The survey of 507 Floridians found that although many see undocumented immigrants as threats to their economic well-being and personal safety, they still had “pockets” of sympathetic views toward those trying to establish themselves as U.S. residents, said Tracy Irani, director of the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education, or PIE Center, the research group that led the study.

“They definitely have some concerns and some less favorable perceptions about undocumented immigrants, but despite that, still, the majority feels positively about there being some pathway toward citizenship for undocumented immigrants,” Irani said. “To me, that’s the big takeaway.”

Jack Payne, UF’s senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources, said the immigration survey results point out precisely why the university must take a leading role in studying immigration and educating the public about the pros and cons of immigration reform.

“To solve an issue, you must understand that issue,” Payne said. “Immigration is a critical issue for Floridians – it’s affecting agriculture, which is a key economic driver in our state, it affects our public schools, and our health care system … we can’t separate ourselves from it.”

Irani said the study found significant knowledge gaps about current and pending immigration policy.

Among those gaps: Many respondents knew that undocumented immigrants often work in agriculture or outdoor industries, such as construction or roofing, but only 6 percent of respondents knew that many work in the hospitality industry.

About 58 percent of respondents did not know that babies born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants are automatically granted U.S. citizenship.

And more than half of the survey’s respondents were unaware of the E-Verify system being considered as a mandatory check to see if potential employees are authorized to work in the United States, she said.

Seventy-three percent of survey respondents said they believe undocumented immigrants are a burden on the economy more than an asset, and 58 percent of respondents agreed with the statement “undocumented immigrants reduce the number of good jobs for Americans.”

Despite those negative feelings, 85 percent said the government should either allow undocumented immigrants to remain in the U.S. and eventually become citizens or require them to leave and return and become citizens only if they meet specific requirements. Only 15 percent said they would prefer the government to force undocumented immigrants out of the U.S. permanently.

The survey showed that 44 percent of respondents reported knowing someone who came to the U.S. in the last 10 years, either documented or undocumented. Thirty-nine percent of those said they consider that person a friend.

Survey respondents were asked to assign levels of importance to a number of topics, and immigration was not among their chief concerns. Only 70 percent of respondents reported it as extremely or highly important, dead last behind the economy, health care, water, the federal budget deficit, housing, K-12 education and higher education.

The survey respondents were selected as a demographically representative sample of adult Florida residents. This is the second of four surveys PIE Center officials hope to conduct every year, to track public sentiment over time. Besides immigration, the other topics include water, endangered species, and perceptions about organic and non-organic foods and agricultural practices used to grow them.

The PIE Center will host a webinar on immigration reform and its implication for agriculture on May 28. To register, go to www.piecenter.com/easy-as-pie/. The center also created an immigration webpage: www.piecenter.com/immigration.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s seemingly endless supply of natural wonders includes insects, spiders and other arthropods that creep, crawl, burrow and fly, and the University of Florida will educate residents about these creatures during Bug Week, a multimedia event May 20-24.

Bug Week includes projects and programs from around campus and showcases the strength of the university’s entomology program, said Ruth Borger, assistant vice president for information and communication services with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

“We have one of the biggest and best entomology departments in the country, and we want people to know about it,” said Borger, who helped organize Bug Week. “With summer approaching and bugs becoming more active, we think this is an ideal time to show how our expertise can help average people understand the bugs they see around their homes, yards and communities.”

Much of Bug Week is geared toward helping residents avoid unpleasant encounters with species that pose a threat to health or property, said Chris Moran, UF director of communications.

“I’m a newly arrived resident myself,” said Moran, who came to UF from Texas this year. “So I can appreciate how people move to Florida, see an unfamiliar bug and wonder ‘Is this a problem?’ We tried to keep that idea in mind when we planned our activities.”

Bug Week includes outreach to local, state and national media, with stories on removing ticks safely, avoiding bed bugs while traveling, preventing bee stings, recognizing signs of Formosan termite colonies and discouraging mosquitoes. Another story focuses on UF/IFAS efforts to study invasive pests that haven’t yet reached Florida but pose a threat.

Those stories are posted on a website, http://bugs.ufl.edu, along with profiles of common Florida bugs, a question-and-answer column on pest management, bug-related news items from around the world, a list of bug resources at UF/IFAS, and even a recipe for those bold enough to try eating bugs. The Twitter hashtag is #UFBugs.

The website will be updated regularly after Bug Week ends, and will include seasonal material and audience-participation features, Borger said.

“The website is beginner-friendly, and it’s meant to be fun and colorful, as well as informative,” she said. “It’s going to be home to some incredible contests and public outreach activities, so we hope that our visitors will check back often.”

One theme running throughout the website: helping users understand the difference between beneficial and harmful bugs. Not every bug that’s ugly or fearsome is harmful, and not every bug that’s attractive is beneficial, said Bug Week technical adviser Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman, an assistant extension scientist with the UF/IFAS entomology department.

“We really want people to come away with the idea that they can live in harmony with bugs in many instances, and that there are environmentally friendly options to discourage bugs that you don’t want around the house,” Gillett-Kaufman said. “We want people to break away from the old thinking that you see a bug and the first thing you do is reach for a can of bug spray.”

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Floridians’ consumer confidence rose three points to 79 in April — the second consecutive monthly increase, according to a new University of Florida survey.

