CABI & BBCA Facilities Tour
Our research and work at Teton County Weed and Pest is fostering international connections!
Following a recent NAISMA Conference, Entomologist, Mikenna Smith, was invited to expand our relationships with international scientists and tour research facilities at CABI Switzerland & BBCA (Biotechnology and Biological Control Agency) in Italy. Both CABI and BBCA are recognized leaders in invasive species management, respectively, with extensive credentials in biological control research and implementation. This trip, funded by the WWPC Bio Control Steering Committee & Teton County Weed & Pest District enabled our team to expand and foster meaningful relationships that benefit our work. The goals of the trip included observing how our funds are used, seeing research projects, bio agents and research facilities firsthand, better understand the research process and how the experiments are executed, get to know the behind the scenes scientists better. Read her firsthand account of her trip and facility tours below.
TCWP CABI Switzerland and BBCA Italy Visit
Scientists at CABI
There were also numerous students doing their bachelor or graduate research on biological control agents at CABI that I got to meet. The students showed me their experiments, how they mange both insects and the plants to keep the experiments going, and shared their research challenges with me. (For example, in the Parrot Feather experiments, it was rather challenging to keep enough of the plant alive to keep the experiment running - the weevils were so hungry!)
The Tour
I spent three days with CABI and they showed me all around their campus, their labs, the greenhouses, and their open field test plots. Here are some of the things I saw:
The CABI Containment Lab
Some of the bio control experimental species were exotic to Switzerland, so research had to be conducted in a Quarantine Level 3 containment lab. To prevent escapes from the containment lab into the environment, multiple safety measures were put in place such as full body lab suits worn during work inside the lab. After work was done, these suits were stores at -80 C (-112 F) before the next use to prevent any living thing from leaving the lab.
Inside the Containment Lab:
Learning about some of the experiments being worked on by the containment lab by two graduate students (E.g. Parrots Feather & Russian Knapweed) They couldn’t grow Parrots Feather fast enough to keep up with the hungry weevils. I couldn’t believe how destructive some of these agents were in laboratory settings!
Phil showed me his experiments with Russian Knapweed. You can see the weevil pupating in the leaves where the dark spots are, and the feeding damage by the adults. The Russian knapweed plants with weevils on them were in pretty bad shape, aka they looked great!
A peak inside one of the pupal chambers on the Russian knapweed leaves under the microscope.
Outdoor test plots at CABI
The Flowering rush project in the outdoor pond was very cool!
Greenhouse Experiments:
Inside the Greenhouses:
Russian Knwapweed
Look at the labels! There were strains of Russian knapweed being grown from both Wyoming and Montana! The seeds for the Wyoming Russian knapweed were collected by Tim Collier some time ago and sent to CABI.
Artichoke & Russian knapweed being grown in the greenhouse to restart host-specificity tests after the previous trials failed due to permethrin-impregnated experimental tents.
Oxeye daisy & Dichrorampha aeratana, the next runner up for release
Rearing root-mining tortricid moth Dichrorampha aeratana on oxeye daisy
Root galls on oxeye daisy caused by root-galling tephritid fly Oxyna nebulosa
Oxeye Daisy rosettes with & without Oxyna nebulosa galls
Overwintering Insects
Some of the experimental insects need to go through an overwintering period to complete their life cycle.
Many insects overwintered inside this outdoor wooden shed.
Open-Field Tests
One aspect of setting up open-field tests was to pick out the experimental plants according to size and fitness, as well as non-target species that needed to be tested.
Pots were buried in the ground with the experimental plant to investigate if bio agents would attack non-target plants in non-restricted, open field conditions.
No-Choice Tests
Common Tansy - While not a project we are funding, it is the project they had in the lab at that time for which they were conducting no-choice tests.
Chrysolina eurina beetle larvae were placed in petri dishes with leaves of the target plant (common tansy), as well as other Tanacetum experimental plants. Development of the larvae was monitored to see if they could develop through their entire life cycle on target or experimental plants.
Inspecting each petri dish under the microscope to check if larvae were alive or dead. If alive, the size of the heads were measured to determine which stage of development they were in. The goal of the no choice tests were to determine if the agents could develop through the larval stages on non-target plants.
There were two dead larval in a petri dish containing a non-target experimental plant. So, in this sample, the experimental plant did not support larval development.
I got to work measuring the larval head capsule sizes, recording data, and refilling the petri dishes with fresh food.
BBCA Tour & Research Projects
Yellow starthistle, Perennial pepperweed, Medusahead, Russian thistle, Common ragweed, Tree of heaven, Phragmites, Rush skeletonweed, Dyer’s woad, Cheatgrass, Scotch thistle, and Sahara mustard.
Some of the scientists I got to meet & projects I got to learn more about at BBCA.
BBCA: Cheatgrass
Inoculating cheatgrass plants with an Eriophyid mite. The tiny blue strings were holding together a little package of mites. They tied the package of mites to the grasses.
Cheatgrass & wheat open-field tests: both cheatgrass and wheat plants were inoculated in an open test. Determining if the Eriophyid mites stay on the wheat or move to cheatgrass (by the wind)
Francesca showing me a section of the greenhouse where they grow experimental plants including cheatgrass and Tree of Heaven.
BBCA : Tree of Heaven
There were many ongoing projects at both BBCA & CABI for species that are not in WY, but I got to see the experiments which was very helpful in learning more about the science. Tree-of-heaven is one example.
An Eriophyid mite is also being researched as a potential biocontrol for Tree-of-heaven. This is a group of Tree-of-heaven plants without mites on them. They are caged to prevent contamination of Eriophyid mites - which use the wind to travel.
This is a group of tree-of-heaven plants WITH Eriophyid mites on them. They were completely desiccated and withered. It was very cool to see how destructive these bio control agents can be!
BBCA: Eriophyid Mites
I got to see the kind of Eriophyid mites they are using on cheatgrass, medusahead and tree-of-heaven under the microscope (the little pale-yellow dots). They are really quite cute up close!
The insectary facility at BBCA has temperature, light and humidity controlled experimental chambers.
Multiple choice host tests for tree-of-heaven were taking place in the insectary chambers.
Other Projects at BBCA: Phragmites
Other Projects at BBCA: Duckweed
Takeaways I wasn’t expecting:
High levels of damage
I’ve only ever seen biologicaly control systems that were generally in equilibrium in Teton County. It was very cool to see how incredibly destructive these bio agents could be in laboratory settings. This certainly gave me a reinvigorated hope for biocontrol in the state of Wyoming.
Learning about all the projects
I was expecting to see the projects that Wyoming funds of course, but didn’t think about the numerous other projects CABI & BBCA are working on that we are not involved in. There is a large diversity of work ongoing at each research center. Each project is so fascinating and some of which, may impact Wyoming someday.
Research laws in Switzerland
I was very surprised by some of the laws regarding research in Switzerland that allows CABI to do what they do. One such law was that if something was native anywhere in the EU, it could be brought into Switzerland for research even though it has never been recorded in Switzerland. Overall, I’m very appreciative of the laws being the way they are so they can conduct their research.
Thank you to CABI & BBCA!
Of course, a big thank you to Phil, Francesca, and everyone else I got to meet at CABI & BBCA for taking the time out of their busy schedules to spend so much time with me! Thank you for the support!