Don Weber
I have recently joined ARS, to focus on major beetle pests, including
corn rootworms (adult, top right) and Colorado potato beetle (on three
different hosts, bottom three right). Both are in
the large family Chrysomelidae (leaf beetles). Colorado potato beetle is a
serious pest of potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant over most of North America
and Europe. The three species of corn rootworms, in the genus Diabrotica,
feed as larvae on the roots of corn and other plants, and cause an estimated
$1 billion damage in the USA alone.
Beetles are extremely diverse, and as agricultural pests often the most
troublesome species. Chemical control of key beetle pests can cause problems
such as disruption of the beetles' or other pests' natural enemies, or
evolution of pesticide resistance. Management for beetle pests is the last
hurdle to bio-intensive IPM (integrated pest management) in many crops.
Working with ARS and other researchers, we aim to develop non-chemical
tactics which will outsmart these pests. These include augmentation and
conservation of predators and parasites which attack the target pests, and
use of attractants and baits to render biological and chemical control more
selective.
Recent Publications:
- Weber, Donald C., and David N. Ferro. 1996. Flight and fecundity of Colorado potato beetles fed on different diets. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 89:297-306.
- Weber, Donald C., Francis A. Drummond, and David N. Ferro. 1995. Recruitment of Colorado potato beetle to eight plant hosts in the field. Environmental Entomology 24:608-622.
- Weber, Donald C., and David N. Ferro. 1994. Colorado potato beetle: diverse life history poses challenge to management, pp. 54-70 in Advances in Potato Pest Biology and Management, ed. by G.W. Zehnder, R.K. Jansson, M.L. Powelson and K.V. Raman. St. Paul: American Phytopathological Society Press.
- Weber, Donald C., and David N. Ferro. 1994. Movement of overwintered Colorado potato beetles in the field. Journal of Agricultural Entomology 11:17-27.
- Weber, Donald C., D.N. Ferro, J. Buonaccorsi, and R.V. Hazzard. 1994. Disrupting spring colonization of Colorado potato beetle adults to non-rotated potato fields. Entomologia experimentalis et applicata 73:39-50.
- Weber, Donald C., and David N. Ferro. 1993. Distribution of overwintering Colorado potato beetle in and near Massachusetts potato fields. Entomologia experimentalis et applicata 66:191-196.
- Weber, Donald C., David N. Ferro, and John G. Stoffolano, Jr. 1993. Quantifying flight of Colorado potato beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) with a microcomputer-based flight mill system. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 86:366-371.
- Weber, Donald C., and David N. Ferro. 1991. Nontarget noctuids complicate sweet corn IPM monitoring with pheromone traps in Massachusetts. Journal of Economic Entomology 84:1364-1369.
- Weber, Donald C., Michael Baefsky, and John C. Herr. 1991. Aphids in California winter cauliflower: impact and sampling. Southwestern Entomologist 16:251-260.
- Weber, Donald C., Francis X. Mangan, David N. Ferro, and Herbert V. Marsh, Jr. 1990. Effect of weed abundance on European corn borer (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) infestation of sweet corn. Environmental Entomology 19:1858-1865.
- Weber, Donald C., and Mark W. Brown. 1988. Impact of woolly apple aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) on potted apple plants. Journal of Economic Entomology 81:1170-1177.
- Duan, Jian Jun, Donald C. Weber, and Silvia Dorn. 1998. Flight behavior of pre- and postdiapause apple blossom weevils in relation to ambient temperature. Entomologia experimentalis et applicata 88:97-99.
- Schumacher, Peter, Albert Weyeneth, Donald C. Weber, and Silvia Dorn. 1997. Long flights in Cydia pomonella L. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) measured by a flight mill: Influence of sex, mated status and age. Physiological Entomology 22:149-160.
- Schumacher, Peter, Donald C. Weber, Christian Hagger, and Silvia Dorn. 1997. Heritability of flight distance in Cydia pomonella. Entomologia experimentalis et applicata 85:169-175.
- Duan, Jian Jun, Donald C. Weber, Beat Hirs, and Silvia Dorn. 1996. Spring behavioral patterns of the apple blossom weevil. Entomologia experimentalis et applicata 79:9-17.
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