College of Agriculture
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As the foundation of the land grant mission at Montana State University, the College of Agriculture and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station provide instruction in traditional and innovative degree programs and conduct research on old and new challenges for Montana’s agricultural community. This integration creates opportunities for students and faculty to excel through hands-on learning, to serve through campus and community engagement, to explore unique solutions to distinct and interesting questions and to connect Montanans with the global community through research discoveries and outreach.
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Item Wildflower Seed Sales as Incentive for Adopting Flower Strips for Native Bee Conservation: A Cost-Benefit Analysis(2019-07) Delphia, Casey M.; O'Neill, Kevin M.; Burkle, Laura A.Improving pollinator habitat on farmlands is needed to further wild bee conservation and to sustain crop pollination in light of relationships between global declines in pollinators and reductions in floral resources. One management strategy gaining much attention is the use of wildflower strips planted alongside crops to provide supplemental floral resources for pollinators. However, farmer adoption of pollinator-friendly strategies has been minimal, likely due to uncertainty about costs and benefits of providing non-crop flowering plants for bees. Over 3 yr, on four diversified farms in Montana, United States, we estimated the potential economic profit of harvesting and selling wildflower seeds collected from flower strips implemented for wild bee conservation, as an incentive for farmers to adopt this management practice. We compared the potential profitability of selling small retail seed packets versus bulk wholesale seed. Our economic analyses indicated that potential revenue from retail seed sales exceeded the costs associated with establishing and maintaining wildflower strips after the second growing season. A wholesale approach, in contrast, resulted in considerable net economic losses. We provide proof-of-concept that, under retail scenarios, the sale of native wildflower seeds may provide an alternative economic benefit that, to our knowledge, remains unexplored. The retail seed-sales approach could encourage greater farmer adoption of wildflower strips as a pollinator-conservation strategy in agroecosystems. The approach could also fill a need for regionally produced, native wildflower seed for habitat restoration and landscaping aimed at conserving native plants and pollinators.Item Control of downy brome (Bromus tectorum) and Japanese brome (Bromus japonicus) using glyphosate and four graminicides: effects of herbicide rate, plant size, species, and accession(2019-11) Metier, Emily P.; Lehnhoff, Erik A.; Mangold, Jane; Rinella, Matthew J.; Rew, Lisa J.Nonnative annual brome invasion is a major problem in many ecosystems throughout the semiarid Intermountain West, decreasing production and biodiversity. Herbicides are the most widely used control technique but can have negative effects on co-occurring species. Graminicides, or grass-specific herbicides, may be able to control annual bromes without harming forbs and shrubs in restoration settings, but limited studies have addressed this potential. This study focused on evaluating the efficacy of glyphosate and four graminicides to control annual bromes, specifically downy brome and Japanese brome. In a greenhouse, glyphosate and four graminicides (clethodim, sethoxydim, fluazifop-P-butyl, and quizalofop-P-ethyl) were applied at two rates to downy brome plants of different heights (Experiment 1) and to three accessions of downy brome and Japanese brome of one height (Experiment 2). All herbicides reduced downy brome biomass, with most effective control on plants of less than 11 cm and with less than 12 leaves. Overall, quizalofop-P-ethyl and fluazifop-P-butyl treatments were most effective, and glyphosate and sethoxydim treatments least effective. Accessions demonstrated variable response to herbicides: the downy brome accession from the undisturbed site was more susceptible to herbicides than downy brome from the disturbed accession and Japanese brome accessions. These results demonstrate the potential for graminicides to target these annual bromes in ecosystems where they are growing intermixed with desired forbs and shrubs.Item Revision of Acroleptus Bourgeois, 1886 and descriptions of New Acroleptina taxa (Coleoptera, Lycidae, Calopterini)(2019-12) Ferreira, Vinicius S.The Neotropical lycid genus Acroleptus Bourgeois, 1886 is revised and illustrations of diagnostic characters, geographic distribution maps and an identification key to the species are presented. Acroleptus chevrolati Bourgeois, 1886 is redescribed and a lectotype and a paralectotype are designated; two new species are described for the genus: Acroleptus alvarengai new species and Acroleptus limai new species. Two Aporrhipis Pascoe, 1887 species are described: Aporrhipis obrieni new species and Aporrhipis milleri new species and a key and geographic distribution map to the species of the genus are provided. Acroleptus costae Ferreira, 2015 is moved to the genus Paracroleptus new genus, a new genus erected to accommodate Paracroleptus costae (Ferreira, 2015) new combination.Item A revision of Lycinella Gorham, 1884 with the description of six new species (Coleoptera, Lycidae, Calopterini)(2018-01) Ferreira, Vinicius S.; Ivie, Michael A.The Neotropical genus Lycinella Gorham, 1884 is revised. Lycinellaopaca Gorham, 1884 and Lycinellaparvula