Ambro Repel: A semiochemical repellent for invasive ambrosia beetles.

This Phase I project seeks to develop Ambro Repel, an effective semiochemical tool that will allow users, such as foresters, landscapers and farmers, to protect susceptible trees from three invasive ambrosia beetle pests, redbay ambrosia beetle (RAB), Xyleborus glabratus, black stem borer (Xylosandrus germanus), and an unidentified species, polyphagous shothole borer, previously misidentified as the tea shothole borer (Euwallacea fornicatus), but recently revealed as a new species in the Euwallacea genus. Our preliminary work toward the development of Ambro Repel indicates that adult RAB and BSB are strongly repelled by a number of non-host plant volatiles and an anti-aggregation pheromone produced by other Scolytinae beetles. This repellent blend will form the basis of the Ambro Repel formulation, a product that will allow users to repel adult beetles from areas that need protection, including high (economic or ecological) value individual trees, or stands. The area-wide use of this novel technology to manage invasive ambrosia beetle populations with Ambro Repel will allow users to control established populations, and to slow the spread of new populations, as well as the fungal pathogens they transmit, to unaffected areas in the U.S.