Browsing by Author "Murchie, Archie K."

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Black Border Increases Stomoxys calcitrans Catch on White Sticky Traps
    (MDPI, 2018-02-02) Murchie, Archie K.; Hall, Carol E.; Gordon, Alan Wesley; Clawson, Sam
    Stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, is a biting fly that can cause severe irritation to livestock resulting in reduced productivity. The most common method of monitoring S. calcitrans is through the use of sticky traps and many designs have been developed using different colours and materials such as alsynite fibreglass and polypropylene sheeting. Laboratory experiments and some field experimentation have demonstrated that colour contrast can attract S. calcitrans. However, this response has not been fully utilised in trap design. To test that simple colour contrast could increase trap efficacy, white sticky traps were mounted on three differently coloured backgrounds (white, yellow, and black) and positioned at five sites on a mixed livestock farm. White sticky traps on a black background caught significantly more S. calcitrans than the yellow or white backgrounds. An incidental result was that Pollenia sp. were caught in greater numbers on the yellow framed traps. The reasons for S. calcitrans attraction to black–white contrast are most likely due to conspicuousness in the environment although the extent to which flies are using this feature as a host-location cue or a perching site are unknown.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Catalogue of pests and pathogens of trees on the island of Ireland
    (Royal Irish Academy, 2021-04-19) O'Hanlon, Richard; Ryan, Cathal; Choiseul, James; Murchie, Archie K.; Williams, Christopher D.
    The health and sustainability of trees are increasingly under threat from biotic and abiotic sources, including rising incidences of non-native invasive plant pests and pathogens. The island of ireland (Ireland and Northern Ireland) is generally understood to have a high plant health status, due to its Island status and because of the national and international regulations aimed at protecting plant health. To establish a baseline of the current pest and pathogen threats to tree health for the Island of ireland, the literature and unpublished sources were reviewed to produce a dataset of pests and pathogens of trees on the island of Ireland. The dataset contains 396 records-the majority of pests and pathogens being arthropods and fungi-and indicates potentially more than 44 non-native pest and pathogen introductions. The reliability of many (378) of the records was judged to be high, therefore the dataset provides a robust assessment of the state of pests and pathogens of trees recorded on the island of Ireland. We analyse this dataset and review the history of plant pest and pathogen invasions; in doing so, we discuss (i) notable native and non-native pests and pathogens of trees, (ii) interceptions at borders and (iii) pests, pathogens and climate change. The dataset establishes an important baseline for the knowledge of plant pests and pathogens on the island of Ireland, and will be a valuable resource for future plant health research and policy making.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Field Evaluation of Deltamethrin and Ivermectin Applications to Cattle on Culicoides Host-Alighting, Blood-Feeding, and Emergence
    (MDPI, 2019-08-08) Murchie, Archie K.; Thompson, Geoff M.; Clawson, Sam; Brown, Andrew; Gordon, Alan Wesley; Jess, Stephen
    The impact of topical applications of deltamethrin and ivermectin to cattle on Culicoides spp. landing and blood-feeding was studied in this work using sticky traps mounted on Friesian heifers’ backs. There was no effect of the insecticides on total numbers of Culicoides trapped or the proportion engorged. Deltamethrin and ivermectin treatment did not prevent blood-feeding on these animals. Deltamethrin did result in significant Culicoides mortality as evidenced by the numbers of dead midges combed from heifers’ upper flanks. The proximity of engorged midges on traps to dead midges in the hair suggests that blood-feeding took place despite midges receiving an ultimately lethal dose of deltamethrin. Ivermectin application resulted in a smaller proportion of nulliparous than parous females caught. There was no significant effect of ivermectin on the numbers of Culicoides that emerged from dung samples (but p was small at 0.095 for the Obsoletus group Culicoides). In cases of suspect animal imports, pour-on or spray applications of deltamethrin could reduce the risk of onward transmission of bluetongue virus.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Pesticide Use in Northern Ireland’s Arable Crops from 1992–2016 and Implications for Future Policy Development
    (MDPI, 2018-08-08) Jess, Stephen; Matthews, David I.; Murchie, Archie K.; Lavery, Michael K.
