Department of Entomology
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    • IPM & Biological Control of Agricultural, Urban & Forest Pests
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    • Plant Diagnostic Laboratory (PDL)

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
Picture(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. 


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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

PictureFigure 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.


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Spring 2015 Colloquium: Greg Davis

4/17/2015

 
Post by Justin Rosenthal and Nathalie Steinhauer

The Challenges of Optional Sex: the case of reproductive polyphenism in aphids

Insects lay eggs, right? Well, in aphids, a speciose family of the Sternorrhyncha, females actually have the option of laying eggs or producing live young from embryos (instead of laying eggs). This is an example of reproductive polyphenism. Polyphenism is the ability of some organisms to adapt their phenotypes in response to environmental cues (Figure 1, from Ogawa and Miura 2014).  In aphids the two reproductive strategies are a response to changes in photoperiod (day length) and this polyphenism is observed ubiquitously in these insects.  In their life cycle, after having survived the winter as frost-resistant eggs, founder females reproduce asexually birthing live young that will produce further asexual females. Asexual females are all about high reproductive rates and dispersion. Those asexual females actually exhibit a second type of polyphenism in that some of them can develop wings promoting dispersion when its current location is experiencing crowded conditions. As day length gets shorter, indicating the coming of winter, sexual egg-laying females are produced (Figure 1). But how are those changes mediated by the environmental signals and how does the system switch from sexual to asexual reproduction?

In last week’s colloquium, Gregory Davis illustrated the complexity of deciphering the mechanisms behind reproductive polyphenism using aphids as his model. Much of this work is available in his most recent review paper (Davis, 2012). He believes that such a novelty may have developed because an initial, slight change in morphology may have stimulated a modification of life history, with changes in life history feeding back to further changes in morphology, continuously playing off each other until obvious changes in body structure and development evolve. 


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Spring 2015 Colloquium: Rodriguez-Saona 

4/10/2015

 

An Agricultural Balancing Act:
A look at the biological control consequences of crop domestication

By Lauren Hunt and Jessica Grant

Ecological theories and models that attempt to explain interactions between plant, herbivore, and predator are innumerable. But just how accurate can these theories be? How many factors can be feasibly fitted to a model without making it cumbersome? What major variables are missing from these interaction evaluations? Dr. Rodriguez-Saona cites one key aspect of agro-ecosystems that has often been ignored: anthropogenic effects of crop selection. 

In terms of biological control, there are numerous top-down and bottom-up factors that play a role in the dynamic balance between plants and herbivores. Top-down factors are regulating mechanisms in which herbivore population numbers are controlled through upper trophic level organisms such as predators, natural enemies and parasitoids. In response to a lack of mobility, plants have developed an array of bottom-up mechanisms with which they can resist attack. Bottom-up controls are synergistically balanced with top-down controls in natural systems for overall suppression of herbivore populations. Plants utilize bottom-up mechanisms directly, through chemical and physical features used to resist damage and indirectly, by signaling to predators of an ongoing attack. These cries for help are in the form of volatiles (herbivore-induced plant volatiles, or HIPVs) that predators and parasitoids can respond to, finding food and reproductive hosts while simultaneously defending the plant. The HIPVs influence both bottom-up and top-down controls in this tri-trophic interaction. 


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Spring 2015 Colloquium: Ted Schultz

4/2/2015

 

“Symbiotic Evolution and Species Discovery in Fungus-Farming Ants”

Dr. Ted Schultz has trekked the Americas in search of precious buried treasure; fungus-farming ants. Although these anthropomorphic creatures are not typically what we consider to be of monetary importance, they reveal a wealth of information about coevolution and symbiotic relationships. Fungus farming ants, like human farmers, cultivate their own food in gardens that are remarkably well cared for (Schultz, et al. 2015). However, unlike humans, fungus-farming ants have an obligate mutualism with their species-specific fungus. Imagine if we could only cultivate one type of food and that food could only survive via human agriculture. Dinner as we know it would be an entirely different experience.

Tracking these ants to their colony requires patience and dedication.  To start, Dr. Shultz baits the ants with Cream of Rice and waits for an ant of interest to approach and take a bit of bait to bring back to the colony. Using a white food source makes it easier to spot the ants as they travel through the leaf litter, but it is still a difficult task.  Once the ant leads him to a colony entrance, the digging starts.  Fungus-farming ant colonies may be over 3 meters deep and digging requires several determined entomologists. Walls that cave in and sandy soils are no deterrents when the prize is a sample of the fungus garden and the ants that tend to it. 


