Channel: Deep Look

Category: Science & Technology

Tags: pbsglassy-winged sharpshootereducationpestsgardeningabdomensoundxylella fastidiosacropsvibrationmatingmating callagriculturebugshomalodisca vitripennislaserinsectsharpshootercaliforniapierce's diseasefemaledocumentarymacropestdiseaseproboscisglassy winged sharpshooternaturedeep lookinsectsusdacallcourtshipbugblue green sharpshooterentomologyscience4kvinesviticulturegraphocephala atropunctatagardenwildwinegrapes

Description: Sharpshooter insects are beautiful, but they transmit a devastating disease that kills grapevines. When it's time to mate, they shake their abdomens to make strange calls that – when amplified in a lab – sound like a clucking chicken, a howling monkey or a motorcycle revving up. Now scientists have found a way to use their songs against them. Please support us on Patreon! patreon.com/deeplook DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. --- Entomologist Rodrigo Krugner has spent days on end listening to insects’ intimate conversations. This esoteric and painstaking bit of spy work is for a good cause: protecting your glass of California wine and bunch of table grapes. Krugner studies the mating calls of sap-sucking insects called sharpshooters at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s research facility in Parlier, in the California Central Valley. As it turns out, the insects’ pillow talk is pretty entertaining. “They have harmonics and some are beautiful,” Krugner said. “Some sound like a baby crying, some sound like a motorcycle.” --- Why are sharpshooters a problem for grape growers? Sharpshooters make a living hopping around plants like grapevines and feeding on their sap. They dig their mouthpart into a grapevine’s xylem, the tissue that carries up water and small amounts of sugars and minerals from the roots and distributes this sap throughout the plant. While sharpshooters stuff themselves, they inject a bacterium called Xylella fastidiosa into grapevines. The bacteria cause Pierce’s disease, which kills grapevines by dehydration. Blue-green sharpshooters are the main transmitters of Pierce’s disease in California’s world-renowned wine regions of Napa and Sonoma and along the state’s coast. The invasive glassy-winged sharpshooter – a larger red and brown insect – spreads the disease in Southern California and the California Central Valley. --- How do sharpshooter insects make their mating calls? Sharpshooters vibrate their abdominal muscles to call out to potential mates on grapevines. While other insects, such as cicadas, have air sacs that help them communicate, sharpshooters use their entire bodies as noisemakers. “Insects aren’t one solid piece,” Krugner said. “The source of the signal is the muscles. Once they vibrate the muscles, the exoskeleton moves. Every tiny bit moves.” The sharpshooters’ vibrations travel down to the roots and from one vine to another. ---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science: kqed.org/science/1964051/sharpshooter-insects-sexy-vibrations-spell-trouble-in-the-vineyard ---+ More great Deep Look episodes: Jerusalem Crickets Only Date Drummers youtube.com/watch?v=mHbwC-AIyTE For These Tiny Spiders, It's Sing or Get Served: youtube.com/watch?v=y7qMqAgCqME ---+ Shoutout! 🏆Congratulations🏆 to the fan on our Deep Look Community Tab for correctly identifying the sharpshooter's special feeding mouthpart - the stylet, and the pathogen they inject - Xyllela fastidiosa: Daksh Kumar Sharma ---+ Thank you to our Top Patreon Supporters ($10+ per month)! Alex Alexandre Valdetaro Aurora Aurora Mitchell Bethany Bill Cass Blanca Vides Burt Humburg Caitlin McDonough Carlos Carrasco Chris B Emrick Chris Murphy Cindy McGill Companion Cube Daisuke Goto dane rosseter Daniel Weinstein David Deshpande Dean Skoglund Egg-Roll Elizabeth Ann Ditz Geidi Rodriguez Gerardo Alfaro Guillaume Morin Joao Ascensao Josh Kuroda Joshua Murallon Robertson Justin Bull Kallie Moore Karen Reynolds Kristy Freeman KW Laura Sanborn Laurel Przybylski Leonhardt Wille Levi Cai Louis O'Neill luna Mary Truland monoirre Nathan Wright Nicolette Ray Noreen Herrington Pamela Parker Richard Shalumov Rick Wong Robert Amling Robert Warner Roberta K Wright Sarah Khalida Mohamad Sayantan Dasgupta Sharon Merritt Shebastian Reyes Shelley Pearson Cranshaw Silvan Wendland Sonia Tanlimco Steven SueEllen McCann Supernovabetty Syniurge Tea Torvinen TierZoo Titania Juang WhatzGames ---+ Follow KQED Science and Deep Look: Patreon: patreon.com/deeplook Instagram: instagram.com/kqedscience Twitter: twitter.com/kqedscience ---+ About KQED KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, radio and web media. Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by The National Science Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED. #sharpshooter #insect #wine