    Since the 1960s, the objective for the United Kingdom (UK) government policy and legislation on crop protection practices has been to minimise the impact of pesticide use in agriculture and horticulture to the wider environment. Subsequent European Union (EU) policy and legislation have also targeted this objective through a demanding approvals process, competency tests for users, maximum residue limits, regular post-registration monitoring and the promotion of integrated pest and disease management techniques. However, none of this substantive regulation refers to target reduction levels for pesticide use. Since 1992, the number of arable farms in Northern Ireland has decreased by 61% with a consequent reduction of 34% in the area of arable crops grown. Despite this reduction in area of arable crops grown, the area treated by the major pesticide groups increased by 49% due to intensification, but the weight of major pesticides applied to arable crops decreased by 37%. However, the intensity of application measured by the total quantity of all pesticides applied to the basic area of arable crops treated remained relatively constant at approximately 3.2 kg/ha. Pesticide usage trends and reduction policies in other geographic regions are also discussed for comparative purposes.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    VectorNet Data Series 3: Culicoides Abundance Distribution Models for Europe and Surrounding Regions
    (Ubiquity Press, 2020-09-16) Balenghien, Thomas; Alexander, Neil; Arnþórsdóttir, Auður Lilja; Bisia, Marina; Blackwell, Alison; Bødker, René; Bourquia, Maria; Boutsini, Sofia; Carpenter, Simon; Colenutt, Claire; Culverwell, Lorna; Cvetkovikj, Aleksandar; Dascălu, Lenuța; Regge, Nick De; Dhollander, Sofie; Elbers, Armin; England, Marion; Filatov, Serhii; Garros, Claire; Goffredo, Maria; Haddad, Nabil; Høye, Toke Thomas; Hristescu, Doru; Khallaayoune, Khalid; Kočišová, Alica; Larska, Magdalena; Lucientes, Javier; Mathieu, Bruno; Miranda, Miguel Angel; Murchie, Archie K.; Nițescu, Cristina; Ozoliņa, Zanda; Fonseca, Isabel Pereira da; Petrić, Dušan; Pudar, Dubravka; Ramilo, David; Richardson, Jane; Seglina, Zanda; Sghaier, Soufien; Stefanovska, Jovana; Stougiou, Despoina; Sviland, Ståle; Tchakarova, Simona; Bortel, Wim Van; Castello, Marta Verdun; Veronesi, Eva; Versteirt, Veerle; Wint, William G.R.
    Introduction/Study Description VectorNet [1] is a joint initiative of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which started in May 2014. The project supports the collection of distribution data on tick, sandfly, mosquito and Culicoides midge vectors, related to both animal and human health. While VectorNet and its predecessor VBORNET [2] have made substantial progress collating European data on key vector species, the coverage is still incomplete. The ‘Gap Analysis’ work within these projects aims to identify those areas of likely species distribution within the project extent where there are no current data. These estimates were produced throughout the project and were intended to meet two objectives: firstly to help direct extensive VectorNet sampling efforts in the field, and secondly to provide first indications of the current likely extent and distribution of key vector species within continental Europe and its surrounding regions. The models provided here are the latest iteration using the distribution data available at the end of 2018. It is hoped that publishing these models will aid experts to engage the more extensive research and professional community in the drive to expand and validate the VectorNet database, and will also contribute to the veterinary and public health planning for Europe and its neighbouring countries. Readers are encouraged to contact the authors or visit the VectorNet website [1] for further details of the project, and to view distribution maps of arthropod disease vectors of midges, ticks, mosquitos, and sandflies. For each model, abundance maps with a resolution of 1 km were generated using both Boosted regression trees and Random Forest spatial modelling techniques available through the VECMAP [3] system. The outputs from each technique were ensembled to create a ‘consensus’ output of Ln Maximum Annual number per trap per day.