Research in the Parrella Laboratory
General Comments
My research and outreach program are focused on developing and implementing IPM strategies with an emphasis on biological control for the Environmental Horticulture industry. This includes floriculture, nursery and bedding production operations and landscape plants in the urban environment. I work with major pests including western flower thrips, silverleaf and greenhouse whiteflies, Liriomyza leafminers, green peach and melon aphids, psyllids, and spider mites.
There are unique aspects associated with developing IPM programs for aesthetic value crops and these must always be taken into consideration if programs are to be eventually adopted by the industry. My laboratory focuses on understanding the relationship of the pest to the crop (including its unique production practices), to the environment and to its natural enemies. Simply stated, investigating the basic biology and ecology of a pest at the individual and population level is the core of my program. In my 30 years with the University of California I have had more than 25 graduate students finish their degree(s) in my program. All these students have been fully funded, and many have generated their own funding through grants supporting their research. All students should be prepared to seek outside funding when they enter my program. In addition, research topics should be selected that both advance basic science and yet have applicability at the grower level. All students should be willing and eager to give outreach/extension presentations to stakeholders.
Status and Needs of the Industry and Research Outreach Directions
Cash income generated by the production of nursery, greenhouse and floriculture crops in California exceeded more than $3.795 billion in 2006, accounting for more than 11% of total agricultural production in the state (USDA 2007). This was the second leading agricultural commodity in California, exceeded only by milk and cream ($4.492 billion). Although the value of agricultural crops in California dropped 4% from 2005-2006, the value of nursery, greenhouse and floriculture crops actually increased by 0.5%. Examining data from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation reveals the following amounts of pesticide active ingredient were applied by the environmental horticulture industry in 2005: Landscape maintenance = 1,751,475 lbs; greenhouse floriculture = 51,820 lbs; greenhouse nursery crops in containers = 60,599 lbs; greenhouse transplants = 10,361 lbs; nursery outdoor plants in containers = 1,292,942 lbs; nursery outdoor floriculture = 338,785 lbs; and nursery outdoor transplants = 981,621 lbs. When taken in total, the environmental horticulture industry applied 4,493,603 lbs of pesticide active ingredient in 2005. While this is much less than many of our major agricultural commodities in California, this statistic for environmental horticulture would be ranked much higher if pounds of pesticides per acre rather than total pesticides used was the measurement variable. We have already seen that the adoption of IPM and biological control by these growers will reduce the amount of pesticides used and will improve detection of exotic pests and reduce the spread of biotypes resistant to one or more pesticides.
While inroads have been made, there is still a long way to go. In particular, there is a real need to reduce pesticide use in the landscape, and in outdoor nursery floriculture and container grown plants. Over the next few years, my laboratory will continue to evaluate biological control options for growers as well as the integration of biological control with reduced risk pesticides. We will continue to develop monitoring/sampling systems for thrips and other pests. In addition, we will examine the effects of adding silicon and microbial infusions to the roots of plants with the idea of increasing plant health and vigor to improve their ability to withstand attack by diseases and arthropods. Together with plant pathologists on the Davis campus, we will examine various water treatment options to sterilize recirculated water in both nursery and greenhouse operations. All our studies include a USDA component where the post harvest quality of plants will be examined. Finally, over the next few years, we plant to form a Bedding Plant/Plant Propagators Alliance with UC Cooperative Extension County Advisors to increase communication among these growers and to rapidly disseminate results from research/demonstration trials.
Funding Sources
The laboratory has funding from multiple sources and we are constantly applying for and looking for new funding opportunities. We have a new Specific Cooperative Agreement from the USDA Floriculture and Research Initiative entitled “Development and Implementation of IPM for Bedding Plants, Plant Propagators, and Cut Flowers.” This is in its first year of funding and we anticipate that this will be at least a 3-year project. We are in the second year of a grant from the American Floral Endowment entitled “Advancing the Adoption of Pest Management Strategies on Cut Flowers Produced in the United States and Colombia" together with Texas A&M University, the University Militar Nueva Granada, Bogota, Colombia and the Research Centre, University Jorge Tadeo; Lozano, Chia, Colombia. In addition, we are in the second year of a UC IPM grant entitled “Utilization of a native mycophagous coccinellid as an indication and decision support device for management of grape powdery mildew in a commercial vineyard.” This latter project was awarded to Mr. Andrew Sutherland, a Ph.D. student in the laboratory. We receive considerable support from the IR-4 program, from the ag-chem industry and from companies marketing water treatment materials. Finally, we receive support (both financially and with greenhouse equipment) from many generous growers in California.
