Van Liem Nguyen

The fall armyworm (FAW)Spodoptera frugiperdais thought to have undergone a rapid ‘west-to-east’ spread since 2016 when it was first identified in western Africa. Between 2018 and 2020, it was recorded from South Asia (SA), Southeast Asia (SEA), East Asia (EA), and Pacific/Australia (PA). Population genomic analyses enabled the understanding of pathways, population sources, and gene flow in this notorious agricultural pest species. Using neutral single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) DNA markers, we detected genome introgression that suggested most populations in this study were overwhelmingly C- and R-strain hybrids (n = 252/262). SNP and mitochondrial DNA markers identified multiple introductions that were most parsimoniously explained by anthropogenic-assisted spread, i.e., associated with international trade of live/fresh plants and plant products, and involved ‘bridgehead populations’ in countries to enable successful pest establishment in neighbouring countries. Distinct population genomic signatures between Myanmar and China do not support the ‘African origin spread’ nor the ‘Myanmar source population to China’ hypotheses. Significant genetic differentiation between populations from different Australian states supported multiple pathways involving distinct SEA populations. Our study identified Asia as a biosecurity hotspot and a FAW genetic melting pot, and demonstrated the use of genome analysis to disentangle preventable human-assisted pest introductions from unpreventable natural pest spread.

This study develops a new method for economic dispatch together with nodal price calculations which includes transient stability constraints and, at the same time, optimises the reference inputs to the flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices for enhancing system stability and reducing nodal prices. The method draws on the sensitivity analysis of time-domain transient stability simulation results to derive a set of linearised stability constraints expressed in terms of generator active-powers and FACTS devices input references. The optimal power flow (OPF) formulation based on the Newton's algorithm augmented with the set of stability inequality constraints is applied for forming economic dispatch solution and nodal prices. The solutions obtained also include the Lagrange multipliers associated with all of the constraints. Based on the Lagrange multipliers, individual components, including those associated with stability constraints, of the nodal prices are directly identified for assisting the market participants to make investment decisions. The sensitivity technique for forming the set of transient stability constraints lends itself to parallel-computing implementation. Therefore the additional computing-time requirement is minimal, given that the transient stability simulations can be performed independently of one another and outside the OPF loop. Representative studies and results are presented here.

Behavioural responses of Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae), females to fruit dipped in water and fruit dipped in 0.5% (vol/vol) aqueous emulsions of a mineral oil were determined and analysed. The mineral oil was an nC20–22 distillation fraction of the base oil used to produce an nC23 horticultural mineral oil. Females caged with oil‐treated fruit had significantly longer prelanding intervals than females caged with water‐dipped fruit. The latter was attacked immediately or shortly after being caged with flies whereas some oil‐dipped fruit was not attacked within 180 min. The percentage of landings that led to oviposition on water‐ and oil‐treated fruit were 58 and 13%, respectively, and the percentages ovipositing after probing were 74 and 25%, respectively. Likewise, average times spent probing were 7 vs. 31 s whereas average times spent ovipositing were 321 vs. 223 s. Females spent less than half as much time on oil‐treated fruit than on water‐treated fruit. Transition probabilities of rejection, when applied to the behaviour sequence indicated that oil‐treated fruits are about nine times less likely to be infested with B. tryoni.