Lorenzo Furlan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Lorenzo Furlan

Journal of Chemical Ecology, Jul 16, 2019

Agriotes ustulatus is an economically important click beetle in Europe. A female-produced pheromo... more Agriotes ustulatus is an economically important click beetle in Europe. A female-produced pheromone, (E,E)-farnesyl acetate, has been identified and is used for monitoring and detecting males. More recently, a floral lure targeting females with modest, but significant, activity has been described. Based on preliminary data, we hypothesized, that similar to the effects on the congeneric A. brevis, addition of the pheromone to the floral lure should improve female A. ustulatus catches. Also, as click beetles have been reported to respond to white light, we studied possible interactions between visual and chemical cues. In field trials, the addition of the synthetic pheromone to the floral lure resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of females trapped, whereas male catches remained unaffected and equal to those in traps baited with pheromone only. A white visual cue did not influence trap catches. Maximum catches of both sexes of A. ustulatus can be achieved using the pheromone and the floral lure inside the same trap. Furthermore, the compounds can be formulated in a single polyethylene bag dispenser, making handling of the trap easier. Due to a much larger proportion of females in the catch, this improved trap may be a promising tool for semiochemical-based, environmentally sound agricultural practice against this important pest.

Journal of Applied Entomology, Jan 12, 1996

: Adult behaviour and egg development of Agriotes ustulatus Schäller were studied under field as ... more : Adult behaviour and egg development of Agriotes ustulatus Schäller were studied under field as well as laboratory conditions in north‐eastern Italy over a 5‐year period. Adults proved to be active in daylight only, particularly in the morning. The flight of A. ustulatus could be well monitored both by sticky traps and sweep net used on Umbelliferae flowers. Light yellow and white sticky traps proved to be significantly more attractive than red and green ones, while black ones showed no effectiveness at all. Sticky trap efficiency was highest when the trap level was lowest and it was not affected by orientation. Adult swarming occurred during a period from late June to early September; most of the specimens (from 68 to 98% of the total amount) were captured in July when the capture peaks were recorded (more frequently in the second half of the month, just after mid‐month). The capture level was high only when last instar larvae populations were over 10 larvae/m2. Sex ratio was about 1:1. Oviposition started 5–7 days after adults had darkened and was completed within 2–4 days. Eggs (0.61 × 0.46 mm) were laid in clusters in the upper layers of the soil. The average number of eggs laid by single females was 78 (SD = 27.9). Embryonic development took 45 days at 15°C, 14.1 at 25°C and 12.6 at 29°C. The hatching percentage ranged between 95 and 100% of the oviposited eggs.

Crop Protection

Abstract Bird damage to maize crops is an important cause of economic loss for maize growers in I... more Abstract Bird damage to maize crops is an important cause of economic loss for maize growers in Italy. Consequently, the objectives of this study were to identify main species of birds attacking maize in north-eastern Italy and quantify the effects of agronomic characteristics, cultivation practices, landscape variables, and management practices on the incidence of bird damage to maize at establishment. A systematic survey of 5065 ha of maize cultivated land (Zea mays L.) at early plant stages was performed from 1986 to 2020, resulting in a dataset of 1619 records. Corvids (Corvus cornix) were found to be the main culprits of damage to maize fields. A multifactorial model was applied to assess the impact of potential risk factors. The presence of nearby roosting areas, such as hedgerows and woodlands with trees higher than 7 m, was associated with a five-fold increased risk of damage by birds. No-tillage soil management was associated with a higher risk of bird damage when compared with minimum tillage and conventional tillage systems. The probability of damage to a field with no risk factors was always low (

Maintenance of food security is a key EU policy driver. The future expectation of crop production... more Maintenance of food security is a key EU policy driver. The future expectation of crop production is high as domestic production of protein, vegetable oil and energy increases within EU under the confounding pressures of sustainable intensification, reduced and sustainable pesticide application (91/414/EEC; 128/2009/CE), and a changing climate. Soil borne pathogens, of which several are persistent, for example, virus-vector nematodes (Taylor et al., 1994) and sclerotial pathogens, frequently depress yield and reduce crop quality. Although motile within soil many fungal, protists and nematode pathogens are effectively sedentary and rely on external factors to move such as through adherence to crop debris and machinery (Boag, 1985) and via irrigation water or run-off after rainfall events (Baxter et al., 2013).