Facilities
This fall we are moving into 6345 Storer Hall that has ample space for all our needs in addition to a USDA certified Biosafety Level III containment area. The lab has adequate bench space for computers, a fume hood for bioassays and an area for raising plants and insects. We maintain a separate head-house for raising insects, mixing soil and other activities related to greenhouse production. This is in support of more than 6000 ft2 of greenhouse space maintained in the project and much of this space has been configured to be state of the art. Near our major greenhouse facility we have a double-wide trailer and an adjacent building that are used as additional lab space and for insect and plant rearing. The project maintains a full time truck from the motor pool for field-work and for daily activities on the campus.
Laboratory Personnel
Mr. Tom Costamagna runs much of the project as a Senior Greenhouse Supervisor. Tom oversees 3 full-time junior specialists in the project as well as 3-6 students. In addition, he works with the PGRs and students and assists them with their projects.
Students
Mr. Andrew Sutherland is a Ph.D. student in the project working on the mycophagous coccinelid, Psyllobora vigintimaculata. Andrew has another is in the final year or so of his Ph.D. Cheryle O’Donnell finished her Ph.D. in the lab working on Molecular Phylogeny of the genera Frankliniella and Thrips. Cheryle has taken a position with USDA-APHIS.
To Prospective Students
Students coming into the laboratory need to be secure individuals who are motivated and self-starters. All students are supported financially either by my own grants or by the department. In addition, there is usually financial support for whatever the students what to do. However, my hope is that students will contribute to the financial security of the lab and their own project by writing grants to support their projects. There are always many sources of funding within the Environmental Horticulture industry, among others. I expect students to interact with growers and to have a strong field component of their research with a cooperating grower. I cannot stress the "outreach" part of this program enough. I expect students to be adept at giving both research and grower-oriented presentations when they are finished.
One thing that incoming students have to understand is that as Associate Dean for the College, 80% of my time is spent on college-related matters and the college comes first. In addition, most of my time is spent in my college office in Mrak Hall. Therefore, I am not that accessible as a major Professor. This does not mean that I do not care about your project or that we will not meet on a regular basis -- in fact I will meet with you as often as you would like. However, these meetings will be more formal and scheduled -- I am rarely in the lab and days may go by and we will not even see each other. To offset this, the technical personnel, PGRs and other students in the lab are all there as resources for you.
If what I have said here intimidates you or you feel that this project is a bit too overwhelming to "jump" into, please do not apply. On the other hand if you find that becoming part of a very dynamic program in a strong department on a great campus in the heart of the environmental horticulture industry in the US is exhilarating, I look forward to talking with you.
Ten Recent Refereed Publications
2005 Casey, C.A., and M.P. Parrella. Evaluation of a mechanical dispenser and interplant bridges on the dispersal and efficacy of the predator, Phytoseiulus persimilis (Acari: Phytoseiidae) in greenhouse cut roses. Biological Control 32:130-136.
2005 O’Donnell, C.A., and M.P. Parrella. Host suitability of selected ficus species for thrips palmi (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Florida Entomologist 88(1):97-98.
2005 Levy, M., Q. Wang, R. Kaspi, M.P. Parrella and S. Abel. Arabidopsis IQD1, a novel calmodulin-binding nuclear protein, stimulates glucosinolate accumulation and plant defense. The Plant Journal 43:79-96.
2005 Kaspi, R. and M.P. Parrella, Abamectin compatibility with the leafminer parasitoid Diglyphus isaea. Biological Control 35:172-179.
2006 Parrella, M., R.J. Zasoski, J. Vochatzer, and J. Hogan. Entomology for the fly-fisher. American Entomologist 52(2):72-74.