“Many economists would have expected confidence to erode in April as the effects of the federal budget cuts known as sequestration along with the expiration of the payroll tax began to unfold,” said Chris McCarty, director of UF’s Survey Research Center in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research. “So far this has had virtually no impact on consumer confidence among Floridians, which is reflected in current sales tax collections.”

Florida’s mood is at odds with the national consumer confidence index, which as measured by the University of Michigan, dropped two points after recovering from a deeper slide in early April.

In contrast, four of the same five components used to determine Florida consumer confidence level increased and one remained unchanged in April. Respondents’ overall opinion that their personal finances are better than a year ago increased five points to 70, while their expectations they well be better off financially a year from now increased six points to 78.

Meanwhile, their trust in the U.S. economy rose three points to 80. They also were optimistic about national economic conditions over the next five years; that assessment rose one point to 77.

Left unchanged from March was whether now is a good time to buy big-ticket items such as cars and appliances. The response stayed at 90.

Not all Floridians, however, are optimistic. Confidence among Floridians making $30,000 a year or less dropped six points to 61 but rose four points to 85 for those earning more than $30,000.

Age could affect views, too. The overall confidence level of Floridians younger than 60 increased 10 points to 87, but it fell three points to 72 for those 60 and older.

“This difference may have to do with the unveiling of the Obama administration budget proposal that signaled a willingness to negotiate on aspects of Social Security and Medicare,” McCarty said. “Optimism, however, among those aged 60 and under is more likely fueled by economic improvements here in Florida.”

For example, Florida’s unemployment rate continues to drop, coming in at 7.5 percent for March, which is slightly less than the 7.6 percent national figure. Leisure and hospitality showed the biggest job growth of all Florida’s employment sectors. The construction industry also reports slow but positive growth.

Florida’s housing prices also continue to rise, with the median price now at $160,000. This is the highest median price since October 2008, though it is 38 percent lower than the peak value of $257,800 from June 2006. In addition, mortgage rates continue to be at historic lows.

Meanwhile, the stock market is still near record highs, bolstering retirement accounts for many Floridians, and gas prices have continued a steady slide.

Despite the encouraging trends, many economists still expect the effects of sequestration to be felt throughout the country, including Florida, but it may take months for the effects to be fully realized. Until then, “Floridians are increasingly optimistic,” McCarty said.

Conducted April 13-25, 2013, the UF study reflects the responses of 407 individuals, representing a demographic cross-section of Florida.

The index used by UF researchers is benchmarked to 1966, which means a value of 100 represents the same level of confidence for that year. The lowest index possible is a 2; the highest is 150.

Details of the April survey can be found at http://www.bebr.ufl.edu/cci.

The study suggests that at least some of the optimism regarding sea turtle population trends in recent years may have been premature.

The team used comprehensive data collected over the last 40 years by the Caretta Research Project on Wassaw Island, Ga., to compare trends in sea turtle abundance based on nest counts and female counts with trends corrected for imperfect detection, which arises frequently when counting mobile, hard-to-monitor wildlife populations, such as sea turtles.

Imperfect detection is estimated using capture-mark-capture methods. This requires capturing and tagging individual turtles, which are later recaptured. Annual population estimates are then adjusted for imperfect detection, which provides more reliable estimates of sea turtle abundance.

The Caretta Research Project collects both count and tagging data, which allowed for the comparison.

The team concluded that using data from tagged turtles to correct for imperfect detection avoids erroneous conclusions about population trends. As a result, past sea turtle assessments in recent decades may need to be reviewed.

“We need to be cautious about interpreting trends,” said biologist Karen Bjorndal, director of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research. “We’ve all been feeling relatively confident that this population of loggerheads was increasing, headed in the right direction, but what this says is maybe we shouldn’t be complacent.

“This is a wake-up call for management agencies,” said Bjorndal, a distinguished professor of biology.

The study was led by doctoral student Joseph Pfaller, 30, who has worked with the Caretta Research Project since he was 15. Pfaller knew this was one of the few long-term datasets that would allow for this study. Pfaller and Bjorndal, as well as biologist Alan Bolten of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, collaborated with Milani Chaloupka of the University of Queensland on the study.

Bolten said a population estimate based solely on counts of nests or nesting females could be misleading. Those counts could increase or decrease without a change in the population. This concern echoes a recent report by the National Research Council.

In recent years, Bjorndal said, population abundance estimates often were based on nest counts because it is easier and less expensive. The nesting of Florida’s loggerhead sea turtles has been consistently monitored since 1989, and until 1998, nest numbers appeared to increase. After that, numbers dropped and by 2006 had declined by 43 percent, Bjorndal said.

The new research calls into question the accuracy of those counts and makes a compelling argument for more tagging effort. Six of the seven species of sea turtles are endangered, so accurate assessments are important. Sea turtles are difficult to monitor because they have lifespans longer than many research projects and wide-ranging migration patterns.

Bolten said Florida has the largest nesting population of loggerhead turtles in the world, and it is the state’s responsibility to accurately monitor the loggerhead population as a steward of natural resources.

Pfaller said the results could apply to other species that are monitored with raw count data that are not corrected for imperfect detection. Relying on nest counts for birds, for example, as opposed to banding individuals, could lead to imprecise population counts there, too.