Journal of Chemical Ecology, 2019

Journal of Insect Behavior, 2018

Traps baited with synthetic pheromone components of Agriotes brevis [geranyl butanoate + (E,E)-fa... more Traps baited with synthetic pheromone components of Agriotes brevis [geranyl butanoate + (E,E)-farnesyl butanoate] captured significantly higher numbers of not only male, but also female beetles, compared to unbaited controls. Catches of both sexes showed a clear positive relationship with increasing doses. In electroantennogram tests, antennal responses of females and males to a number of known Agriotes pheromone components, identified from pheromone glands, showed a similar trend, with geranyl butanoate eliciting the strongest responses. This suggests that the female and male A. brevis antennae are similar with respect to the perception of pheromone compounds, and female beetles have the sensory capabilities to perceive the pheromone components which they produce. Addition of the plant-derived compounds (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, methyl benzoate, (Z)-3-hexenol and methyl salicylate (identified earlier from foliage as attractive for A. brevis) to the synthetic pheromone significantly increased catches. All the above results suggest that geranyl butanoate and (E,E)farnesyl butanoate are constituents of an aggregation pheromone of A. brevis, in contrast to the general view of click beetle pheromones being "classical" sex pheromones. These findings could be useful for more precise monitoring and forecasting of damage, based on female catches.

International Journal of Horticultural Science, 2006

In the course of research aimed at the development of non-sticky, easy-to-use alternative trap de... more In the course of research aimed at the development of non-sticky, easy-to-use alternative trap designs for the capture of selected beetle pests, a newly designed "hat" trap, codenamed CSALOMON® KLP+, was compared with conventional trap designs. In the case of the western corn rootworm (WCR) Diabrotica v. virgifera (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) the new KLP+ traps baited with pheromonal or floral baits were equally sensitive as the former PAL or PALs sticky "cloak" designs, but the KLP+ traps catch capacity and selectivity was much higher. When baited with the floral WCR bait, the KLP+ trap proved to be more sensitive in capturing female \VCR, than the former sticky PALs trap design. In capturing cabbage flea beetles (Phyllotreta spp., Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae), the new KLP+ trap design baited with allyl isothiocyanate performed better than the previously used VARL+ funnel traps in all respects studied. In conclusion, the new KLP+ trap design, baited with the respec...

Environmental science and pollution research international, Jan 9, 2017

New information on the lethal and sublethal effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on organisms i... more New information on the lethal and sublethal effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on organisms is presented in this review, complementing the previous Worldwide Integrated Assessment (WIA) in 2015. The high toxicity of these systemic insecticides to invertebrates has been confirmed and expanded to include more species and compounds. Most of the recent research has focused on bees and the sublethal and ecological impacts these insecticides have on pollinators. Toxic effects on other invertebrate taxa also covered predatory and parasitoid natural enemies and aquatic arthropods. Little new information has been gathered on soil organisms. The impact on marine and coastal ecosystems is still largely uncharted. The chronic lethality of neonicotinoids to insects and crustaceans, and the strengthened evidence that these chemicals also impair the immune system and reproduction, highlights the dangers of this particular insecticidal class (neonicotinoids and fipronil), with the potential to ...

Weed Research, 2016

SummaryTo promote integrated weed management (IWM) implementation in Europe, robust evidence on t... more SummaryTo promote integrated weed management (IWM) implementation in Europe, robust evidence on the sustainability of such tools and strategies is needed to motivate their adoption by stakeholders. This can only be achieved through assessing and validating them at real farm scale and using existing farm equipment, under diverse climatic and soil conditions representative of European agriculture. In 2013 and 2014, 12 on‐farm experiments (i.e. real field conditions on commercial farms, with natural weed flora) were conducted in four important European grain maize‐producing regions comparing the efficacy of herbicide band application integrated with inter‐row mechanical weeding as a potential IWM tool with the conventional broadcast herbicide application (CON) used by the farms. The IWM tools tested were as follows: (i) early post‐emergence herbicide band application combined with hoeing, followed by a second hoeing in southern Germany, (ii) early post‐emergence herbicide band applicat...

Advances in Animal Biosciences, 2017

The integration of conservation agriculture with the benefits of precision farming represents an ... more The integration of conservation agriculture with the benefits of precision farming represents an innovative feature aimed to achieve better economic and environmental sustainability. The synergy between these principles was assessed through a technical feasibility and energy efficiency to define the best approach depending on different agricultural systems, spatial and temporal field variability. The study compares three conservation tillage techniques supported by precision farming with conventional tillage in a specific crop rotation: wheat, rapeseed, corn and soybean. The preliminary results show a positive response of precision farming in all the conservation tillage systems, increasing yields until 22%. The energy efficiency achieves highest level in those techniques supported by precision farming, gaining peak of 9% compared to conventional tillage.

