Blog Archives

vanEngelsdorp featured in today's Nature

5/21/2015

Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Assistant Professor of Entomology at the University of Maryland, featured in a story about neonicotinoid pesticides and honeybees in today's Nature.

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Spring 2015 Colloquium: Dr. Julie Dunning Hotopp

5/21/2015

How Spiderman got his Powers: A Look into Lateral Gene Transfer

“Actually, Spiderman’s powers have nothing to do with radioactivity,” Dr. Julie Dunning Hotopp clarified to the roomful of entomologists. “It was the transfer of spider DNA into his genome.” While the ability to climb walls or shoot webs out your wrists (or worse) is pure science fiction, the transfer of DNA between two different species does actually occur. Dr. Dunning Hotopp explained that this process, known as lateral gene transfer (LGT), is quite widespread and the advent of genome sequencing (determining the chemical code that make an organism unique) in the last decade has greatly expanded our knowledge on the prevalence and role of foreign DNA in animals

(The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug)

Demonstrating high LGT frequency in invertebrates, Dr. Dunning Hotopp’s team detected LGT from the bacterial endosymbionts Wolbachia in over 30% of sequenced arthropod genomes. Wolbachia is an intracellular bacterial parasite/mutualist with complex host interactions. While LGT from bacteria to animals often has no benefit to a host, in certain cases it can be advantageous. For example, the coffee berry borer, a major pest to coffee growers, and the brown marmorated stink bug both have a gene originally acquired from bacteria. The gene, HhMAN1, codes for the protein mannanse and enables insects to digest plant sugars.

Mike Raupp on The Kojo Nnamdi Show

5/21/2015

The spotted lanternfly threatens grapes, fruit crops, and ornamental plants in the United States. Mike Raupp

Mike Raupp, Professor of Entomology and known as the University of Maryland's "Bug Guy" joins Kojo to talk about the emerald ash borer and other insects of spring. Listen to him hear.

Spring 2015 Colloquium: Guihua Chen

5/19/2015

Mitigation of N2O emissions using conservation tillage in vegetable fields transitioning to organic productions

Figure 1. Conventionally tilled field. Photo credit: Guihua Chen

Is global warming still happening? As succinctly stated by Entomology Post-Doc Guihua Chen: yes, obviously. The real question is what can we do about it.

Nitrous oxide, or N2O, is one of the most important non-CO2 (carbon dioxide) greenhouse gases (Reay et al. 2012). N2O emission has been a topic of increasing controversy, particularly in the discussion of biofuels, as agricultural production is one of its primary anthropogenic sources (Crutzen et al. 2008). Although N2O is a natural byproduct of the nitrogen cycle, many agricultural practices lead to increased N2O emissions. For example, the addition of fertilizer adds more nitrogen into the system, and conventional tillage may increase the transport rate of N2O from the soil (Chatskikh and Olesen 2007). What management practices, then, could a farmer use to reduce N2O emissions from their crop systems? Dr. Chen’s research centers on this question, and how it relates specifically to organic farming techniques.

Entomology’s Margaret A. Palmer honored by the Society for Freshwater Science

5/15/2015

Congratulations to Dr. Margaret Palmer for receiving the 2015 Award of Excellent from the Society for Freshwater Science. To read more about the award and Dr. Palmer's research can be found at here.

Bee Death Increase Seen in U.S. Survey

5/13/2015

Bloomberg Business reported on Dennis and the Bee Informed Partnership annual honey bee survey

Beekeepers in the U.S. reported that 42 percent of the honeybees they managed last year died, the second-highest percentage since the survey began in 2010, as mites, viruses, and other maladies caused losses to spike. Pesticides exposure also may play a role in weakening bee population, said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Maryland and project director of the Bee Informed Partnership.

Beekeepers lost 27.4 percent of their hives from April 2014 through September, up from 19.8 percent the previous year, according to the survey. Losses from October through March fell to 23.1 percent from 23.7 percent. “We’re a little frustrated that we’ve stabilized our winter losses only to see mortality go up in the summer,” vanEngelsdorp said.

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Bee Informed Partnership honey bee colony survey results released today

5/13/2015

Nationwide annual honey bee colony losses. Image: Bee Informed Partnership/University of Maryland/Loretta Kuo

Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Nathalie Steinhauer, Karen Rennich and their colleagues with the Bee Informed Partnership, whose latest annual survey results on honey bee colony losses are released today. Results of the survey suggest that beekeepers across the United States lost more than 40 percent of their honey bee colonies during the year spanning April 2014 to April 2015. While winter loss rates improved slightly compared to last year, summer losses—and consequently, total annual losses—were more severe. This is the first time summer losses have eclipsed winter losses since the survey began tracking summer losses five years ago. "We traditionally thought of winter losses as a more important indicator of health, because surviving the cold winter months is a crucial test for any bee colony," said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Maryland and project director for the Bee Informed Partnership.