Gorham, 1884 are redescribed and illustrated. Six new species are described for the genus: Lycinellaadamantis sp. n., L.hansoni sp. n., L.milleri sp. n., L.cidaoi sp. n., L.marshalli sp. n. and L.pugliesae sp. n.. Lycinellahumeralis Pic, 1933 is moved to Ceratoprionhumerale (Pic, 1933), comb. n. A key to the species of Lycinella, illustrations and a distribution map is provided.Item Redescription of Aporrhipis Pascoe, 1887 (Coleoptera: Lycidae), with a Discussion of its Tribal Placement(2018-06) Ferreira, Vinicius S.; Barclay, Maxwell V. L.; Ivie, Michael A.Aporrhipis flexilisPascoe, 1887 is the sole species of a monospecific genus of beetles from Brazil, originally described in the family Ripiphoridae. Despite the fact that this genus was moved to Lycidae, its correct tribal placement remains uncertain. In this study, A. flexilis is redescribed, its tribal placement is discussed, and it is tentatively placed within the Calopterini, Acroleptina. The problems of distinguishing the Acroleptina from the Leptolycini are highlighted by this case, and a plea is made for additional specimens to help resolve this conundrum.Item First Record of Peripatus juanensis Bouvier, 1900 (Onychophora, Peripatidae) Found in Cecropia (Rosales, Urticaceae) Fallen Trunks in Puerto Rico(2018-10) Ferreira, Vinicius S.; Spiessberger, Erich L.During a fieldwork expedition to collect beetles of the families Lycidae and Tenebrionidae at the El Verde Field Station in the El Yunque rainforest, we had a fateful encounter with two specimens of Peripatus juanensis Bouvier, 1900. Peripatus juanensis is an endemic species and the only velvet-worm (Onychophora) occurring in Puerto Rico. The species is currently classified in the family Peripatidae (Peck, 1975; Oliveira et al., 2012). Despite the fact that this is the only species of Onychophora from Puerto Rico, little is known about its biology and life cycle.Item A Review of the Nearctic Genus Lucaina Dugès, 1879 (Coleoptera: Lycidae: Lycinae: Calochromini), with Descriptions of Two New Species(2018-09) Ferreira, Vinicius S.; Ivie, Michael A.A review of Lucaina Dugès, 1879 with illustrations of diagnostic characters, distribution maps, and an identification key to the species is presented. Lucaina schini Dugès, 1879, Lucaina discoidalisHorn, 1885, and Lucaina marginataGorham, 1884 are redescribed, and their status as valid species is confirmed. Macrolygistopterus bajacalifornicus (Zaragoza, 2003) is transferred to Lucaina bajacalifornica (Zaragoza, 2003), new combination. Lucaina greeni Ferreira and Ivie, new species and Lucaina milleri Ferreira and Ivie, new species are described. Lectotypes and paralectotypes are designated for L. marginataGorham, 1884, L. schini Dugès, 1879, and L. discoidalisHorn, 1885.Item Redescription of Cephalolycus major Pic, 1926 (Coleoptera: Elateroidea: Lycidae) and a Discussion on Its Taxonomic Position(2016-09) Ferreira, Vinicius S.; Ivie, Michael A.In her revisionary work on the definition of the Calopterini, Bocákova (2003, 2005) was unable to see the type and sole known specimen of the Colombian species Cephalolycus major Pic, 1926, being forced to leave the monotypic Cephalolycus Pic, 1926 incertae sedis due to the lack of sufficient information in the original description. During the process of returning long-outstanding loans on behalf of a retired colleague as part of a donation of a large collection of cantharoids, we discovered a syntype of C. major, the type species (by monotypy) of Cephalolycus, from the Pic Collection of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris (MNHN). As we return this loaned specimen, we take this opportunity to redescribe it.Item The First Fossil Species of the Extant Genus Cessator Kazantsev (Coleoptera: Lycidae): A New Leptolycini from Dominican Amber(2017-03) Ferreira, Vinicius S.; Ivie, Michael A.Cessator brodzinskyi Ferreira and Ivie, new species, is the third lycid species known from Dominican amber. The new species is described, diagnosed, illustrated, and compared with other fossil and extant species. Leptolycus parda Zaya, 1988 is moved to Cessator parda (Zayas), new combination.Item Mapping quantitative trait loci for seed traits in Camelina sativa(2019-09-09) King, Kevin; Huang, Li; Kang, Jinling; Lu, ChaofuCamelina (Camelina sativa L. Crantz) is an oilseed crop that has great potential to provide sustainable feedstock for biofuel production and to improve dryland agriculture. A major breeding objective for camelina is to increase seed size and oil content. Understanding the genetics behind variations of seed size and associated traits such as oil content would help breeders develop varieties of increased oil yield that are more robust, easier to plant and harvest, and better for oil processing. In this study, we developed a recombinant inbred population derived from the two camelina accessions, Suneson and Pryzeth, with contrasting traits, especially seed size and oil content. Using 189 lines, a genetic map was constructed containing 2376 single nucleotide polymorphism markers spanning 2034.6 cM of 20 linkage groups with an average density of 1.5 cM per locus. Field trials were conducted for 2 years (2017 and 2018) in two environments (dryland and irrigated) in Bozeman, Montana. The results revealed important correlations of seed size with other associated traits such as oil content, pod size and seed number per pod. Significant QTLs were also discovered for these traits. The results of this study are the first step to isolate genes controlling seed development and oil accumulation and to develop advanced varieties of camelina better adapted to modern agriculture by marker-assisted breeding.