written by: Michael Adu-Brew 

With teamwork, ants keep their colonies running through invisible trails of chemicals known as pheromones. These chemical signals guide foragers to food, direct traffic along busy trails, and ensure that every part of the colony stays connected. As part of the UMD Entomology colloquium series, Dr. Yang shared his research on Ant Foraging Ecology: Trophic Eggs, Viral Interactions, and Spotted Lanternfly Biosurveillance, offering fresh insights into how ants shape ecosystems, challenge pest control, and even help track invasive species.
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Ants have a highly coordinated, cooperative, and efficient foraging strategy. In one remarkable experiment, researchers used a radioactive sugar solution and special cameras to track how food rapidly spreads through an ant colony via trophallaxis – a social feeding behavior where ants share liquid food mouth-to-mouth (essentially “kissing”) as shown in figure 1. These behaviors of quick recruitment to food and efficient food sharing are key reasons for ant colonies’ success. If ants can quickly find and widely distribute food throughout the colony, they gain a huge survival advantage – unless they unknowingly spread toxic chemicals to each other.

written by: Pablo Stilwell
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Malaria affects half of the human race (~225 mil cases and >600k deaths). It has killed 150-300 million in the 20th century alone. The disease is caused by the Plasmodium protist and vectored by Anopheles mosquitoes. Of the 450 species only about 45 are known to vector the disease.
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Dr. Abba Gumel is a mathematical biologist who creates and analyzes models that help us understand how diseases spread and can be controlled. He and his team at University of Maryland are working on topics such as how climate change affects diseases carried by insects, how insecticide resistance influences malaria, and how changes in land use affect disease risk.

written by Harriet Harris

Dr. Stephania Sandoval Arango is an entomologist and evolutionary biologist working at the USDA Bee Lab in Beltsville, Maryland. In addition to expanding on what we know about bees, she focuses on who gets to ask these questions in the first place. As a queer, Colombian scientist working in the U.S., her perspective brings richness and diversity to evolutionary biology, one that reflects the intersectional reality of science today.

written by: Jillian Stewart

Entomology has a new downstairs neighbor in the Plant Sciences Department! He’s an invasive species ecologist, but don’t worry, he’s here to collaborate. Dr. Dan Buonaiuto studies how climate change affects biodiversity and the functions of plant communities with a particular focus on phenology. Phenology is the timing of lifecycle events in an organism’s life: when it emerges from dormancy, when it molts, when it mates, and what factors influence this timing.

How is climate change influencing plant phenology? Plants rely on temperature cues and light periods to determine when they flower, leaf out, and go dormant (Buonaiuto et al, 2023). In many plants, the sequence of flowering and leafing in the spring is very important to their reproductive success. Some plants leaf first, others flower first. Many plants produce hermaphroditic flowers -each flower has male and female gametes. Other plants are monoecious, where the male and female flowers are separate but still on one plant. Some plants produce their male flowers first, others produce the female flower. This temporal separation of male and female is called dichogamy and can be a delicate balance! Leafing, male flowering, and female flowering can all have different phenological sensitivities to climate change (figure one). This can make reproduction in monoecious plants particularly vulnerable to warming. Many monoecious plants cannot self-fertilize. If their male and female flowers overlap too much, the female flowers may become clogged with pollen from the same tree. This can reduce the reproductive output of a tree or, if the pollen is usable, reduce the genetic diversity of offspring. Reduced genetic diversity can impede a species’ ability to adapt to changing conditions like climate change (Buonaiuto, 2024).

