Brazilian peppertree (Schinus terebinthifolia) is an aggressive shrub that infests over 280,000 ha in Florida. Individual plant treatments (IPT) including basal bark and cut stump application with triclopyr butoxyethylester and triethylamine formulations, respectively, have been used for decades. While they are both effective, resprouting can occur, which requires retreatment for control. Recent research on other woody invasive plants has indicated additional non-crop herbicides used in natural areas can be effective with these IPT techniques and therefore, warrant testing on Brazilian peppertree. In 2018 and 2019, basal bark and cut stump studies were conducted at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in natural areas infested with Brazilian peppertree. In the basal bark application studies, we found aminocyclopyrachlor applied at 12 and 24 g L-1 and triclopyr acid applied at 34 and 69 g L-1 each provided 100% defoliation of multi-stemmed Brazilian peppertree individuals with a mean root collar diameter up to 20.2 cm at 360 days after treatment. These were not different from triclopyr ester applied at 96 g L-1. Imazamox applied at 30 g L-1 resulted in 86% defoliation 360 DAT. However, we observed formulation incompatibility when it was mixed with basal bark oil, which may limit its utility. In cut stump studies, we found aminocyclopyrachlor and aminopyralid each individually applied at 6, 12, and 24 g L-1, resulted in stump mortality that was not different from the commercial standard triclopyr amine applied at 180 g L-1. Similar results were found for a triclopyr acid formulation applied at 86 and 172 g L-1 and imazamox applied at 60 g L-1. For both treatment techniques, we found that alternative treatments provided control at lower herbicide concentrations than triclopyr ester and amine commercial standards. These results advance our understanding of IPT and expand access to additional effective herbicide options for Brazilian peppertree management.

Brazilian peppertree (Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi) is a multistemmed shrub or small tree from South America that is invasive in Florida, Texas, Hawaii, and Australia. It forms multistemmed trunks with spreading branches that create dense thickets. State agencies in Florida manage it at annual costs of over $3 million, and individual plant treatment (IPT) techniques are widely used for control. Recent research testing novel hack and squirt approaches with aminopyralid and aminocyclopyrachlor and basal bark treatment with a new triclopyr formulation has shown these treatments are highly effective. However, they have not been evaluated at larger scales, which would be useful to land managers. Therefore, our objective was to compare the reduced hack and squirt technique using aminopyralid and aminocyclopyrachlor herbicides to basal bark treatment with triclopyr on a field scale. We used two contractor crews to apply treatments to twenty-four 0.2-ha plots. Treatments included aminocyclopyrachlor (120 g L−1) or aminopyralid (120 g L−1) applied with the reduced hack and squirt technique and triclopyr ester (108 g L−1) and triclopyr acid (34 g L−1) formulations applied with two basal bark treatment techniques. We confirmed that reduced hack and squirt significantly reduced the amount of herbicide and carrier applied compared with the basal bark treatments. By 540 d after treatment, aminocyclopyrachlor more effectively controlled S. terebinthifolia than aminopyralid with reduced hack and squirt and resulted in control comparable to that seen with either triclopyr basal bark treatment. These results verify reduced hack and squirt treatment with aminocyclopyrachlor and basal bark treatment with triclopyr acid as alternatives to basal bark treatment with triclopyr ester. Both resulted in significantly less herbicide use with comparable efficacy. This operational research approach has accelerated our understanding of novel IPT strategies and their implementation in the field.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) has been a leader in weed science research covering topics ranging from the development and use of integrated weed management (IWM) tactics to basic mechanistic studies, including biotic resistance of desirable plant communities and herbicide resistance. ARS weed scientists have worked in agricultural and natural ecosystems, including agronomic and horticultural crops, pastures, forests, wild lands, aquatic habitats, wetlands, and riparian areas. Through strong partnerships with academia, state agencies, private industry, and numerous federal programs, ARS weed scientists have made contributions to discoveries in the newest fields of robotics and genetics, as well as the traditional and fundamental subjects of weed–crop competition and physiology and integration of weed control tactics and practices. Weed science at ARS is often overshadowed by other research topics; thus, few are aware of the long history of ARS weed science and its important contributions. This review is the result of a symposium held at the Weed Science Society of America’s 62nd Annual Meeting in 2022 that included 10 separate presentations in a virtual Weed Science Webinar Series. The overarching themes of management tactics (IWM, biological control, and automation), basic mechanisms (competition, invasive plant genetics, and herbicide resistance), and ecosystem impacts (invasive plant spread, climate change, conservation, and restoration) represent core ARS weed science research that is dynamic and efficacious and has been a significant component of the agency’s national and international efforts. This review highlights current studies and future directions that exemplify the science and collaborative relationships both within and outside ARS. Given the constraints of weeds and invasive plants on all aspects of food, feed, and fiber systems, there is an acknowledged need to face new challenges, including agriculture and natural resources sustainability, economic resilience and reliability, and societal health and well-being.