“This has management implications, particularly in censuses of endangered species,” Pfaller said. “We need to tag individuals.”

Bolten said people are interested in wildlife population trends and always ask him how the sea turtle populations are doing.

“I guess we don’t have the answer,” he said.

“This rise was unexpected,” said Chris McCarty, director of UF’s Survey Research Center in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research. According to a recent University of Michigan study, the confidence level for the entire U.S. fell sharply by almost six points in the wake of federal budget cuts resulting from the sequestration process that started in early March.

“The fear has been that the combination of the payroll tax expiration and sequestration would dampen the recent growth in consumer activity,” McCarty said. “But Florida confidence is sharply out of line with that perception.”

In fact, four of the five components used in the survey went up from February. Respondents’ overall perception of being personally better off financially than they were a year ago went up four points to 68. “The last time that figure was reached was in 1992 after the 1990-91 recession,” McCarty said.

Floridians also were optimistic about bigger issues. For instance, their expectations that the U.S. economy would improve over the next year rose six points to 78. They also gave a thumbs-up to the nation’s economic health during the next five years by showing an increase in confidence of six points to 75. And their opinion that now is a good time to buy big-ticket items such as an automobile rose two points to 90.

The only hint of gloom appeared when survey-takers were asked if they would be better off financially a year from now. Here, their confidence sank two points to 72.

Floridians may have good reason to be confident. The state’s unemployment rate is now one-tenth of a percent lower than the national 7.8 percent figure, marking the first time this has happened since the start of the recession.

“While some of this is due to a decline in the labor force,” McCarty said, “there is no question that Florida has created jobs since the recession.”

Florida also is experiencing a strong housing market, with the median price of a single-family home hitting $150,000 in February. That was up almost 3.5 percent from January and 12.8 percent from last year. Some areas of Florida, such as Miami, are experiencing housing shortages, which is driving up prices, McCarty said.

An average drop in gas prices statewide of 15 cents-a-gallon during the past three weeks may be boosting confidence, too. The stock market also continues to reach new highs as the markets so far have shrugged off the effects of sequestration, McCarty said.

However, the Sunshine State’s upbeat mood may not last long.

“For now, Floridians don’t appear to see how the cuts are affecting them,” McCarty said. “While there are certainly some who have already been affected by sequestration, the real effects will start to be noticed in upcoming months as furloughs go into effect.”

Conducted March 13-21, the study reflects the responses of 416 individuals, representing a demographic cross-section of Florida.

The index used by UF researchers is benchmarked to 1966, which means a value of 100 represents the same level of confidence for that year. The lowest index possible is a 2; the highest is 150.

Details of the March survey can be found at http://www.bebr.ufl.edu/cci.

It showed local food represents about 20 percent of all Florida food purchased for at-home consumption, except restaurant take-out food, said Alan Hodges, an Extension scientist with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

The study was based on a statewide consumer survey. Prior estimates from other states had local food accounting for about 5 percent of all food sales, he said.

“We are doing relatively better in Florida, in moving toward food self-sufficiency,” Hodges said. “I can only attribute that to the favorable year-round growing conditions we have for fruits and vegetables.”

Hodges’ study is part of a larger project that involves consumer preferences about local food, said Tracy Irani, a UF professor of agricultural education and communication and development director for the Center for Public Issues Education, or the PIE Center.

Irani and graduate assistant Joy Goodwin headed the portion of the project that examined consumer preferences. Irani said data suggest local food sales might be up because consumers are paying closer attention to the things they eat, due to nutrition and health coverage in the media.

Increased awareness results in increased sales, she said. However, consumer participants said their purchase of local food would be likely to increase with increased advertising and marketing of local foods.

“Consumers perceive that there are health, quality and economic benefits to locally grown,” Goodwin said. “That will continue to motivate purchase behavior, all other things being equal.”

Projections based on the statewide consumer survey indicate that local food sales in Florida totaled $8.3 billion in a one-year period. An estimated $6.1 billion was spent at grocery stores but only $320 million in restaurants, Hodges said.

“Restaurants have huge potential there to buy locally produced meats, vegetables and other items,” Hodges said. “My suggestion is, if you want to see more local food on the menu at your favorite dining spot, ask for it.”

Hodges and postdoctoral research associate Thomas Stevens headed the economic study. They mailed surveys to 7,500 Florida households, receiving about 1,600 responses.

The researchers took survey results and used regional economic analysis computer software to make projections about local food sales statewide. The survey was mailed in mid-2012 and asked respondents about the previous year’s purchases.

Some highlights of the results:

• Two-thirds of respondents said someone in the household bought local food at least once in the previous year.
• Among all Florida households, 62 percent bought local foods at farmers’ markets, 53 percent from retail supermarkets, 28 percent from restaurants, and 5 percent from community-supported agriculture or other direct transactions.
• The average spent on local food was $1,114 per household. That number was higher in Central and North Central Florida, compared with South Florida or the Panhandle.
• Almost three-fourths of the total estimated revenue — $6.1 billion –- was spent on local food at retail grocery stores. Consumers also spent $1.8 billion at farmers’ markets, roadside stands and U-pick farms. Restaurants and other food-service establishments accounted for $320 million, and other prearranged farm-to-consumer sales totaled $103 million.

