2007 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) The objective of this cooperative research project is to. 1)characterize the microbial gut flora of Lygus lineolaris and Euschistus servus,. 2)identify environmental factors (e.g., host plants, parasitism, time and location of collection, insecticides) that affect the gut flora of these bugs, and. 3)determine the role of the microbial gut flora on the survival of the hosts. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) Lygus linolaris and Euschistus servus will be collected from different host plants and locations in the Mississippi Delta from April through October. Bugs will also be collected from insecticide-treated cotton. Guts will be dissected and culturable bacteria will be plated on several types of media. Populaiton counts will be done by acridine orange direct count. Molecular analysis of culturable bacteria will facilitate identification via the NCBI database. Unculturable bacteria will be identified via denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Antibiotics and other treatments will be used to manipulate the microbial flora of the guts, and the effects on host longevity, fecundity, and other life history traits will be evaluated. 3.Progress Report This report serves to document research conducted under a Specific Cooperative Agreement between University of Colorado and ARS. Additional details for this subordinate project may be found in the in-house project 6402-22000-045-00D, “Integrated Pest Management for Mid-South Area Row Crops.” Characterizing the microbial gut flora of the tarnished plant bug and brown stink bug with the environmental factors that affect it. This agreement was monitored by one conference call and two site visits.