written by: Allison Huysman
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When most people think of wildlife and biodiversity, they may think of national parks or wildlife preserves far away from humans. However, as urbanization continues to take over much of the earth’s surface, it is important for conservationists and land managers to think of ways that cities can provide habitat for wildlife. Dr. Travis Gallo, professor in the University of Maryland’s Department of Environmental Science and Technology, makes the case that cities create an opportunity to bring people and nature together to thrive. In a recent seminar, Dr. Gallo presented his lab’s research on wildlife space use and interactions in urban and suburban environments. His research aims to show how urban planning can conserve biological diversity to improve the lives of both wildlife and people.​

written by: Helen Craig

A classic Maryland summer includes three prominent features: heat, humidity, and blue crabs. Over the past decade, the Maryland blue crab industry has brought in approximately $45 million in revenue for the state’s economy annually. As a result of its cultural and economic importance, understanding the progression of events in the life of a Maryland blue crab (Callinectes sapidus; kalli = beautiful, nectus = swimmer, sapidus = savory) has become a topic of interest for many hoping to maintain the health of the bay and this time-honored food source. Particularly, more information is needed on the molting and sexual differentiation of Maryland blue crabs to understand how they develop and successfully reproduce, a key to responsibly managing their populations.

​In a recent seminar hosted by the Department of Entomology, Dr. J. Sook Chung shared her research studying the life history and endocrinology of the Maryland blue crab. Dr. Chung works at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in Baltimore, MD, where she rears and studies thousands of Maryland blue crabs. While detailing the story of a blue crab’s life cycle, Dr. Chung shared details from her research studying the hormones in these blue crabs that could directly relate to blue crab management. 

Turns out FM has its eye on insects, too. Members of the Facility Maintenance Pest Management team, Jorge and Joe, prioritize sustainable, safe pest control strategies that protect both the campus environment and its community. Their integrated approach includes installing physical barriers, using traps, limiting pesticides, and consulting experts, like entomologists, for guidance.

When a swarm of honey bees settled near the SECU Stadium just before a major field hockey match, Jorge and Joe partnered with Eric Malcolm from the Bee Lab to safely capture and relocate the bees. Swarming is a natural process. As temperatures rise, the queen along with thousands of bees leave the hive to start a new colony.  If you encounter a swarm, don't kill the bees! Follow Jorge and Joe’s lead; contact a beekeeper to relocate bees to a more suitable environment where they can continue to thrive and pollinate. 

In another case this semester, there was a sudden boom in ant activity outside a well-known campus building, prompting concern. Uncertain about the species, Jorge brought the sticky trap loaded with specimens to Dr. Jeff Shultz’s lab for identification. Dr. Shultz confirmed the ants were Prenolepis imparis, aka false honey ant, writing to Jorge, “It is common in Maryland and most active this time of year (cool). Can be a nuisance but rarely, if ever, a pest.”

The Department of Entomology is proud to be a resource for FM’s Pest Management Team. Jorge and Joe's thoughtful, science-based responses to insect issues on campus shows their commitment to meeting human needs while still being considerate of environmental impacts.

​Congratulations to the #InsectTerps who successfully defended their theses and dissertations this semester. We are so proud of each student; behind their accomplishment were years of arduous work and a dedicated commitment to contributing to the field of Entomology and Biological Sciences.

Kristen Au
Advisor: Leslie Pick
Master Thesis: DETERMINING THE NECESSITY OF PAIR-RULE CIS-REGULATORY ELEMENTS IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER
What's next: Continuing research in the Pick lab this summer while actively exploring job opportunities
Tips for students: Start your writing early-- future you will be grateful 

Amanda Rae Brucchieri
Advisor: Bill Lamp
Masters Thesis:  CHARACTERISTICS OF FARM PONDS THAT PROMOTE DRAGONFLIES AS CONSERVATION BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS IN PASTURE SYSTEMS. For more on her work check out the blog covering her exit seminar.

