Marielle de Moraes Berto is a fourth year PhD candidate in Dr. Daniel Carrillo’s tropical fruit entomology lab at the UF/IFAS Tropical Research & Education Center (TREC). Marielle is a native of Piracicaba, Brazil where she studied Biological Sciences at the University of Sao Paulo. Originally, she came to TREC in 2017 to study Brevipalpus mites that attack citrus. Since then, her interests have expanded to phoretic mites and ambrosia beetles. Marielle has worked with colleagues from around the world to find biological control solutions for laurel wilt’s impact on Florida’s avocado industry. 

In this video, Marielle explains how the ambrosia beetle establishes colonies inside the trunk of an avocado tree. The beetles cultivate a symbiotic fungi in their galleries which is used to feed their young. Also in these galleries, researchers have identified several species of mites. Of particular interest is the Histiogaster arborsignis due to its feeding on the symbiotic fungi of the Ambrosia beetles. Because of its high reproductive rates, researchers believe the H. arborsignis may be useful in future biological control programs against ambrosia beetles and other wood-boring insects.

For more details on this research, we encourage you to access Beyond phoresy: Interactions between Histiogaster arborsignis (Acari: Acaridae), ambrosia beetles and their fungal symbionts in Florida avocados. 

You can access additional Student Spotlight videos, here. Click here to read about Sisi Chen (pictured in the banner) and tropical hibiscus genetics and breeding.

Featured image by Brent Hofacker – stock.adobe.com

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