pathogen

Cornell Researchers have partnered with Norwegian company SAGA Robotics to develop autonomous robots that can roam vineyards at night armed with ultraviolet lamps that can kill powdery mildew, which is a pathogen that devastates many crops, including grapes.

The robots are being field tested on Chardonnay grapes at two sites: Cornell AgriTech’s research vineyards in Geneva, New York, and at Anthony Road Wine Co. in Penn Yan, New York.

Cornell has been researching the use of UV light to kill grapevine powdery mildew for nearly 30 years. They have also worked with the University of Florida on using it to control powdery mildew in strawberries.

The UV treatment has been shown to suppress powdery mildew over a period of two years with the application of treatments once a week. The technique represents a breakthrough because the mildew can adapt to chemical anti-fungal sprays in a single season, making them ineffective. UV light damages DNA, but mildews have natural biochemical defenses that are triggered by the blue light present in sunlight. By applying the UV at night, when there is no blue light from the sun, the defenses of the mildew are defeated.

In earlier trials, the researchers used UV lamps mounted on a tractor wagon, but this required all-night labor to treat an entire vineyard. That has now been replaced with autonomous vehicles that can work seven nights a week, all night long.

The next development will be imaging technology that will detect and quantify mildew on grape leaves. With this, the dose of UV light applied to a particular vine will depend on whether it is sick or healthy.

A high-tech solution to a problem that plagues vineyards.

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Robots armed with UV light fight grape mildew

Photo courtesy of Rodrigo Onofre/Twitter.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Scientists first noticed in the 1970s that some frog populations were declining rapidly. By the 1980s, some species appeared to be extinct. The loss of frog species was mysterious because many were actually living in pristine habitats that did not face pollution or deforestation.

By the late 1990s, researchers had identified that frogs in widely different places around the world were infected with a deadly fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis – or Bd for short. The fungus originated on the Korean peninsula, but the pathogen spread throughout the world, probably via the international trade in pet amphibians. By 2007, researchers speculated that Bd might be responsible for all known declines of frogs that had no other apparent cause – about 200 species.

Recently, a group of 41 scientists published the first worldwide analysis of the fungal outbreak and the devastation turns out to be far worse than anyone had previously realized. Populations of more than 500 species of amphibians have declined significantly because of the outbreak, including at least 90 species presumed to have gone extinct. These figures are more than twice as large as earlier estimates.

According to biologists, Bd is now considered to be the deadliest pathogen known to science. But the decimation of frogs peaked in the 1980s. Today, although 39% of the species that suffered population declines in the past are still declining, 12% are showing signs of recovery, possibly because natural selection is favoring resistant animals.

There is cautious optimism for the surviving amphibian species, but scientists worry that another strain of Bd or some different species of fungus altogether may prove even deadlier. The best we can do is not participate in moving pathogens around the world.

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The Plague Killing Frogs Everywhere Is Far Worse Than Scientists Thought

Photo, posted June 19, 2010, courtesy of Chris Luczkow via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Fighting Mildew With Robots | Earth Wise

Cornell Researchers have partnered with Norwegian company SAGA Robotics to develop autonomous robots that can roam vineyards at night armed with ultraviolet lamps that can kill powdery mildew, which is a pathogen that devastates many crops, including grapes.

Web Links

Frogs Are In Big Trouble

Scientists first noticed in the 1970s that some frog populations were declining rapidly. By the 1980s, some species appeared to be extinct. The loss of frog species was mysterious because many were actually living in pristine habitats that did not face pollution or deforestation.

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