Because there is no accepted definition of what constitutes “local” food, Hodges’ survey allowed respondents to define the term – and most often defined it as food produced within 100 miles of the consumer, he said.

The study is available on Hodges’ website, at http://tinyurl.com/cg8v3lc.

The larger project investigates ways of connecting farmers and consumers. It’s supported by a specialty crops block grant obtained by the UF/IFAS PIE Center. Information about the larger project is available at http://piecenter.com/localfood.

The grant was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; the study also received support from Alachua County and UF’s offices of sustainability.

To watch an interview with Hodges about the local food study, visit http://tinyurl.com/bycexkd; to see Hodges and others from the larger project discuss local food, visit: http://tinyurl.com/axjxosm.

Battelle, a global research and development organization, released a study Tuesday that shows agriculture, forestry and fisheries production in a 13-state region of the southeastern U.S. plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands generates $240 billion in regional economic activity and supports more than 2.2 million jobs, with labor income totaling $62 billion.

According to the Batelle study, agbioscience research and development spending went from $213 million to $501 million from 2000 to 2010.

“I think what this study clearly tells us is that for Florida to continue to see this kind of economic growth, we’ve got to continue to invest in these areas,” said Jack Payne, the University of Florida’s senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources. “Agriculture and related sciences touch nearly every aspect of our lives. They’re a robust driver of our economy and they will help our state thrive as the country pulls itself out of a rough economy.”

Agbioscience, as defined by the report’s authors, includes not only research related to the food we eat, but the development, production and use of plant and animal organisms for food, health, fuel and industrial applications.

The study offers case studies that highlight technological advances and research being done by the southeastern land-grant universities. They include UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ research that shows irrigation can be vastly reduced by using soil moisture controllers and its work on renewable fuels.

Sustaining the Extension Service and Experiment Station System, further investing in it, and addressing its challenges are keys to maintaining the strength of the economic and social fabric of the nation, the region and the state, the report’s authors said.

The full report may be viewed at: http://www.LSUAgCenter.com/SouthernAgbioscienceImpact.

Battelle is one of the nation’s leading charitable trusts focusing on societal and economic impact and actively supporting and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education.

The University of Florida is among 15 land-grant university sponsors of the study, commissioned by the Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors and the Association of Southern Regional Extension Directors.

The 5-million-year-old fossils belong to the same lineage as the famous Smilodon fatalis from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, a large, carnivorous apex predator with elongated upper canine teeth. Previous research suggested the group of saber-toothed cats known as Smilodontini originated in the Old World and then migrated to North America, but the age of the new species indicates the group likely originated in North America. The study appeared online in the journal PLOS One Wednesday.

“Smilodon first shows up on the fossil record around 2.5 million years ago, but there haven’t been a lot of good intermediate forms for understanding where it came from,” said study co-author Richard Hulbert Jr., vertebrate paleontology collections manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus. “The new species shows that the most famous saber-toothed cat, Smilodon, had a New World origin and it and its ancestors lived in the southeastern U.S. for at least 5 million years before their extinction about 11,000 years ago. Compared to what we knew about these earlier saber-toothed cats 20 or 30 years ago, we now have a much better understanding of this group.”

Hulbert helped uncover fossils of the new genus and species, Rhizosmilodon fiteae, from a phosphate mine during excavations in 1990. The species was named after Barbara Fite of Lutz, Fla., who in 2011 donated one of the critical specimens used for the new description and allowed UF scientists to make casts of two other partial jaws in her collection.

The donation was a major contribution to the research because the remarkably well-preserved lower jaw contains almost pristine examples of all three chewing teeth, Hulbert said. The genus name Rhizosmilodon, meaning “root of Smilodon,” implies the animal could be a missing link and direct ancestor of Smilodon, which became extinct about 11,000 years ago.

The study’s lead author, Steven Wallace, an associate professor in the department of geosciences and member of the Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Paleontology at East Tennessee State University, used comparative analysis of saber-toothed cat anatomy to help determine the animal’s taxonomy. The analysis was primarily based on structure of the animal’s lower jaw and teeth, smaller than the Smilodon and about the size of a modern Florida panther.

“The taxonomy of this animal was controversial because when it was first published 20 years ago, they only had one partial, somewhat-decent lower jaw, and it was missing some of the critical features,” Hulbert said. “We now have more complete specimens showing it has a mixture of primitive and advanced characters, and does not match any previously named saber-toothed cat genus or species.”

Originally misidentified as a member of the genus Megantereon in the early 1980s, Rhizosmilodon is instead the sister taxon to Megantereon and Smilodon, and the oldest of the group. These three cats are in the same tribe — meaning they are more closely related than a family or subfamily — and are often called as saber-toothed cats because of their long canine teeth, Hulbert said.

“When people think of saber-toothed cats, they think of it as just one thing, as if the famous tar pit saber-toothed cat was the only species, when in fact, it was an almost worldwide radiation of cats that lasted over 10 million years and probably had a total of about 20 valid species,” Hulbert said. “Counting the newly described animal, there are now six different species of saber-toothed cats known just from Florida.”

Saber-toothed cat expert Julie Meachen, an instructor at Marshall University School of Medicine in Huntington, W. Va., said the study helps settle the debate about whether the tribe arose from the Eurasia before coming to North America.

