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The Ag Data Commons is migrating

The Ag Data Commons is migrating to a new institutional portal on Figshare. The current system is available for search and download only. The new platform is open for submission with assistance from Ag Data Commons curators. Please contact NAL-ADC-Curator@usda.gov, if you need to publish or update your datasets.

Data from: Mortality Dynamics of a Polyphagous Invasive Herbivore Reveal Clues in Its Agroecosystem Success

    Field-based, partial life table data for immature stages of silverleaf whitefly on 6 host plants including alfalfa, broccoli, spring and fall cantaloupe, cotton, ornamental lantana, and several species of annual weeds in Maricopa, Marana and Yuma Arizona, USA. Data provide the marginal, cause-specific mortality for eggs, and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th instar nymphs collectively and stage-specific marginal mortality for each stage over all causes.

    Bio-Control Parasite

      A model that simulates host and parasitoid population interactions, parasitism rates, and plant damage is described. BIOCONTROL-PARASITE can simulate many different species of phytophagus insects, parasitoids, and plants because specifics of the insect and plant biology are entered though menus at the beginning of a simulation.

      Divergence in host specificity and genetics among populations of Aphelinus certus

        These are data on variation in host specificity and genetics among 16 populations of an aphid parasitoid, *Aphelinus certus*, 15 from Asia and one from North America. Host range was the same for all the parasitoid populations, but levels of parasitism varied among aphid species, suggesting adaptation to locally abundant aphids. Differences in host specificity did not correlate with geographical distances among parasitoid populations, suggesting that local adaption is mosaic rather than clinal, with a spatial scale of less than 50 kilometers. Analysis of reduced representation libraries for each population showed genetic differentiation among them. Differences in host specificity correlated with genetic distances among the parasitoid populations.

        Genes of viral origin in the Microplitis demolitor genome

          *Microplitis demolitor* (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a parasitoid used as a biological control agent to control larval-stage Lepidoptera and serves as a model for studying the function and evolution of symbiotic viruses in the genus Bracovirus. Using RNA-Seq data for this species and manual annotation of genes of viral origin, we annotated a high-quality gene set including 171 virus-derived protein-coding genes.

          Data from: Retrospective Analysis of a Classical Biological Control Program

            Field-based, partial life table data for immature stages of *Bemisia tabaci* on cotton in Maricopa, Arizona, USA where data provide the marginal, stage-specific rates of mortality for eggs, and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th instar nymphs, and life table data that were used to provide parameters for population matrix models. The model can be used to estimate overall population growth rate and can also be analyzed to determine which life stages contribute the most to changes in growth rates.

            Data from: Defensive aphid symbiont Hamiltonella defensa effects on Aphelinus glycinis and Aphelinus atriplicis

              *Aphelinus glycinis* was collected in the Peoples Republic of China under a Memorandum of Understanding between their Ministry of Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). *Aphelinus atriplicis* was collected by employees of the USDA, Agricultural Research Service (ARS), in the Republic of Georgia with the permission of that government. The parasitoids were imported into the USDA, ARS, Beneficial Insect Introductions Research Unit containment facility in Newark, Delaware, under permits from the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Permit Numbers P526P-08-02142 and P526P-09-01929). No specific permissions were required to collect *Aphis craccivora* or *Acyrthosiphon pisum* because these are cosmopolitan aphids that occur in the field throughout North America. None of the species collected or studied are endangered or protected.