Ben Burgunder
Advisor: Megan Fritz 
Masters Thesis:  WEST NILE VIRUS HUMAN CASE PREDICTION, CRYPTIC VECTOR COMMUNITY COMPOSITION, AND FINE-SCALE VIRAL PREVALENCE ACROSS SUBURBAN CHICAGO  
What’s next: Ben is moving to Pennsylvania to start working as an Environmental Health Specialist for a county health department.
Tips from Ben to current and incoming Grad Students: 
1. Having a thought-out and comprehensive labeling system is one of the most important and most underrated keys to success in grad school. No one wants to have to dig through poorly labeled freezer boxes, desperately searching for samples from two years ago. Make sure to keep detailed notes and stay organized!
2. Never delete anything you spent more than five minutes on. I keep all of my bad/irrelevant code, deleted chunks of writing, and outdated spreadsheets in specific, separate places. If I ever realize that I still need them (which happens all the time, sometimes months later), I know where to look and do not have to restart from scratch or worry about track changes/version history.
Ben's shout out to the Fritz Lab and Dept: I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work in the Fritz Lab and be a part of the wonderful UMD Department of Entomology. I deeply appreciate all of your friendship and support these past three years. I would particularly like to thank Amy and Andy for their tireless help and guidance. 

Dongxu Chen
Advisor: David Hawthorne 
Dissertation: GENOMIC ANALYSIS OF INSECTICIDE RESISTANCE CANDIDATE GENES IN THE COLORADO POTATO BEETLE, LEPTINOTARSA DECEMLINEATA.
Tips for students (preparing for defense/thesis writing):
1. Consult your academic committee — they can offer you many valuable ideas and perspectives for understanding and solving problems.
2. When writing a dissertation, use a real mouse instead of a touchpad to avoid tenosynovitis.

Robert Salerno 
Advisor: Bill Lamp
Masters Thesis:  ECOLOGICAL INTENSIFICATION WITHIN FORAGE SYSTEMS BENEFITS SOIL ARTHROPODS AND SOIL BIOTA-MEDIATED ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. For more on his work check out the blog covering his exit seminar. 

written by: Carter Dierlam

​Professor Akito Kawahara is a Professor, Curator, and Director of the McGuire Center located in Gainesville Florida. The McGuire Center serves as a primary hub for Lepidoptera (Moths and Butterflies) and biodiversity research in the US. Dr. Kawahara studies the evolution and diversity of Lepidoptera. His lab focuses on answering key questions, such as how growing cities and their light pollution affect nocturnal moths, how different moth species fend off bat attacks, and other aspects of their development. A PhD graduate of the University of Maryland, Dr. Kawahara recently visited and presented to the UMD Entomology department to discuss some of his interesting findings. Specifically, he shared his research on the various adaptations moths use to fend off bat attacks. 

written by: Robert Salerno & Helen Craig
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Have you ever applied a pesticide to control a pest problem in your yard, garden, or farm? If so, have you thought about where the pesticide may end up or the impacts it will have on the environment? If you answered yes to these questions, you may be relieved to know this is the job of environmental risk assessors at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). There, they ask important questions like what are the potential effects of a pesticide, how does it move through the environment, how are different organisms in the environment potentially exposed, and what is the likelihood of harmful effects occurring when a pesticide is applied? The answers to these essential questions are what make up an ecological risk assessment. Before a pesticide can be registered, the EPA needs to obtain or produce evidence that the pesticide “will not generally cause any unreasonable risk to man or the environment.”
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Recently, Annie Krueger, a consultant from Compliance Services International, spoke to the UMD entomology department about the past, present, and future of pesticides and the Endangered Species Act. She highlighted how ecological risks are assessed for a pesticide, described how threatened and endangered species are protected from pesticides, and shared how different groups are working towards the coexistence of pesticides in agriculture and protected species. Her talk shed light on the complex balancing act between protecting biodiversity and supporting agricultural production: a challenge that continues to shape the future of pesticide regulation.

written by: Benjamin P Gregory

​Over the past few years, a number of reports have shaken the entomology world by indicating that insect populations are declining globally at an unprecedented rate. Dubbed the “insect apocalypse” by the media, this decline in insect population raises a number of serious concerns for the biosphere. Insects make up the foundation of many food chains, and are fundamental to ecosystems all over the world.
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So why is this decline happening? Among many drivers, pesticide use is very significant. Pesticides can be helpful tools for reducing populations of harmful insects, like those that feed on our crops or spread diseases. But for all of their strengths, pesticides often lack precision, and their broad application kills all insects, including beneficial species that provide important ecosystem services.