Weeds and invasive plants know no borders and have collectively impacted many ecosystems worldwide, including croplands, forests, grasslands, rangelands, wetlands, and riparian areas. Losses continue to mount, affecting yield and productivity, species diversity, and ecosystem services, with both short- and long-term repercussions on the sustainability of plant and animal communities and the livelihoods of many. New and emerging invasive plants, along with many of the most intractable weeds, have undermined even the best control efforts, serving as a reminder of the constant need for improvements in science, application, and technology. One of the main reasons for the success of weeds and invasive plants is their ability to adapt to abiotic and biotic conditions, and research suggests that this will continue with minimal change.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Supported by the State of Alabama, the Alabama Genomic Health Initiative (AGHI) is aimed at preventing and treating common conditions with a genetic basis. This joint UAB Medicine-HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology effort provides genomic testing, interpretation, and counseling free of charge to residents in each of Alabama’s 67 counties. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Launched in 2017, as a state-wide population cohort, AGHI (1.0) enrolled 6,331 Alabamians and returned individual risk of disease(s) related to the ACMG SF v2.0 medically actionable genes. In 2021, the cohort was expanded to include a primary care cohort. AGHI (2.0) has enrolled 750 primary care patients, returning individual risk of disease(s) related to the ACMG SF v3.1 gene list and pre-emptive pharmacogenetics (PGx) to guide medication therapy. Genotyping is done on the Illumina Global Diversity Array with Sanger sequencing to confirm likely pathogenic / pathogenic variants in medically actionable genes and CYP2D6 copy number variants using Taqman assays, resulting in a CLIA-grade report. Disease risk results are returned by genetic counselors and Pharmacogenetics results are returned by Pharmacists. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We have engaged a statewide community (>7000 participants), returning 94 disease risk genetic reports and 500 PGx reports. Disease risk reports include increased predisposition to cancers (n=38), cardiac diseases (n=33), metabolic (n=12), other (n=11). 100% of participants harbor an actionable PGx variant, 70% are on medication with PGx guidance, 48% harbor PGx variants and are taking medications affected. In 10% of participants, pharmacists sent an active alert to the provider to consider/ recommend alternative medication. Most commonly impacted medications included antidepressants, NSAIDS, proton-pump inhibitors and tramadol. To enable the EMR integration of genomic information, we have developed an automated transfer of reports into the EMR with Genetics Reports and PGx reports viewable in Cerner. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: We share our experience on pre-emptive implementation of genetic risk and pharmacogenetic actionability at a population and clinic level. Both patients and providers are actively engaged, providing feedback to refine the return of results. Real time alerts with guidance at the time of prescription are needed to ensure future actionability and value.

Invasive shrubs often present extremely difficult challenges for individual plant treatment approaches due to multiple basal stems with complex branching patterns. Basal bark and cut stump individual plant treatments have been the standard methods for managing large-statured shrubs, while hack and squirt has been disregarded as operationally too difficult. However, hack and squirt is a more discriminant treatment technique that may lead to a reduction in herbicide use. Here, we evaluated the speed, herbicide use, and performance of a reduced hack and squirt approach using single hacks per stem injected with 0.5 ml of either aminocyclopyrachlor (240 g L−1) or aminopyralid (240 g L−1) against conventional low-volume basal bark treatment with triclopyr ester (96 g L−1) and cut stump treatment with triclopyr amine (180 g L−1). The experiments were conducted on three subtropical shrub species: Eugenia uniflora, Lagerstroemia indica, and Schinus terebinthifolia. Across species, we found the reduced hack and squirt approach resulted in comparable treatment efficacy to basal bark and cut stump treatment, was faster than cut stump treatment, and used less herbicide and carrier than basal bark treatment. A single hack per stem is a significant shift for hack and squirt treatment, which typically employs a narrow or continuous spacing of hacks around the entire circumference of each stem. Future work should seek to clarify the applicability of this approach over a wide range of invasive shrubs.