“I think that this revision was well-needed,” Meachen said. “The fact that it’s one of the oldest lineages is really interesting because that means that this exciting group of saber-toothed cats really is a North American tribe — it evolved and persisted in North America.”

Since 1915, more than 60 new species of reptiles, birds and mammals have been named from Central Florida phosphate mines, located southeast of Tampa and south of Lakeland. Rhizosmilodon lived in a forested coastal habitat that was also home to rhinos, tapirs, three-toed horses, peccaries, llamas and deer. Its relatively small size probably allowed it to climb trees and safely hide captured prey from large carnivores, such as packs of wolf-sized hyena-dogs and an extinct type of bear larger than the modern grizzly.

Just how abundant is a matter of speculation, but University of Florida entomologist Phil Kaufman says last year the state had a bumper crop of the huge, biting insects, which are sometimes called gallinippers. He said there may be a repeat on the way.

“I wouldn’t be surprised, given the numbers we saw last year,” said Kaufman, an associate professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “When we hit the rainy cycle we may see that again.”

The gallinipper is a floodwater mosquito, with females laying eggs in soil at the edges of ponds, streams and other water bodies that overflow when heavy rains come. The eggs can remain dry and dormant for years, until high waters cause them to hatch, Kaufman said.

Last June, Tropical Storm Debbie caused flooding in many parts of Florida and unleashed large numbers of gallinippers, along with other floodwater mosquitoes.

To help residents understand the species better, Kaufman and UF/IFAS entomology graduate student Ephraim Ragasa created a document on gallinippers for the department’s “Featured Creatures” website. It’s now available on IFAS’ Electronic Data Information Source, at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in967.

Native to the entire eastern half of North America, the insect has a body about half an inch long, with a black-and-white color pattern that makes it resemble a super-sized version of the invasive Asian tiger mosquito.

As with other biting mosquitoes, only the female gallinippers are blood feeders; males survive on flower nectar. The species is notoriously aggressive and has a painful bite.

“The bite really hurts, I can attest to that,” Kaufman said.

Even in the larval stage, gallinippers are fearsome. Most mosquito larvae are content to subsist on decaying plant matter floating in the waters where they develop, but gallinippers are omnivorous, devouring other mosquito larvae and even tadpoles.

With that trait in mind, observers have suggested the gallinipper might be a good candidate for biological control efforts, using the larvae to reduce populations of other pest mosquitoes. But that strategy has a fatal flaw, Ragasa says – it results in more gallinippers.

“That kind of defeats the purpose of using them for biocontrol,” he said.

Gallinippers can be warded off with repellents containing DEET, though Kaufman said that due to their large size they may be more tolerant of the compound than smaller biting mosquitoes. Other precautions include wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts when venturing into wooded areas, especially places where standing water collects after rain storms.

There are a few good things one can say about this mosquito: It isn’t considered a significant vector of mosquito-borne illness affecting people or animals. And human activity doesn’t seem to boost its populations.

“This isn’t one where you build a subdivision and start to see more,” Kaufman said.

Female yellow fever mosquitoes sometimes contend with the courtship and mating efforts of males from another, competing species — the Asian tiger mosquito.

She’s naïve, he’s sneaky. Both species spread dengue, a viral disease that’s a major human health threat.

In an ironic turnabout, Florida dengue cases may rise in the near future due to female yellow fever mosquitoes becoming savvy about the false-flag suitors, leading to increased yellow fever mosquito populations, says an expert with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

When male Asian tiger mosquitoes successfully deceive yellow fever females, their matings are fruitless – the two species can’t produce offspring together, said Phil Lounibos, a distinguished professor of entomology with UF’s Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach. Instead, chemicals transferred during mating render the yellow fever female sterile for the rest of her short life.

Scientists believe this phenomenon, called satyrization, helps explain how the Asian tiger mosquito quickly became established throughout the Southeastern U.S. in the 1980s.

If satyrization happens hundreds or thousands of times in a place where both species share habitat, the net result is fewer yellow fever mosquito eggs being laid. Ultimately, satyrization reduces yellow fever mosquito populations, leaving more ecological “space” for the Asian tiger to occupy, Lounibos said.

Both mosquitoes are container-nesting species that seek water trapped in old tires, flowerpots, cup-shaped plants and the like. Both eagerly prey on humans, and are long associated with human communities. Both are invasive and annoying to Florida residents.

And, because they can transmit human disease, both species are public-health concerns. But yellow fever mosquitoes are believed to be more efficient than Asian tigers at transmitting pathogens to people.

A paper published in the Feb. 19 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes laboratory experiments suggesting that female yellow fever mosquitoes may develop an ability to spurn advances from Asian tiger males.

“We don’t know that they are better able to discriminate between males of their own species and Asian tigers,” said Lounibos, one of the paper’s authors. “What we can say is, females from colonies that have a history of exposure to Asian tiger males are less likely to mate with Asian tiger males.”

The exact reason the females manage to avoid deception is unknown, he said.

“It may be that some subtle nuance in the behavior of the yellow fever females is involved,” said Lounibos, at the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach.

He also noted that if female yellow fever mosquitoes can rapidly evolve an aversion to Asian tiger males in the wild, then perhaps diminished yellow fever mosquito populations would gradually rebound.