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Spring 2015 Colloquium:  Andres Baeza

3/5/2015

 

Vegetation as a Climate Indicator: Modeling Malaria in the Punjab Region

The devastation malaria has wrought on humanity cannot be overstated. On the wings of mosquitoes, this disease has long evaded eradication while preying disproportionately on our developing world. Malaria relentlessly suppresses societies in arid environments by exploiting the interplay of human behavior and ecological dynamics that drives poverty in these areas. Dr. Andres Baeza intimately understands the challenges to sustainability in these regions because he spent his formative years basking in the Chilean sun. Visiting from SESYNC, Dr. Baeza described to the Entomology department colloquium how he’s using his expertise to understand and empower disease intervention in the Northwest region of India.

            Dr. Baeza was quick to point out the precedent of his work in Gujarat and Rajasthan, India, with a graph (figure 1) representing fever (malaria) cases as they correlate with rainfall from a 1911 study by Sir Rickard Christophers. 


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Spring 2015 Colloquium: Laura Lavine

2/27/2015

 
Mechanisms regulating condition-dependent growth in the elaborate weapons of sexual selection in beetles
PictureFigure 1. Elk in the Snow (CC 2.0 by Larry Smith)

Some of the most charismatic and recognizable features in the animal kingdom are the impressive weapons they wield when competing with each other. Porcupine quills, the chelae of crayfish, and the antlers of elk all require an enormous amount of energy dedicated primarily to fighting their fellows for resources and mates. Most species get by with a modest arsenal; mockingbirds will pick fights over the best territory, but their beaks are hardly fearsome. For centuries scientists have studied and debated the evolutionary pressures that guide the creation of extreme biological weaponry we see in mastodons, kudu, and stalk-eyed flies1. Why do a few species develop these exaggerated armaments when most get by with beaks and jaws that can crack seeds not bones?Some of the most charismatic and recognizable features in the animal kingdom are the impressive weapons they wield when competing with each other. Porcupine quills, the chelae of crayfish, and the antlers of elk all require an enormous amount of energy dedicated primarily to fighting their fellows for resources and mates. Most species get by with a modest arsenal; mockingbirds will pick fights over the best territory, but their beaks are hardly fearsome. For centuries scientists have studied and debated the evolutionary pressures that guide the creation of extreme biological weaponry we see in mastodons, kudu, and stalk-eyed flies1. Why do a few species develop these exaggerated armaments when most get by with beaks and jaws that can crack seeds not bones? 



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Spring 2015 Colloquium: Rob Morrison

2/13/2015

 
In his experiments, Rob uses a synergistic combination of BMSB aggregation pheromone (Khrimian et al., 2014) and methyl (E,E,Z)-2,4,6-decatrienoate (MDT) (Weber et al., 2014) to lure BMSB into his traps. The advantage of this technique lies in its specificity for BMSB. By using the male-produced aggregation pheromone, Dr. Morrison and his colleagues are able to selectively attract and kill the BMSB without catching other insects (such as bees present in those same orchards) in the crossfire. Since this method only targets the BMSB, the ecosystem will remain largely uninterrupted, allowing for seamless integration of these traps without fear of large-scale ecosystem repercussions. The availability of these attractants in conjunction with research looking into convenient trap designs for growers means that these strategies have real field potential.

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Tired of blanketing your entire orchard with gallons of pesticides in order to combat the stink bug menace? Imagine drawing the bugs to a smaller spray area in order to deliver them to an untimely, yet well deserved, end while reducing your environmental impact. Dr. Rob Morrison at the USDA definitely thinks this is possible!


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Department of Entomology 
University of Maryland 
4112 Plant Sciences Building 
College Park, MD 20742-4454
USA

Telephone: 301.405.3911 
Fax: 301.314.9290
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Web Accessibility
  • About
    • At a Glance
    • Welcome From the Chair
    • Code of Conduct
    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion >
      • DEI Working Group
      • Resources
    • Departmental History
    • For Alumni
    • Support Entomology >
      • Steinhauer Scholarship Fund
    • Proposal Resources
    • Contact >
      • Directions
  • News
    • News
    • Seminar Blog
    • Seminar Schedule
    • Awards
  • People
    • Faculty
    • Post Docs
    • Students
    • Staff
    • Alumni
  • Academics
    • Graduate >
      • Admissions
      • MS Degree Requirements
      • PhD Degree Requirements
      • Graduate Student Resources
      • Financial Assistance
      • Award & Funding Opportunities
      • Entomology Student Organization
    • Online Masters in Applied Entomology
    • Undergraduate >
      • Entomology Minor
      • Honors Program
  • Research
    • IPM & Biological Control of Agricultural, Urban & Forest Pests
    • Ecology, Conservation, Restoration, Climate Change >
      • Pollinator Science and Apiculture
    • Evolution, Systematics and Evo-Devo
    • Genetics & Genomics and Medical Entomology
  • Extension/Outreach
    • Educational Outreach
    • Insect Camp
    • Insect Drawings
    • Insect Identification
    • Pesticide Education and Assessment Program
    • Plant Diagnostic Laboratory (PDL)