Crop Protection, 2017

A long-term field experiment was set up in April 2011 at Legnaro, Italy, within the European Proj... more A long-term field experiment was set up in April 2011 at Legnaro, Italy, within the European Project PURE, to evaluate two Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tools against conventional pest management in maize-based cropping systems (MBCS) that involved different crops every year. Three foliar insecticide treatments were applied against Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) in 2011 and 2014 when maize was present in the rotation. Lambda-cyhalothrin was applied as the conventional management (CON), while chlorantraniliprole and a biological insecticide containing Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki were tested for IPM1 and IPM2, respectively. The minute pirate bug (Orius spp.) was the most abundant among the beneficial organisms and was considered as the indicator species to evaluate the impact of the insecticide treatments tested. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference in Orius nymphs (N), adults (A) and total population (N þ A) before treatments, whereas after treatments Orius was significantly lower in the CON than in IPM in all cases. No differences in Orius population were determined between IPM1 and IPM2. The percentage reduction calculated in total Orius (N þ A) after the three insecticide treatments ranged from 91% for CON, 18% for IPM1 to 4% for IPM2. The latter had a significantly higher number of plants broken below the ear, total number of broken plants and damaged ears by O. nubilalis compared to CON and IPM1, but no significant difference was determined between treatments in percentage ear surface damaged, being below 1% in all cases. Treatment with chlorantraniliprole did not affect Orius population confirming its selectivity towards this species, conserved Orius at the same level as B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki and had similar efficacy to the CON against O. nubilalis.

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection, 2010

Wireworms, the larvae of Agriotes spp. (Coleoptera: Elateridae), cause serious damage to a number... more Wireworms, the larvae of Agriotes spp. (Coleoptera: Elateridae), cause serious damage to a number of crops. To develop an effective management strategy, a reliable method of estimating the abundance of the Agriotes species is needed. This paper describes a trapping study of Agriotes in parts of Austria. Over two years, adult click beetles were monitored using YATLOR sex pheromone traps and wireworms were monitored using bait traps. Also, the efficiency of bait traps with different numbers of perforations was compared. In a location in Upper Austria, A. lineatus was by far the most common species and in a location in lower Austria, the majority of beetles caught were A. ustulatus. A. brevis was common in Upper Austria, but nearly absent in Lower Austria. There were large discrepancies between the species compositions of the adults and larvae caught, suggesting a low efficiency of the bait traps. More larvae were caught in bait traps with greater numbers of holes, but the difference was not statistically significant. Further improvements in bait traps or another sampling method will be needed to accurately estimate the density of wireworms.

Italian Journal of Agronomy, 2015

Within the MO.NA.CO. Project the environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance Standard 3.... more Within the MO.NA.CO. Project the environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance Standard 3.1 Ploughing in good soil moisture conditions was evaluated, as well as the economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers which conform or do not conform to cross-compliance. The monitoring has been carried out at nine experimental farms with different pedoclimatic characteristics, where some indicators of soil structure degradation have been evaluated, such as bulk density, packing density and surface roughness of the seedbed, and the crop productive and qualitative parameters. In each monitoring farm two experimental plots have been set up: factual with soil tillage at proper water content (tilth), counterfactual with soil tillage at inadequate water content (no tilth). The monitoring did not exhibit univocal results for the different parameters, thus the effectiveness of the Standard 3.1 is contrasting (class of merit B), and there was an evident practical problem to till ...

Detection and monitoring of male Agriotes click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae), serious pests o... more Detection and monitoring of male Agriotes click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae), serious pests of several crop plants, with pheromone-baited traps is a commonly used and widespread control methoda. However, traps capable of capturing females could provide more reliable data on the timing of oviposition and therefore contribute to more precise pest control decisions. In a field trial in 2008 in Italy, traps containing fresh leaves of Lolium italicum A. Br. (Poaceae) caught numerous A. sordidus Illiger females. Coupled GC-EAG and GC-MS studies on headspace extracts from Lolium leaves, using the antennae of A. sordidus females, led to the identification of (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, (R,S)-2-ethyl-1-hexanol, (Z)-ocimene, 3-octanone, methyl benzoate, 4-oxoisophorone and methylisoeugenol from the extract. Antennal responses of A. sordidus females to a synthetic blend of the identified compounds showed similar levels of activity to that evoked by the crude Lolium extract. A preliminary field ...