2006 Kaspi, R. and M.P. Parrella. Improving the biological control of leafminers (Diptera: Agromyzidae) using the sterile insect technique. J. Econ. Entomol. 99(4): 1168-1175.
2007. Casey, Christine, Julie Newman, Karen Robb, Steven A. Tjosvold, James D. MacDonald and Michael P. Parrella. IPM program successful in California greenhouse cut roses. California Agriculture 61(2)71-78.
2007 Parrella, M.P., Costamagna, T.P. and Kaspi, R. The addition of potassium silicate to the fertilizer mix to suppress Liriomyza leafminers attacking chrysanthemums. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 747:365-370 http://www.actahort.org/books/747/747_45.htm
2008 Parrella, Michael P. Biological control in protected culture: Will it continue to expand? (Guest Editorial) Phytoparasitica 36(1):3-6.
2008. Kaspi, Roy and Michael P. Parrella. Polyandry and reproduction in the serpentine leaf miner Liriomyza trifolii (Diptera: Agromyzidae), J Insect Behav 21:323-336.
Ten Recent Limited Distribution Publications
2003 Parrella, Michael P. The increasing impact of FQPA on greenhouse crops: the IR-4 program to the rescue. CORF News, Vol. 7, Issue 1.
2004 Carne-Cavagnaro, Vanessa, Thomas P. Costamagna, Roy Kaspi, Robert L. Starnes, Cheryle A. O’Donnell, Trinity Strehl, Andrew Sutherland and Michael P. Parrella. Efficacy of pesticides against western flower thrips on marigolds. California Ornamental Research Federation News. Vol. 8(2):1-4.
2006 Laflin, H., P. Gullan, T. Strehl, T. Costamagna and M. Parrella. Managing mealy bugs: Knowing the species and development stages on your plants is critical to controlling the pest. GM Pro 26(1): 82-90 www.GreenBeam.com.
2006 Parrella, M.P. New and emerging insect pests. Proceedings of 22nd Annual Conference on Pest and Disease Management for Ornamentals, February 16-18, 2006, Norwalk, CA. pp. 11-17.
2006 Parrella, M.P. Leafminers attacking floriculture crops. Proceedings of 22nd Annual Conference on Pest and Disease Management for Ornamentals, February 16-18, 2006, Norwalk, CA. pp. 109-111.
2006 Pearson, G., R. Starnes, T. Costamagna, R. Lane, S. Silva, A. Almedhi, A. Rumsey and M. Parrella. Status of biological and integrated pest control in CA&ES research greenhouses at UC Davis: Successes, challenges, and costs. In: C. Castañé and J.A. Sanchez, (Eds.), Proceedings of Integrated Control in Protected Crops, Mediterranean Climate, Murcia, Spain, May 14-18, 2006. IOBC wprs Bulletin 29(4):15-17.
2006 Parrella, M.P., and T. Costamagna. The addition of potassium silicate to the fertilizer mix to suppress Liriomyza leafminers attacking chrysanthemums. In: C. Castañé and J. A. Sanchez, (Eds.)., Proceedings of Integrated Control in Protected Crops, Mediterranean Climate, Murcia, Spain, May 14-18, 2006. IOBC wprs Bulletin Vol. 29(4):159-161.
2006 Sutherland, A.M., and M.P. Parrella. Quantification of powdery mildew removal by the mycophagous Beetle Psyllobora vigintimaculata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). In: C. Castañé and J. A. Sanchez, (Eds.), Proceedings of Integrated Control in Protected Crops, Mediterranean Climate, Murcia, Spain, May 14-18, 2006. IOBC wprs Bulletin Vol. 29(4):281-286.
2006 Sutherland, A. M. and M. P. Parrella. Quantification of powdery mildew consumption by a native coccinelid: implications for biological control? Pp. 188-192: In M. Hoddle and M. Johnson, (Eds) Proceedings of the Fifth California Conference on Biological Control. July 25-27, The Mission Inn, Riverside, California.
2006 Parrella, Michael P. Tospovirus and thrips management in greenhouse production. Proceedings of the VIII International Symposium on Thysanoptera & Tospoviruses, Asilomar Conference Grounds, Sept. 11-15, 2005.
