[PCA] Crop wild relatives and invasive pests - are they on our radar screen?

[De Angelis, Patricia]

 A colleague shared this article with me and it piqued my interest...

HYBRID SWARM IN GLOBAL MEGA-PEST:
[ Full article: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/
2018/04/180406100544.htm ]

Australian scientists have confirmed the hybridisation of two of the
world's major pest species, into a new and improved mega-pest.

One of the pests, the cottonbollworm, is widespread in Africa, Asia and
Europe and causes damage to over 100 crops, including corn, cotton, tomato
and soybean. The damage and controlling the pest costs billions of dollars
a year. It is extremely mobile and has developed resistance to all
pesticides used against it. The other pest, the corn earworm, is a native
of the Americas and has comparatively limited resistance and host
range. However, the combination of the two, in a novel hybrid with
unlimited geographical boundaries is cause for major concern.

*The article mentions a US connection: *
"...65 per cent of the USA's agricultural output is at risk of being
affected by the bollworm..." - it appears that estimate is from a 2015 U of
Minn study: Is Corn Earworm’s Evil Cousin Coming to Visit?
<https://www.agweb.com/article/is-corn-earworms-evil-cousin-coming-to-visit-naa-alison-rice/>

Since Khoury et al. 2013
<http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1002.1457&rep=rep1&type=pdf>
 study showed that the US is home to a surprisingly large number of crop
wild relatives (CWRs), I wonder if these and other invasive pests are on
the radar screen of those working on US CWRs?
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