THE BROWN MARMORATED STINKBUG (HALYOMORPHA HALYS, BMSB) AND SPOTTED LANTERNFLY (LYCORMA DELICATULA, SLF) POSE SUBSTANTIAL RISKS TO A VARIETY OF CROPS AS THEY EXPAND THEIR RANGE OUT OF PENNSYLVANIA AND ACROSS THE US. WE WILL DEVELOP AN INNOVATIVE MOLECULAR SURVEY PROTOCOL CAPABLE OF DETECTING THESE PESTS WHEN THEY ARE VERY RARE IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND WITHOUT REQUIRING PHYSICAL CAPTURE. SUCH A PROTOCOL WILL REVOLUTIONIZE DETECTION OF THESE SPECIES, AND THROUGH THEIR DEVELOPMENT, ESTABLISH A METHODOLOGICAL 'PIPELINE' THAT CAN BE APPLIED TO MANY OTHER INVASIVE INSECTS. IF SUCCESSFULLY DEVELOPED, AND THEN WIDELY ADOPTED, OUR METHOD PROVIDES A PARADIGM SHIFT IN HOW TO DETECT AGRICULTURAL PESTS WHEN RARE IN A LANDSCAPE. EARLY DETECTION IS KEY FOR IMPLEMENTING ERADICATION AND CONTROL STRATEGIES. ENVIRONMENTAL DNA (EDNA) SURVEYS HAVE BECOME A POWERFUL AND REVOLUTIONARY TOOL FOR DETECTING RARE SPECIES IN AQUATIC AND PEDOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENTS. EXCLUDING SOILS, EDNA HAS SEEN LITTLE USE INTERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS DUE TO DIFFICULTIES IN UNDERSTANDING WHERE TERRESTRIAL DNA IS DEPOSITED BY TARGET ORGANISMS, HOW QUICKLY IT DEGRADES, AND ULTIMATELY HOW TO PHYSICALLY COLLECT IT TO GENERATE USEFUL DETECTION DATA. FOR INSECTS THAT FEED ON THE EXTERNAL PARTS OF VEGETATION, OUR RUTGERS GROUP HAS MADE CONSIDERABLE PROGRESS ON THESE ISSUES. WE HAVE DEVELOPED THE ASSAYS TO DETECT BMSB AND SLF FROM A VARIETY OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS AND HOST TREES. IN ADDITION, WE HAVE DEVELOPED THE NECESSARY FIELD PROCESSING PROTOCOLS TO AVOID CONTAMINATION IN THE FIELD, WHILE ENSURING THE METHODS REMAIN SUFFICIENTLY SENSITIVE FOR EARLY DETECTION AND DELIMITING SURVEYS. BASED ON A PILOT FIELD STUDY, OUR RESULTS SUGGEST A TERRESTRIAL EDNA APPROACH HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DETECT THESE AGRICULTURAL PESTS AT LEAST A FULL SEASON EARLIER THAN VISUAL TRADITIONAL TRAPPING METHODS. WE HAVE ALSO DEVELOPED SEVERAL METHODS FOR COLLECTING TERRESTRIAL EDNA FROM VEGETATION, WHICH WE TESTED UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS AND IN SMALL-SCALE FIELD EXPERIMENTS, EACH PROVIDING DETECTIONS OF THE TARGET INSECT FROM AS LITTLE DNA DEPOSITION PROVIDED BY ONE INDIVIDUAL DEFECATION EVENT. WE WILL BUILD ON THIS PRELIMINARY WORK BY OPTIMIZING COLLECTION PROTOCOLS FOR USE IN FULL-SCALE TERRESTRIAL EDNA SURVEYS IN AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS, AND THEN ASSESSING THEIR EFFECTIVENESS COMPARED TO EXISTING SURVEY METHODS.