Joe Funderburk Named UF/IFAS International Fellow for 2008

Dr. Joseph Funderburk, an entomologist located at the North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy, Florida, has been honored by the University of Florida as the UF/IFAS International Fellow for 2008. 

Funderburk is a world expert on thrips, an insect with 5,000 species worldwide, 87 of which are agricultural pests.  Funderburk’s programs in the management and identification of thrips species, which threaten U.S. crops when they enter the nation through Florida, are of great domestic and international significance.  Since significant quantities of agricultural imports into the U.S. arrive through the Port of Miami, it is critical to identify thrips in agricultural imports and to control them in other parts of the world, reducing the likelihood of importing them into Florida or elsewhere in the U.S.

Funderburk’s work, carried out in many countries on a wide variety of crops, has benefitted the citizens of Florida, the U.S., and the world.  His research, extension, and teaching programs are focused on the ecology, management, and taxonomy of thrips.

His ability to turn taxonomy research into new agricultural inspection procedures in the U.S. and abroad helps protect crops and many national economies from the invasion of new thrips species and the viruses they carry.  For example, the European Union and the U.S, have zero tolerance for import of certain types of thrips from Latin America, which makes identification of these insects critical, both to Latin American exporters and to the U.S. and European countries seeking to protect their own crops while importing needed produce.

Funderburk also developed integrated pest management programs that are effective, economical, environmentally friendly, and sustainable.  It was once thought that biological control of thrips with natural enemies would be ineffective due to thrips’ short generation time, a broad host range, and an ability to reproduce without mating.

However, Funderburk demonstrated that biological control could be effective, using minute “pirate” bugs, Orius insidiosus, that occur from Canada to Patagonia including the Caribbean, as well as using parasitic nematodes specific to thrips and parasitic wasps.  Funderburk also developed natural insecticides and reduced-risk insecticides that conserve the populations of minute pirate bugs and other natural
enemy species, which is an effective integrated strategy that is widely used now throughout the world.

One reason these insecticides are so critical is the host interaction between thrips and the tospoviruses they carry, such as tomato spotted wilt virus.  The interaction makes the applica-
tion of broad-spectrum, toxic pesticides ineffective at stopping the spread of the viruses, partly because the thrips, themselves, are resistant to these pesticides.  Another reason is that spraying these broad-spectrum insecticides allows population explosions of thrips, because natural enemies and other competing non-pest species are eliminated, allowing thrips pest populations to expand explosively.

When these two reasons are combined, the result can be catastrophic, such as last year’s total loss of Ecuador’s onion and asparagus crops or the 1996 loss of $600 million in table grapes in Chile due to damage by the western flower thrips.  That one species has spread from the western U.S. to become a worldwide pest species, damaging crops in multiple countries. 

Because the western flower thrips has developed resistance to spinosyn insecticides, more than $100 million dollars’ worth of vegetable crops in just two Florida counties are now at risk.  Funderburk has responded with education and management plans tailored both to Florida and to other areas of the world, combating these pests and the viruses they carry.

Funderburk presents his research results in extension publications and websites to provide a continuous connection to end-users.  He also presents workshops in Florida, the USA, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, teaching the principles and practices of integrated pest management from his research.

The success of Joe Funderburk’s research and extension
program is reflected in his 2004 USDA Honor Award for
Excellence, USDA’s highest recognition for service to agriculture and the public.

Contact: Joe Funderburk, jef@ufl.edu

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