written by: Makayla Harrison

​​We often forget about the vibrant and essential world that lives beneath our feet, which includes microorganisms and soil arthropods. While farms often use machines and chemicals, the benefit of working with the world underground often goes unnoticed. Robert Salerno – a graduating master’s student and member of the Lamp lab– discussed his thesis work exploring the response of soil arthropods to ecological intensification in agricultural forage systems during a recent colloquium with the Entomology department. Forage systems are used to feed livestock, and they are managed in many different ways. While some systems are managed in a conventional manner, using heavy machinery and chemical inputs, other systems use the ecosystem's natural functions to support and regulate the land. The method of using the natural functions of the ecosystem to sustainably produce agricultural goods is called ecological intensification. 

written by: Maggie Schaefer

When you drive through the suburbs, you often see nothing more than barren, empty lawns. These yards are voids for senses, both for us and for other life. Nancy Lawson’s yard is the exact opposite. With an explosion of signals between the native plants she has cultivated and the animals they have brought, she observes every day just how important a conservation garden can be.
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Lawson, a certified Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional, master naturalist, and University of Maryland journalism alumna, recently presented her talk “A World of Discovery: Blending Science and Heart in the Sensory Wildscape.” Starting with journalism work for an animal protection organization, she felt most drawn to stories on urban wildlife. Now, she pursues that passion for wildlife writing as a full-time career, giving talks, writing books, and compiling her writings and photographs at The Humane Gardener. 

written by: Ben Burgunder 
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​Many of us are fascinated by insects and their stories. We are amazed by the transformation of the earth-bound caterpillar to the glorious butterfly. But before a caterpillar can become a butterfly, it first must hatch from the egg. How much do we know about the building blocks that allow a tiny egg to become a caterpillar in the first place? A largely unexplored world of genetic machinery tirelessly works to form the developing embryo beneath the egg’s shell. With advanced genetic tools, researchers can tinker with the embryological building blocks that shape caterpillars and begin to reveal this hidden world.

written by: Allison Elizabeth Huysman
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​Mosquitoes are well known as both irritating and as vectors of dangerous diseases. In parts of the world like Africa, southeast Asia, and South America, mosquitoes in the genus Anopheles spread the life-threatening disease malaria. Public health measures to control disease transmission by mosquitoes include physical prevention with bed nets and chemical prevention using insect repellents. However, the effectiveness of chemical measures depends on the mosquitoes not developing a resistance to them.

written by: Amanda Rae Brucchieri
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​Back in the UMD Entomology Department where she previously earned her Master’s degree, Dr. Morgan Thompson is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Burghardt Lab. Upon returning to the department, she shared some interesting findings from her doctoral research. At this week’s Colloquium, Dr. Thompson told three stories: undercover operation, eavesdropping plants, and phytochemical diversity. Altogether, these research tales earned her the prestigious title of PhD from Texas A&M University. 

written by: Jillian Stewart

What do you do with a drunken crayfish? If you’re in the Herberholz lab, you quantify how long it takes for the crayfish to get well and truly sloshed, and use it to model the impacts of social isolation on the nervous system.
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Crayfish are a valuable model for the nervous system, with which researchers are quite familiar. Their relatively large neurons are easy to work with and can survive outside the animal for several hours. The crayfish nervous system has been well mapped and the roles of individual nerves are often known (Venuti et al, 2021).

In addition to their nervous systems, crayfish exhibit simple social behaviours. Crayfish form linear social hierarchies by dueling with each other. These hierarchies last for about seven days, after which the crayfish forget who won and duke it out again. Dr. Herberholz and his lab at UMD’s Department of Psychology used these social systems to model how isolation affects the nervous system’s response to alcohol. They placed individual crayfish, some socially isolated for seven days and others communally housed, in a tank of water with alcohol in it.