Lounibos said he has received anecdotal reports of greater yellow fever mosquito presence in some South Florida locales.

Currently, the major health concern associated with the yellow fever mosquito is dengue. It causes severe flu-like symptoms, including fever, muscle and joint pain, headache, and possibly gastrointestinal issues. In the past few years, dengue has become a significant public health issue in South Florida, particularly the Keys.

Resurgent populations of yellow fever mosquitoes could lead to more dengue cases, Lounibos said, so one of his objectives for the near future is to investigate some of the areas where yellow fever mosquitoes are said to be making a comeback.

In the study, Lounibos and colleagues set up laboratory experiments in which various male/female pairings of mosquitoes could mingle and possibly mate.

The results showed that, on average, mating was about three times as likely between female yellow fever mosquitoes and male Asian tigers, compared with female Asian tigers and male yellow fever mosquitoes.

Yellow fever females from colonies that had never encountered Asian tiger mosquitoes were tricked about 25 percent more often, compared with females from colonies that had a history of co-existing with Asian tiger colonies.

The other research team members were postdoctoral associate Irka Bargielowski and doctoral student Maria Cristina Carrasquilla, both with FMEL.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The delayed effect of the expiring payroll tax cut prompted Florida’s consumer confidence to drop one point in February to 74, according to a monthly University of Florida survey.

However, consumer outlook could grow even gloomier if massive federal spending cuts required by a process known as sequestration takes place in March, said Chris McCarty, director of UF’s Survey Research Center in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

Two years ago, the White House and Congress tried to stimulate the economy by temporarily cutting the payroll tax that workers pay for Social Security from 6.2 to 4.2 percent. “This put money directly in the pockets of consumers, which had a noticeable effect on consumer spending,” McCarty said.

However, the cuts expired last month as part of the fiscal cliff negotiation. “It took a month for the increased withholding to show up in people’s paychecks, so the effect was delayed,” McCarty said.

Nonetheless, the UF study reveals that most consumers, and particularly seniors, are more positive than they were last month about their personal finances. For instance, survey takers’ overall perception that their personal finances had improved from a year ago rose six points to 65. And their expectations that they will be better off financially this time next year went up by one point to 76. In addition, their consensus over whether now is a good time to buy big-ticket retail goods, such as a washing machine, rose one point to 88.

However, respondents are more pessimistic about the future. Their expectations for the U.S. economy over the coming year fell four points to 72, but their faith in the nation’s economic health over the next five years fell even further, dipping seven points to 69.

“This negative outlook may mean that consumers are less bothered by the expiration of the payroll tax and more concerned about the effects of sequestration that are due to go into effect March 1,” McCarty said.

Consumer worry is already apparent. The stock market had hit new highs until the threat of sequestration caused the Pentagon and other agencies to announce possible budget cuts and the Federal Reserve to signal higher interest rates might be coming. These actions caused investors recently to pull back, McCarty said.

While the worst effects will be felt in the metro area around Washington, D.C., Florida will not escape.

“We have civilian businesses and grants to universities and others that will be cut back as the Pentagon makes large cuts for the remaining fiscal year,” McCarty said. “Agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration have signaled furloughs for their staff, which will make air travel a challenge, perhaps putting some people off of a Florida vacation. Many Floridians work for federal agencies either full time or part time and they will be affected, as will the multiple businesses that provide services to them.”

Any deal that Congress strikes on sequestration will trade some cuts for other cuts and tax increases, McCarty said.

“We are waiting to see which part of the population will take the brunt of that cut,” he added. “It is currently slated to be anyone hired by, or selling goods and services to, the federal government.”

Conducted Feb. 13-21, the UF study reflects the responses of 406 individuals, representing a demographic cross section of Florida.

The index used by UF researchers is benchmarked to 1966, which means a value of 100 represents the same level of confidence for that year. The lowest index possible is a 2; the highest is 150.

Details of the February survey can be found at http://www.bebr.ufl.edu/cci.

Now, a University of Florida expert says tourists armed with cameras may be a new source of data about the gentle giants, often seen in the Gulf of Mexico. Photographs could help scientists gauge the shark’s abundance and shed light on its longevity, migratory patterns, breeding habits and other information needed for conservation efforts.

A study published in the current issue of the journal Wildlife Research examined whale shark photographs and video still images posted online by vacationers on diving or sightseeing excursions who had seen the creatures. The researchers concluded that the material was often suitable for use in scientific studies that identify and track individual whale sharks.

“We need to consider all available information to try and fill the gaps of knowledge for data-deficient, vulnerable species like whale sharks,” said Juliane Struve, a research assistant professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “Citizen photos are as useful as researcher photos if they meet the requirements of photo identification.”

Whale sharks can be individually identified because each one has a unique pattern of spots and lines on its back, giving the creature a visual signature akin to a fingerprint, Struve said. And, unlike many large marine species, whale sharks often swim close to the surface, making them accessible to photographers.

In certain areas, large congregations of whale sharks appear annually, and tourism industries have sprung up to help people get close to the fish, which can reach a maximum length of more than 40 feet and a weight of more than 45,000 pounds.

Worldwide, there are believed to be about 100,000 whale sharks, which eat plankton and pose no threat to man. Though not classified as endangered, whale sharks are killed for their meat and fins, and sometimes die after being accidentally caught in tuna nets.

