Latest news with #SallyDickinson
India.com
21-07-2025
- Science
- India.com
IND vs ENG 2025 4th Test: Shubman Gill's team aim to create history at Old Trafford, end 89 year old curse...
Fozzie and Scott Hurst of Salem, Virginia, search a park bench for evidence of the invasive spotted lanternfly – credit Clark DeHart for Virginia Tech. A real-world trial at Virginia Tech has shown that ordinary dogs and their owners can help combat a major invasive insect species from taking hold in their communities. The spotted lanternfly, native to Asia, was first detected in Pennsylvania in 2014. Since then, it's spread rapidly to 18 states, laying its eggs on trees, stone, lumber, and even cars and trailers, where it can hitch a ride to a new home. Catching the bug early is key—but finding its egg masses is no easy task. That's where your dog comes in. With a sense of smell that's tens of thousands of times more acute than a human's, dogs can be trained to sniff out spotted lanternfly egg masses without disturbing the environment. 'They often resemble mud smears or lichens and are tucked into bark crevices, cracks, or hidden undersides,' said Mizuho Nita, a plant pathologist at Virginia Tech who co-authored the results of the field study. 'Finding them is like searching for a needle in a haystack.' Previous research has shown that professional conservation detection dogs can find them quite often. But professional dogs are expensive, and there aren't nearly enough of them to cover the growing threat. That's where Sally Dickinson, the lead author on the study who recently obtained her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, thought that they might be able to enlist the help of citizen scientists. (Left) A spotted lanternfly egg mass hides in plain sight – credit, courtesy of Sally Dickinson (Right) A mature spotted lanternfly – credit, Theresa Dellinger for Virginia Tech 'With proper training, dog owners can turn their pets into powerful partners for conservation,' Dickinson said. Many dog owners participate in sporting scent games—teaching their dogs to track different scents and having sort of scavenger hunts to enrich their companions' lives. Even if the breed isn't bred specifically for following scent trails, most dogs can do it. 182 human-dog teams from across the US were selected and given devitalized, that is, non-hatching lanternfly egg masses, as training aids. Participants trained their dogs at home or in small groups, with oversight from a designated local trainer. After several months of training, the dogs were put to the test in two environments—one indoor and one outdoor. In the controlled indoor environment, dogs had to complete an odor recognition test, identifying the box with the spotted lanternfly egg mass from among multiple boxes with other items and scents. GREAT STUDIES FROM VA TECH: Plastic Waste Can Now be Turned into Soap Thanks to Eureka Moment from Virginia Tech Those that passed the odor recognition test advanced to a field test, where they had to find the scent in an outdoor environment with competing smells. The participant dogs correctly identified the egg masses 82% of the time in the controlled test and 61% in the real-world test. This was still better than rates of success for human-only searches. Of the dogs that passed both tests, 92% were successful in finding live egg masses with minimal extra training. MORE NEWS LIKE THIS: High School Student Invents an A.I. Powered Trap That Zaps Invasive Lanternflies 'These teams demonstrated that citizen scientists and their dogs can play a meaningful role in protecting agriculture and the environment from invasive species,' said Sally Dickinson, the study's lead author. In vineyards, orchard—arable acreage of all sorts—the lanternfly is devastating crops and yields. Any resistance is better than no resistance, and if that means keeping your dog alert and ready to sniff out the invader on a walk through the park or forest, it could make the difference between your local farmer making a profit or making a loss this harvest season. SHARE This Brilliant Citizen Science Initiative To Help Defend Our Farms…
Fast Company
18-07-2025
- Science
- Fast Company
Your dog could save us from America's most annoying invasive species
Spotted lanternflies have been making headlines since they were first sighted in the U.S. over a decade ago. The colorful, invasive bugs are a double whammy for fruit trees and other key crops, feeding on sap and leaving sugary excrement that attracts dangerous pathogens and fungi. But the costly insects may have met their match with an unlikely rival: your dog. Dogs have long been professionally trained to help detect invasive species for conservation efforts. What sets a new study, published July 16 in the journal PeerJ Life & Environment, apart is that these are not professionally trained dogs. They are the canine equivalent of citizen scientists, and they were still able to effectively find spotted lanternfly eggs. 'It was a proof-of-concept study to ask the question: Can we have citizen scientists and their very cool, everyday companion doggos go out and support the effort of conservation work in their home areas?' says lead study author Sally Dickinson, an applied animal behaviorist and search-and-rescue dog handler. 'It's enrichment for their dogs and enrichment for the people as well.' Few dogs are trained professionally for conservation efforts, so having everyday companion animals help out makes it a more scalable solution for managing invasive species—and many owners were excited to take part. A post about the study on social media was shared about a million times, Dickinson says, and researchers were able to create 182 dog-and-handler teams across the country. Some of them were retired working dogs, but many were everyday canines that like to sniff things out for fun. 'Anytime you can stimulate your dog, it's good for them,' Bill Wellborn, one of the study participants, said in a statement. 'Pepe [his Tibetan terrier] obviously enjoys it. And it's a way we can take dog skills and training to help our community.' The research team gave handlers a sample of spotted lanternflies' odor so that they could train their dogs to recognize it. Then, when the teams were ready, they put their odor recognition skills to the test in two evaluations. Indoors, the dogs were able to find the spotted lanternflies' eggs 82% of the time, and in the field, 58% of the time. Since the insects lay their eggs in easily overlooked locations—the undersides of lumber and tree bark crevices, for example—dogs make much more efficient searchers than humans. The canines' strong performance was not contingent on breed, Dickinson says. Dogs and handlers that have a great relationship, and are able to work as a team, were the ones that did very well in evaluations. Beyond protecting local plants and agricultural crops, the activity can be rewarding and fun for both dogs and humans as they get outside and get to work. 'There are obviously hundreds of other ways that you could volunteer to protect your local environment, but this is one way that you could do it with your dog,' Dickinson says. 'How cool is that? Go to a winery, work your dog, and have a great day. I mean, it sounds like the perfect life to me.'