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D. Venugopal, B. Lamp and colleague M. Baker research paper published online in PLOS ONE

5/13/2015

A nymph-stage potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae, right of center) rests on a leaf of alfalfa (Medicago sativa). The discoloration and scarring seen on the leaves is called "hopperburn," and is the result of a toxin contained in a leafhoppers saliva.

Entomology’s Dilip Venugopal and William Lamp, as well as their colleague Mitchell Baker of Queens College CUNY, whose paper "Climate change and phenology: Empoasca fabae (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) migration and severity of impact," was published online today in the journal PLOS ONE. Their results suggest that climate warming could be exacerbating crop damage caused by the potato leafhopper, a tiny migratory insect pest that causes millions of dollars worth of damage to crops in the eastern United States every year. Using six decades worth of data, the study found that potato leafhoppers arrive an average of 10 days earlier than in the early 1950s, and their infestations are more severe in the warmest years. These effects correspond to an overall increase in years with warmer than average temperatures over the same time period. "The potato leafhopper is a significant pest in this country, spanning multiple crops across a large area. The scale of influence is huge," said Dilip Venugopal, a research associate in entomology at University of Maryland and co-lead author of the study. "Earlier arrival dates make it particularly important for farmers to get out early in the season and scout for leafhoppers," said William Lamp, an associate professor of entomology at University of Maryland and a co-author of the study.

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Entomology Recent Publications and Talks

5/11/2015

Publications

Baker, M., Venugopal, D., and Lamp, W. 2015. Climate Change and Phenology: Empoasca fabae (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) Migration and Severity of Impact. PLOS ONE. doi:10: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124915

Venugopal, D., Martinson, H., Bergmann, E., Shrewsbury, P., and Raupp, M. 2015. Environmental Entomology.
doi: 10.1093/ee/nvv061

Raupp, M.J. and Szczepaniec, A. 2015. Collateral effects of neonicotinoid insecticides. Tree Care Industry. 24(2): 30 – 34.

Talks

M. J. Raupp. P. M. Shrewsbury, and D. A. Herms. Disasters by Design: Why Insects Outbreak in Urban Forests. International Society of Arboriculture Western Chapter. Yosemite, CA. April 30, 2015.

M. J. Raupp. P. M. Shrewsbury, and D. A. Herms. Biological control in the urban forest. International Society of Arboriculture Western Chapter. Yosemite, CA. April 29, 2015.

Daniel Gruner gave a project talk titled “Drivers and Consequences of Mangrove Expansion into Temperate Salt Marsh” for the NASA Biodiversity and Ecological Forecasting project team, College Park, MD on April 23, 2015.

M. J. Raupp, P. M. Shrewsbury, and D. A. Herms. Disasters by Design: Why Insects Outbreak in Urban Forests. Eastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America. Rehoboth, DE. March 16, 2015.

M. J. Raupp. Turning the tables on invasive insect pests: Using wicked plant defenses in landscape ecosystems. Eastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America. Rehoboth, DE. March 16, 2015.

Chris, Galen and Mike quoted in a CBS Story

5/11/2015

Chris Taylor, Galen Dively, and Mike Raupp quoted in a CBS story

The University of Maryland, Department of Entomology is in need of stink bugs to continue their research. According to Chris Taylor, University of Maryland Ph.D. candidate, "You're going to be noticing a lot of insect activity inside your house. This is a great opportunity to collect insects and help us supplement our colony by getting lots of bugs to do our studies."

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Entomology's Barbara Thorne Working to Prevent Large Termite Nests from Spreading in Florida-Sun Sentinel

5/4/2015

Research Professor at the University of Maryland's Department of Entomology, Barbara Thorne, works with Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to prevent large termite nests from spreading in Florida.

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Spring 2015 Colloquium: Kevin Ulrich

5/1/2015

**The alarm-defense system of Cimex lectularius and its implications for pest management**
Post by Lisa Kuder

Figure 1: Cimex lectularius

Bed bugs (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) . . . the very mention of these small blood sucking parasites is enough to make most feel squeamish. While all cimicids have mammalian hosts, only three species have a strong preference for humans. Often considered a public health concern, there is no evidence that they are disease vectors. However, bed bugs can illicit allergic reactions, discomfort, anemia, and illnesses associated with insecticide treatments.

How Spiderman got his Powers: A Look into Lateral Gene Transfer

Mitigation of N2O emissions using conservation tillage in vegetable fields transitioning to organic productions

Bloomberg Business reported on Dennis and the Bee Informed Partnership annual honey bee survey

Publications

Talks

The alarm-defense system of Cimex lectularius and its implications for pest management Post by Lisa Kuder

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**The alarm-defense system of Cimex lectularius and its implications for pest management**
Post by Lisa Kuder