Old World climbing fern [Lygodium microphyllum (Cav.) R. Br] is a smothering vine that has invaded thousands of hectares of wetlands in southern and central Florida, including the Everglades. For more than two decades, the standard management approach in natural areas has been to cut the vines at waist height, leaving climbing rachis to desiccate in the tree canopy (poodle cutting) and subsequently treat all rooted ground cover with a foliar application of a 3% v/v solution of glyphosate. While this is generally effective, there is increasing interest in providing additional control options and more selective treatments. Along with glyphosate, triclopyr is widely used in invasive plant management and may also provide increased selectivity when treating the ground cover. However, it has not been well tested on L. microphyllum, especially the more recently developed acid and choline formulations. In a series of field trials, we compared the acid, amine, and choline formulations of triclopyr against glyphosate as a positive reference and nontreated plots as a negative reference based on control of L. microphyllum at three wetland sites in southern Florida over the period of 2016 to 2020. Significant reductions in L. microphyllum cover were measured at 1 mo after treatment (MAT) and continued to the termination of the studies at 12 and 28 MAT. We found all three triclopyr formulations applied with a single-nozzle backpack sprayer at 5.4 g ae L−1 provided comparable activity to glyphosate applied at 14.4 g ae L−1. There were few differences in L. microphyllum efficacy among the three triclopyr formulations at each site. These results indicate that triclopyr is a suitable alternative to glyphosate for L. microphyllum control in wetland ecosystems. Future research should evaluate triclopyr efficacy on L. microphyllum in varied hydrologic conditions to better refine treatment prescriptions for wetlands.

The kinetic–magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) hybrid simulation approach for macroscopic instabilities in plasmas can be extended to include the kinetic effects of both thermal ions and energetic ions. The new coupling scheme includes synchronization of the density and parallel velocity between thermal ions and MHD, in addition to pressure coupling, to ensure the quasineutrality condition and avoid numerical errors. The new approach has been implemented in the kinetic-MHD code M3D-C1-K, and was used to study the thermal ion kinetic effects and Landau damping in fishbone modes in both DIII-D and NSTX. It is found that the thermal ion kinetic effects can cause an increase of the frequencies of the non-resonant $n=1$ fishbone modes driven by energetic particles for $q_\mathrm {min}>1$, and Landau damping can provide additional stabilization effects. A nonlinear simulation for $n=1$ fishbone mode in NSTX is also performed, and the perturbation on magnetic flux surfaces and the transport of energetic particles are calculated.

Pangolins are some of the most overexploited but least studied mammals. The giant pangolin Smutsia gigantea is the largest of the eight pangolin species, measuring up to 180 cm in length and weighing up to 40 kg. It is a nocturnal, solitary species that occurs at low densities and little is known regarding its biology and ecology. It is distributed widely across the rainforests and forest savannah mosaics of equatorial Africa but its exact range extent is unknown. Apart from a single record in Kenya predating 1971, the eastern limit of its range was thought only to extend to central Uganda and western Tanzania. Here we present three spatially separate records confirming the presence of this species in Kenyan Afromontane forests. The three records are c. 120 km apart and c. 500 km east of the nearest confirmed giant pangolin population in Uganda. These records represent a significant range extension for the species and highlight the biodiversity and conservation importance of the Afromontane forests of western Kenya.

The crystal structure of baricitinib has been solved and refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data and optimized using density functional techniques. Baricitinib crystallizes in space group I2/a (#15) with a = 11.81128(11), b = 7.06724(6), c = 42.5293(3) Å, β = 91.9280(4)°, V = 3548.05(5) Å3, and Z = 8. The crystal structure is characterized by hydrogen-bonded double layers parallel to the ab-planes. The dimers form a graph set R2,2(8). The sulfone ends of the molecules reside in the interlayer regions. The powder pattern has been submitted to ICDD for inclusion in the Powder Diffraction File™ (PDF®).