The study focused on images captured in the Republic of the Maldives, a chain of islands southeast of India, in a part of the Indian Ocean where whale sharks often congregate. Researchers examined about 300 images from tourists and 300 taken by scientists.

Images were considered acceptable if they provided a clear view of the left side of the whale shark’s body, clearly showing the spot pattern near the gills.

About 85 percent of the images from amateurs were good enough to allow identification of an individual whale shark, Struve said. Thus, online efforts to solicit and collect tourists’ whale shark photos could help scientists gain a better understanding of the species for conservation efforts, she said.

At least one whale shark tourism provider is eager to educate his clients about photo-sharing opportunities.

Roddrigo Sidney, owner of Cancún Whale Shark Tours and Holbox Whale Shark Tours on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, said his business serves more than 20,000 tourists each summer as they come to see huge aggregations of whale sharks in the Gulf of Mexico.

“If we had a brochure telling our guests where to send the photos I’d be happy to help,” he said. “I’m sure that a number of them would be happy to assist.”

Sidney said his company includes information on whale shark biology as part of the training provided to clients as they prepare to swim with the fish. Efforts to better understand whale sharks will have a positive effect for his business, he said.

For more information on whale shark photographs and their use in scientific research, see http://whaleshark.org.

The eight-year, $4.2 million study was funded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to determine the effectiveness of current UF/IFAS fertilizer recommendations, which have been in use since about 2000, said John Hayes, UF/IFAS dean for research. Florida has more than 5 million acres of home and commercial turf.

“This work is an important body of information generated here to address important questions about nutrient management,” Hayes said. “We’re proud to communicate our findings and we hope they will play a substantial role in helping residents, industry personnel and policymakers protect water quality.”

Three hours of technical presentations from a Jan. 15 live symposium are available at http://tinyurl.com/be2la7q and a three-minute video aimed at educating the public has been posted at http://tinyurl.com/ajy4ytr.

The results generally are consistent with current UF/IFAS recommendations for fertilizer use, Hayes said, but the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services plans to review the state’s urban fertilizer rules in light of the study findings. The agency will hold public meetings to seek comment about possible changes.

The study involved three locations, numerous establishment, fertilization and irrigation practices, and multiple turf varieties, including St. Augustinegrass, zoysiagrass, centipedegrass and bahiagrass.

Despite the differences, researchers made several basic conclusions:

* Very little nutrient leaching results from summertime application of UF/IFAS recommended fertilizer rates to healthy, growing turfgrass.

* Summertime fertilizer bans could potentially deprive healthy turf of nutrients when needed most, threatening turf health and quality.

* Nutrient leaching can result from fertilizer application to dormant or unhealthy turf.

* Newly laid sod should not be fertilized for 30 to 60 days because it will not have an established root system for effective nutrient uptake and it is likely to carry nutrients from fertilizer applications at the sod farm where it was grown.

The study involved experiments conducted at UF/IFAS research facilities in the Panhandle, Gainesville and Fort Lauderdale, using turf, soils and management practices common to each area. The state’s most popular turf, St. Augustinegrass, was studied at all three sites.

Faculty members John Cisar, Jerry Sartain, Laurie Trenholm and Bryan Unruh led the study and presented their research findings at a public meeting in Citra, where much of the footage was shot. The video includes a question-and-answer session with the scientists, and comments from Andy Rackley, director of agricultural environmental services for FDACS.

Several researchers mentioned that their findings raised new questions and pointed out the need for additional research on topics including the use of biosolids and other organic nitrogen sources, the use of reclaimed water, turfgrass phosphorus requirements, and the effects of summertime fertilizer bans.

“We’re in some conversations with DEP (the state Department of Environmental Protection) still about moving forward with some additional data analysis,” Unruh said.

He also noted that the results suggest UF/IFAS’ nutrient recommendations for zoysiagrass may need to be modified, but any changes to those nutrient recommendations must come about through a vetting process by the Plant Nutrient Oversight Committee, a team of administrators and scientists who review all nutrient recommendations from UF/IFAS.

Extension personnel will be trained to help them communicate the findings to homeowners and there may be additional public workshops, Trenholm said.

Homeowners with unhealthy lawns should contact county extension personnel to discuss the problem and not automatically assume that fertilizer is needed, Cisar said.

“If you have a lawn that’s in bad shape, it makes sense to ascertain why,” he said. “It may be that the grass needs fertilizer but it could be something else, like a lack of proper irrigation, proper mowing height, or the grass isn’t getting enough light.”

The survey of some 469 Floridians found that when respondents were asked to assign levels of importance to 16 water-related topics such as “plentiful water for cities” and “clean groundwater,” residents rated having “clean drinking water” most important.

The survey respondents were selected as a demographically representative sample of adult Floridians, said Alexa Lamm, the University of Florida assistant professor who led the December 2012 survey effort on behalf of the Center for Public Issues Education, or PIE Center.

“The survey strongly suggests that people in Florida are very interested in conserving water and in maintaining its quality so that it will always be available for life-sustaining uses,” she said. “And they’re willing to make sacrifices to make it happen.”

The survey is the first of what PIE Center officials hope will be four such public opinion surveys a year, covering topics such as Florida residents’ experience with endangered and invasive species and their perceptions of organic and non-organic foods.

