese Beetle from Our Laboratory

IPMPopillia_Header_stagelarvae_SPOTTERON
We are beyond excited to share developmental stage photos of the Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) directly from our laboratory experiment.  The Japanese beetle undergoes three larval stages, which means that the larvae do not grow steadily but develop three times until they pupate and finally emerge as adult beetles. We ...
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  1662 Hits
1662 Hits

General Assembly and ECE in Heraklion 2023

imageheader3 group picture of the attendees
From October 18–20, 2023, members of the IPM Popillia consortium came together in Heraklion, Greece, for the yearly General Assembly of the IPM Popillia project. The event provided the possibility of gaining insight into and learning about the progress and developments made in the different interdisciplinary work packages of the project. At the sam...
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  1343 Hits
1343 Hits

Visualizing insights in our science communication: infographics for Citizen Scientists

IPM_LifeCycle_Header2_EN_DO-08-09 Life Cycle P.Japonica
For some time now, we have opened up our Popillia Japonica research to Citizen Science. With the support of volunteer Citizen Scientists, we are trying to gather more information about the distribution of the Japanese beetle through the IPM Popillia's Citizen Science App. Invasive species such as the Japanese Beetle pose a severe threat to biodiver...
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  1382 Hits
1382 Hits

New insights in Popillia japonica life

IPM_Header_04_D_20230703-191929_1 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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  1410 Hits
1410 Hits

Popillia japonica documentary on SRF Wissen

IPM_Blog02_Header_v03_DO-2 Popilla japonica contribution 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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  995 Hits
995 Hits

The Big Field Experiment

JHMU771_20221114-201000_1 Working in the field with the Swiss Alps in the background
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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  1454 Hits
1454 Hits

Effects of test treatments on P. japonica gene expression

pop_post
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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  1761 Hits
1761 Hits

Another Day in the Field

Vercelli - Football field Vercelli - Football 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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  1564 Hits
1564 Hits

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

Citizen Science App for recording invasive species
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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  1859 Hits
1859 Hits

First prototype version of the IPM Popilla Citizen Science App in the making!

Design process of IPM Popilla Citizen Science App Design process of IPM Popilla Citizen Science App
The year 2022 has just begun. Right after the holiday season, we at SPOTTERON Citizen Science Platform have started the first phase of direct production and creating the definitions for the IPM Popilla Citizen Science Smartphone App - what a start for a year! In the past, we have already prepared many building blocks and parts to launch our fi...
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  1929 Hits
1929 Hits

A day in the field

Mottalcia Picture by Mathias Hess
To continue with experiments in the lab, we needed more Japanese beetle larvae, a lot more. So we decided to go on a field trip on the 7th of December 2021.   It was the first train of the day which took me to Agroscope where we headed off to Mottalciata, Piedmont region. With two cars and seven people, we left freezing cold Switzerland in hop...
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  1458 Hits
1458 Hits

Planning for the IPM Popillia Citizen Science App

Preview Mockup of a IPM Popillia Citizen Science App Preview Mockup of a IPM Popillia Citizen Science App
With the new year approaching, we at SPOTTERON have started planning and creating concepts for the IPM Popillia Citizen Science App for public participation. In this early stage, options are present for either having a focussed App for discovering the Popillia japonica beetle in already infested regions or to think on a broader scale for ...
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  1531 Hits
1531 Hits

What would a Japanese beetle spread cost us?

What would a Japanese beetle spread cost us?
What would a Japanese beetle spread cost us? - That is one of the questions which our team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is trying to answer. The question is simple; however, the answer is complex, depending on several unknown factors such as the potential damage the beetle can cause to different crops. For this reason, we have...
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  1367 Hits
1367 Hits

App Download Links (QR-Codes)

Android
(Google Play) 

qrcode app Popillia googleplay

iPhone
(Apple App Store) 

 qrcode appPopillia appstore

 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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