Blog Archives

Plenary Speaker, Dave O'Brochta

6/26/2015

Congratulations to Dave O'Brochta who was the Plenary Speaker at the Ninth Annual Arthropod Genomics Symposium, held last week in Manhattan Kansas.

Dr. Raymond St. Leger named as recipient of the Kirwan Faculty Research and Scholarship Prize

6/25/2015

Congratulations to Dr. Raymond St. Leger who has been named as the recipient of the Kirwan Faculty Research and Scholarship Prize for 2015 by President Loh. The Kirwan Prize for 2015 recognizes Dr. St. Leger's accomplishments in the areas of biomedical research and agriculture and his work in genetic engineering techniques that develop new and more effective and environmentally safe technologies for controlling insect agricultural pests and vectors of important human diseases.

New online programs for the Department of Entomology

6/15/2015

Office of Extended Studies is administering new online programs for the Department of Entomology

Entomology graduate certificates and Master of Professional Studies starts at the University of Maryland fall 2015. Apply now at oes-entm.umd.edu

Mike Raupp featured in Wtop News

6/15/2015

Baltimore fighting against beetle that targets its ash trees

BALTIMORE (AP) — With the arrival of an invasive green Asian beetle in Baltimore, local governments and property owners are confronting tough — and potentially costly — choices about whether to try to save ash trees at risk of infestation or cut them down.

The culprit is the emerald ash borer, which could attack any of the 5 million to 6 million ash trees across the Baltimore metropolitan area. With the infestation already underway, City Hall is seeking a contractor to inject as many as 820 curbside ash trees with insecticide.

“We are taking the initial steps to deal with what’s going to be a tragic situation,” said Erik Dihle, the city’s arborist.

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Media report on Honey Bee Colony Loss Survey Results

6/12/2015

College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences releases media relations report on the Bee
Informed Partnership 2014-15 Honey Bee Colony Loss Survey Results

Entomology’s Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Nathalie Steinhauer, Karen Rennich and their colleagues with the Bee Informed Partnership released the 2014-15 results of their annual honey bee colony loss survey on May 13, 2015. 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.

The Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences communications team developed a media outreach program to build awareness of the findings. By leveraging a CMNS press release, this outreach effort resulted in more than 190 original media stories.

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Raymond St. Leger featured in environment360

6/4/2015

Marcos Teixeira de Freitas/Flickr An Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species that primarily transmits dengue fever.

Florida Keys state agency is awaiting approval from the federal government of a trial release of Oxitec's genetically modified mosquitos to prevent a recurrence of a dengue fever outbreak. Distinguished university professor at the University of Maryland, Entomology Department, Raymond St. Leger stated "Some people don't want to see GE (genetically engineered) anything." "It's an emotional response. It's hard to reason people out of a decision they didn't reason themselves into." St. Leger is now conducting field trials in Burkina Faso to test a method in which a mosquito is exposed to a fungus that prevents it from transmitting malaria.

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Spring 2015 Colloquium: Dr. Jeffrey Sosa-Calvo

6/2/2015

The Evolution of Fungus Farming Ants, and How They Partnered with Microbes for Crop Protection

Fungus-farming ants stand as a testament to the overlooked marvels of the insect world, likely one of the reason’s why Dr. Jeffrey Sosa has dedicated the better part of his time as a researcher to elucidating the hidden intricacies of their biology. Having discovered over 30 species so far over the course of his career, few researchers can say with such confidence that we’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to understanding this enthralling tribe of insects.

Agriculture as defined by Dr. Sosa, is the deliberate planting of the precursors of food products in substrate provided by the environment such as soil or mineral beds while also improving the growing conditions to maximize growth of the harvestable food product. Often associated with humans, there are actually at least 3 other organisms, all of which are insects, that exhibit this behavior. The most advanced example of insect farming are the fungus-farming ants, which are part of the tribe Attini and are restricted to the New World. Unlike humans, these diminutive farmers seem to have developed agriculture at one point in history: around the time mammals were establishing on the planet. Though Leaf-cutter ants are the most well-known of these insects, they only make-up about 20% of the described fungus-farming species.