Officials with the PIE Center, part of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, then plan to repeat the surveys each year, so that changes in public sentiment can be tracked over time, said Tracy Irani, the PIE Center’s director.

Kicking off the surveys with one that focused on water resources was completely by design, said Jack Payne, UF’s senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources.

“Water is, without a doubt, one of our state’s most critical issues,” Payne said. “As such, IFAS is going to focus a great deal of our research and outreach efforts into trying to ensure that our water resources are preserved and protected. The PIE Center water survey is a giant step in that effort.”

The water survey and results can be found at a special IFAS water report website: http://www.piecenter.com/water/.

The survey produced a number of noteworthy results, among them:

*After clean drinking water (93 percent), the survey respondents listed having clean beaches (90 percent), oceans, bays/estuaries (89 percent), lakes and rivers (89 percent) as highly or extremely important, followed by plentiful water for industry and commerce (80.5 percent) and plentiful water for household landscapes (61 percent).

*Roughly 40 percent of respondents reported having had a negative water-quality experience, such as poor-quality drinking water, closed beaches, springs, rivers or lakes, and catching fish deemed unfit for human consumption.

*Just over 65 percent reported willingness to use recycled wastewater for lawn or landscape irrigation (though few said it was an option available to them); nearly 53 percent said they have low-flow showerheads, nearly 52 percent have water-efficient toilets, 33 percent said they use drought-tolerant plants in their gardens, and nearly 19 percent use rain barrels to collect water for gardening and yard use.

Besides the PIE Center, the UF Water Institute and IFAS’ Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology helped in the survey’s development.

The U.S. saw an upturn in attacks with 53, the most since 2000. There were seven fatalities worldwide, which is lower than 2011 but higher than the yearly average of 4.4 from 2001 to 2010. It is the second consecutive year for multiple shark attacks in Western Australia (5) and Reunion Island (3) in the southwest Indian Ocean, which indicates the localities have developed problematic situations, said George Burgess, director of the file housed at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus.

“Those two areas are sort of hot spots in the world – Western Australia is a function of white shark incidents and Reunion is a function most likely of bull shark incidents,” Burgess said. “What I’ve seen in all situations when there’s been a sudden upswing in an area is that human-causative factors are involved, such as changes in our behavior, changes in our abundance, or an overt shark-attracting product of something that we’re doing.”

Eighty unprovoked attacks occurred worldwide, slightly more than 2011. Four attacks were recorded in South Africa, three of which resulted in death, which is higher than its recent average of one fatality per year. Australia had an average year with 14 attacks and two fatalities, despite the media attention regarding incidents in Western Australia that resulted in a government-sanctioned culling hunt for endangered white sharks.

“The concept of ‘let’s go out and kill them’ is an archaic approach to a shark attack problem, and its opportunities for success are generally slim-to-none,” Burgess said. “It’s mostly a feel-good revenge – like an ‘eye for an eye’ approach – when in fact you’re not likely to catch the shark that was involved in the situation. The shark that was involved in the situation also isn’t necessarily likely to do it again.”

Following long-term trends, most shark bites occurred in North American waters (42). The 53 U.S. incidents include Hawaii and Puerto Rico, which are not recorded as occurring in North American waters in the International Shark Attack File database. Florida led the country with 26, followed by Hawaii (10), California (5), South Carolina (5), North Carolina (2) and one each in Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Puerto Rico. One fatality occurred in California, and Hawaii had the highest number of attacks since seven in 2007, more than its yearly average of four. Most incidents in Florida occurred in Brevard (8) and Volusia (7) counties because these central east coast beaches are high aquatic recreation areas, especially for surfers, Burgess said.

“The numbers from an international standpoint were on target for the last couple of years because, in theory, each year we should have more attacks than the previous year owing to the rise of human population from year to year,” Burgess said. “Thus the shark attack rate is not increasing even though the number of shark attacks is rising. Shark attack as a phenomenon is extremely uncommon, considering the millions of hours humans spend in the water each year.”

The 2012 U.S. fatality rate of 2 percent is far lower than the 22 percent for the rest of the world, likely due to superior safety and medical capabilities in the U.S., Burgess said.

“We could reduce risks by avoiding areas and times when sharks are most common, and where danger is at its highest,” Burgess said. “A perfect example of that is in Western Australia, where people have been getting hit in areas of known white shark abundance at times of year when white shark numbers are at their highest – the responsibility is upon us, as humans, to avoid such situations or else pay the consequence.”

Surfers experienced a majority of shark incidents with 60 percent, largely due to the provocative nature of the activity. Swimmers were affected by 22 percent of attacks, followed by divers, with 8 percent.

Burgess said 30 million to 70 million sharks are killed every year in fisheries, and people need to recognize humans pose a greater threat to elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays) than sharks do to humans. Worldwide over-fishing, especially to meet demands for flesh and fins used in shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy, continues to contribute to the decline in shark populations, Burgess said.

In the case of a shark attack, researchers advise taking a proactive response, such as hitting the shark’s nose, since they respect size and power.

“Shark attacks are rare and it doesn’t matter whether you call them attacks or bites or bumps – your chances of having any of them are slim,” Burgess said.

For additional safety tips and to view the 2012 Worldwide Shark Attack Summary, please visit www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/isaf/isaf.htm.