Crayfish exhibit distinct phases of intoxication: for the first ten or fifteen minutes, they are unaffected. Then, they start to stand up tall on their tip-toes. Next, they perform an escape maneuver by flipping their tail repeatedly (image 1). Finally, the crayfish lands on its back and is unable to right itself. At this point, the crayfish is returned to fresh water and recovers in a couple hours. 

written by: M. Rho Ma

​Insects are both essential to ecosystems and a source of challenges for human health and agriculture. They pollinate crops, serve as food for other species, and contribute to nutrient cycling, but they can also act as vectors for diseases or suffer population declines due to human activity. Striking a balance between conserving beneficial insects and managing harmful ones is a pressing concern in entomology. The following research-in-progress talks by graduate students demonstrate how entomological research bridges the gap between ecological understanding and practical solutions, focusing on pesticide impacts, mosquito adaptation, and disease surveillance.  

written by: Michael Adu-Brew and Leo M Kerner
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​The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was instituted in 1970 and is tasked with matters of environmental protection. Its mandate is to provide clean air, land, and water, reduce environmental risk based on science, administer and enforce federal laws protecting human health and the environment, and promote environmental stewardship1 . As part of the UMD Department of Entomology seminar series, Mr. Keith Sappington – a Senior Science Advisor at EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs – provided an overview on December 6 th , 2024 of the agency’s procedures for pesticide ecological risk assessment and how these procedures are used to assess risk to insect pollinators and endangered species.

The Hamby Lab works to encourage the use of Insect Pest Management (IPM) in agroecosystems, aiming to improve management tactics and create more sustainable alternatives. Their latest study, “Preventative insecticides reduce seedling injury, but do not increase yield in Bt and non-Bt corn grown in the mid-Atlantic” demonstrates that while preventive tactics, like neonicotinoid seed treatments and in-furrow pyrethroids, effectively manage pests, consistent pest pressure is needed to justify their use. 
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After evaluating the effectiveness of these preventative insecticide treatments in field corn production, their study finds that while damage can be reduced using these early season preventive measures, at the end of the season yield is not significantly increased. The take-home message from the study: These preventive measures do not pay off in all situations and insecticide use could be reduced. A more effective IPM approach incorporates pest pressure, using preventative insecticides where pests consistently occur and foliar insecticides for sporadic issues that spring up. Multiple non-chemical prevention strategies should also be used before resorting to chemical treatments.

This semester we welcome aboard two new lecturers to the Department of Entomology, Drs. Chloe Garfinkel and Jessie Mutz. 
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Chloe Garfinkel joins us after wrapping up her appointment as Assistant Teaching Professor of Biology at Loyola University Maryland, where she taught Environmental Biology and Insect Biology. Between her instruction at Loyola and her teaching assistantship at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she earned her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Chloe brings 7+ years of instructional expertise and experience back to UMD. We say, “back to UMD” because, excitingly, Chloe is a Terp alum, earning a B.S. in Biological Sciences: Ecology and Evolution, 18’, with honors in Entomology under the advisement of Dr. Lamp.  This Spring Chloe will bring her professional career full circle, teaching some of the very same courses she took as an undergrad student.
Fun facts about Chloe: Chloe has a 9-year-old orange male cat named Chompy. She is an avid crafter (crochet, card making, painting, etc.) and proud owner of a Cricut (the craft cutting machine, not a pet insect) that you would be welcome to borrow.
Jessie Mutz earned her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Florida State University, focusing on the evolutionary ecology of herbivorous insects. While earning her degree she taught courses in Ecology, Evolution, and Experimental Design. Most recently, she completed a USDA Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, using experiments and modeling to investigate how plant inducible defenses influence plant-herbivore population dynamics. We are excited to have Jessie bring her in-depth scientific knowledge and decade of instructional experience to the classrooms of UMD.  
Fun facts about Jessie: Jessie performed in a band during grad school and has written fan-favorite folk rock songs about turtles and spider ballooning. Her dog, Tito, is a total sweetie but probably the wrong combination of too big and too excitable to make regular on-campus appearances (bummer).

Please join us in giving Chloe and Jessie a warm welcome to Entomology! You can meet up with them in person at their offices (PLS 3142 & PLS3146). Alternatively, catch up with them via email at ([email protected] & [email protected]).