Environmental science and pollution research international, 2015

Neonicotinoid insecticides are widely used for control of insect pests around the world and are e... more Neonicotinoid insecticides are widely used for control of insect pests around the world and are especially pervasive in agricultural pest management. There is a growing body of evidence indicating that the broad-scale and prophylactic uses of neonicotinoids pose serious risks of harm to beneficial organisms and their ecological function. This provides the impetus for exploring alternatives to neonicotinoid insecticides for controlling insect pests. We draw from examples of alternative pest control options in Italian maize production and Canadian forestry to illustrate the principles of applying alternatives to neonicotinoids under an integrated pest management (IPM) strategy. An IPM approach considers all relevant and available information to make informed management decisions, providing pest control options based on actual need. We explore the benefits and challenges of several options for management of three insect pests in maize crops and an invasive insect pest in forests, inclu...

Chemoecology, 2014

Analysis of the pheromone gland extract of females of the click beetle Agriotes sordidus (Illiger... more Analysis of the pheromone gland extract of females of the click beetle Agriotes sordidus (Illiger), revealed the presence of geranyl hexanoate (GH) and (E,E)-farnesyl hexanoate (FH) in an approximate ratio of 1:1. In the female-released volatiles collected by headspace extraction, GH was a dominant component with FH present only in trace amounts. In field trapping tests GH on its own captured high numbers of A. sordidus adults, whereas the addition of FH in various proportions had no effect on captures. A closer scrutiny of adults caught in GH-baited traps revealed that 10-40 % of them were females. Significantly higher numbers of both female and male beetles were attracted to traps baited with GH as compared to unbaited controls showing a clear dose-response relationship with higher doses catching more beetles. In electroantennogram (EAG) tests responses of female and male antennae to a number of known click beetle pheromone components showed the same trend in both sexes, giving the highest answers to GH. This suggests that female and male antennae are similar with respect to the perception of pheromone components, and that GH shows some activity as an aggregation pheromone.

Pest Management Science, 2003

Based on analysis of pheromone gland extracts, highly attractive new baits have been developed fo... more Based on analysis of pheromone gland extracts, highly attractive new baits have been developed for three click beetle pests. That for Agriotes brevis is a mixture of geranyl butanoate and (E,E)‐farnesyl butanoate, and that for A rufipalpis and A sordidus contains geranyl hexanoate alone. From known data from species populating Russia, optimized bait compositions for species in Central and Western Europe were developed as follows: geranyl octanoate + geranyl butanoate for A lineatus, geranyl isovalerate for A litigiosus, geranyl hexanoate + geranyl octanoate for A obscurus, geranyl butanoate alone for A sputator and (E,E)‐farnesyl acetate alone for A ustulatus. Although slight differences were found in gland contents with A litigiosus var laichartingi and fenotypus typicus, nevertheless there were no differences in response to the optimum bait. There were no differences in pheromone composition or response to the optimized bait between the two morphological forms (‘black’ and ‘red’) ...

Pest Management Science, 2013

BACKGROUND: Traps suitable for catching female Agriotes click beetles may provide better reconnai... more BACKGROUND: Traps suitable for catching female Agriotes click beetles may provide better reconnaissance than pheromonebaited traps which catch only males, thereby contributing to more efficient crop protection. The basis for this study came from (i) observations of female Agriotes brevis (Candeze) aggregating beneath foliage of Medicago sativa (L.) and Lolium italicum (A. Br.) placed on plastic sheets on bare soil, and (ii) field tests demonstrating attraction of females to traps baited with foliage from these plants. The aim was to identify and field test volatile compounds from M. sativa and L. italicum leaves. RESULTS: A number of electrophysiologically active chemicals were identified from headspace extracts of M. sativa and L. italicum. Three different synthetic blends of the identified compounds, comprising four, seven and nine components, were field tested. The four-and nine-component blends caught more female A. brevis than unbaited traps, with the proportion of females not differing between blends. CONCLUSION: The plant-derived blends were shown to catch female A. brevis under field conditions when applied in traps. Of these, the four-component blend, given its relatively simple composition [(Z)-3-hexenyl acetate:methyl benzoate:(Z)-3-hexen-1-ol:methyl salicylate 300:5:30:30 mg bait −1 ], may be a suitable 'standard' blend for bait optimisation.