**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** PERSISTENT STRAINS OF ENTOMOPATHOGENIC NEMATODES (EPNS), UNLIKE CURRENTCOMMERCIAL STRAINS OF EPNS, PERSIST FOR DECADES FOLLOWING A SINGLE APPLICATION. THESE STRAINS ARE BEING INVESTIGATED BY NUMEROUS ENTITIES FOR WIDESPREAD CONTROL OF WESTERN CORN ROOTWORM, THE LEADING PEST OF CORN IN THE UNITED STATES. HERE, WE PROPOSE TO INVESTIGATE THE MULTI-YEAR IMPACTS OF APPLYING PERSISTENT EPN STRAINS TO TWO FIELDS IN EACH OF THREE STATES (TEXAS, NEBRASKA, AND ILLINOIS). BY DOING SO, WE EXPECT TO MINIMIZE POTENTIAL NEGATIVE EFFECTS AND UNDERSTAND POTENTIAL BENEFITS MISSED BY CURRENT RESEARCH EFFORTS.WE WILL INVESTIGATE THE IMPACTS OF PERSISTENT EPN STRAINS BY MEASURING ABUNDANCE OF BENEFICIAL AND PEST INSECTS CAPTURED IN CORN AGROECOSYSTEMS BY USE OF PITFALL TRAPS AND EMERGENCE CAGES, RESPECTIVELY. USING PLOTS ESTABLISHED TO MONITOR IMPACTS TO PEST AND BENEFICIAL SPECIES, SOIL SAMPLES WILL BE TAKEN FROM EACH PLOT IN THE SPRING AND FALL TO EVALUATE PRESENCE OF NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE EPN SPECIES AND STRAINS. INFECTIVE JUVENILES OF EPNS RECOVERED FROM WHITE TRAPS WILL BE USED FOR DNA EXTRACTION AND METABARCODING. GENETIC SEQUENCING AND FOLLOWING ANALYSES WILL THEN BE USED TO DETERMINE WHICH EPN SPECIES AND POPULATIONS (I.E., HAPLOTYPES) ARE PRESENT IN PLOTS ACROSS THE TRIAL LOCATIONS. DATA FROM THESE TRIALS WILL BE USED TO MORE HOLISTICALLY DISCUSS THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THIS PROPOSED MANAGEMENT STRATEGY IN CORN GROWING STATES REPRESENTING TENS OF MILLIONS OF ACRES.