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Fritz Joins Panel Discussion for AAAS Lecture, Nov 30th

11/18/2022

 
Registration open for The American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Charles Valentine Riley memorial lecture held Nov 30, 2022. Dr. Douglas Landis Michigan State University will present "Designing Pest Suppressive Agricultural Landscapes for a Changing World. '' Followed by panel discussion led by noted researchers, including ours truly, Dr. Megan Fritz, Asst Prof, University of Maryland. Register for the event: https://www.aaas.org/riley-lecture

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Insect Zoo Goes to Rockview Elementary

11/10/2021

 
Maddie and Todd Give presenation at school
Photo Credit: M. Smith
Who is possibly more interested in arthropods than @umdentomology? Montgomery County Public Schools! This week Insect Terps Todd, Maddie, Ebony, Sankara, Adelaide, and Elizabeth took a field trip to Rockview Elementary School to talk shop with 100 of these insect enthusiasts! After a presentation on the parts of insects, metamorphosis, pollination, parental care, and social insects, students got hands-on experience with University of Maryland’s Insect Zoo. The young entomologist in training asked tons of thoughtful questions as they observed and held beetles, walking sticks, millipedes, hissing cockroaches, and tarantulas. Thanks Todd, Maddie, et all for making time to chat with this group about all things insects!

Save the Date - Science on Tap w/ Margaret Palmer Nov. 4th

10/15/2019

 
Picture Mountain Top Removal
​Mark your calendars for Distinguished University Professor & SESYNC Director Margaret Palmer's lecture, "Blowing Up Mountains for Coal: Environmental Impacts That Never Stop" taking place Monday, November 4, 2019 at the MilkBoy ArtHouse. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and lecture begins at 6:30 p.m. Follow link for more info.
​

http://science.umd.edu/events/scienceontap-2019-11.html 

Barranco Presents at Frederick's Green Lecture Series

9/24/2019

 
Lindsay Barranco in garden
​Looking to enhance the environment? Attend Frederick’s Green Lecture Series this Thursday at 6:30PM to discover ways you can bee🐝 the change you want to see. Speaker, Lindsay Barranco (MS student, vanEngelsdorp Lab) presents “Importance of Bees, Honey Bees and Native Bees.” Her talk will cover ways individuals can optimize bee habitat through floral plantings. Follow link for more information: ​https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/things-to-know-this-week-sept/article_2c964104-a560-5c8d-95d7-87df6299bdf5.html

Insect Zoo at Maryland State Fair

9/12/2019

 
Lindsay Barranco presents lubber grasshopper at booth
Rachel Kuipers presents Rosie the tarantula at the booth.
Mike Raupp presents at booth
Todd Waters watches MD state fair attendee hold tarantula.
Written by Todd Waters, Agricultural Technician Supervisor

On Saturday April 24 the Entomology Department joined AGNR and UME to participate in UMD Day at the Maryland State Fair. Our Insect Zoo guru, Todd Waters, organized a group of wonderful volunteers to run the tables and Dr. Michael Raupp carried a forward detachment of chitinous friends for an early morning interview on Fox45 Baltimore to advertise the event. We were provided tables in the 4-H and Home Arts Building and arrived before noon with a car full of terraria and arthropods. Before we could even set the first enclosure on the table, we were surrounded by a swarm of curious onlookers squirming in shock and fluttering with excitement. They were but moths, and our exhibit the finest lamp. Dr. Leslie Pick, covered in stick bugs, and Dr. Raupp, with a large tarantula in his hands, flourishingly convinced terrified spectators to hold Malaysian Giant Leaf Bugs, and our illustrious Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula “Rosie,” all of them becoming instant fans. 

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Recent Publications,Talks and Presentations

9/10/2019

 
Publications
Cato A, ^ Afful E, Nayak MK and Phillips TW. Evaluation of Knockdown Bioassay Methods to Assess Phosphine Resistance in the Red Flour Beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Insects. 2019.
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390%2Finsects10050140

Dively GP, Huang F, Oyediran I, Burd T and Morsello S. Evaluation of gene flow in structured and seed blend refuge systems of non-Bt and Bt corn. Journal of Pest Science. 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10340-019-01126-4

Thompson BM, Bodart J and Gruner DS. Community resistance to an invasive forest insect–fungus mutualism. Ecosphere. 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2609

^Lewis MT, and Hamby K.A. Differential impacts of yeasts on feeding behavior and development in larval Drosophila suzukii (Diptera:Drosophilidae).  Scientific Reports. 2019. (manuscript accepted)

Serrano-Brañas CI, Espinosa-Chávez B and ^MacCracken SA. Teredolites trace fossils in log-grounds from the Cerro del Pueblo Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of the state of Coahuila, Mexico. Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 2019.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2019.102316

Niu K, Xiang L, Jin Y…[& 10 others including Wang J]. Identification of LARK as a novel and conserved G-quadruplex binding protein in invertebrates and vertebrates. Nucleic Acids Research. 2019. DOI:  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkz484

Shen C, Zhang Y, Xia D, Wang J and Tang Q. Sensilla on the Antennal Funiculus of the Maize Weevil, Sitophilus zeamais (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): A Morphological Investigation. The Coleopterists Bulletin. 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1649/0010-065X-73.2.443

Talks and Presentations
^Abell KJ,  ^Andrade RB,  Duan JJ, Gruner DS and Shrewsbury PM. “Do treated ash trees confer a protective ‘silhouette’ from emerald ash borer for neighboring trees? Joint meeting of IUFRO Working Parties: Population dynamics and integrated management of forest insects, Quebec City, Canada. 2019.

Gruner DS, Rankin EEW,  Knowlton JL, Flaspohler DJ, Giardina CP, and Fukami T. “Does forest fragment size mediate the impacts of introduced rodent predators? Foraging behavior of Hawaiian birds and their arthropod resources.” 56th Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Antananarivo, Madagascar.2019.

^Jayd K, R MacKenzie, M Apwong and DS Gruner. “Mangrove herbivory across a salinity gradient.” Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, St. Louis, MO.2019.

Pick L. "What is RNA interference, and how will it affect the future of food?" Tech Talk. USDA, Washington DC. 2019

^Tielens EK and Gruner DS. "Insect communities across a space for time chronosequence converge over time: analyzing patterns and drivers of beta-diversity on Hawai‘i." Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Louisville, KY.2019.

Bold ENTM Faculty; ^ENTM current/former graduate student or post-doc; *ENTM research staff

Professor Sara Via Speaker at Upcoming Climate Change & You Series

7/10/2019

 
Climate Change & You Series GraphicGraphic Credit: Annapolis Green
How is climate change affecting our food supply? What policies and practices can mitigate the impact? Professor Sara Via is among the expert speakers addressing these questions at the upcoming Climate Change & You series, Tuesday, July 16th at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Join the discussion.

https://annapolisgreen.com/event/climate-change-our-food-supply-followed-by-green-drinks/?fbclid=IwAR3RoMbTWhc4zm15E_3i2SzNVmBV636wLCAO8dJUA787nR21aoyQSZ10q6w

Rane Speaker On Ornamental Disease Webinar Series

2/26/2019

 
Karen Rane

​Dr. Karen Rane, Director of the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory​, scheduled to talk ornamentals in the Ornamental Disease webinar series organized by Greenhouse Canada. 

Follow link for more details about the series including registration 
https://www.greenhousecanada.com/news/ornamental-disease-webinar-series-launches-32833

Exploring the Evolutionary Toolkit with Modern Technology

2/20/2017

 
"Dr. Arnaud Martin details his research adapting the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system to crustaceans and butterflies, providing further evidence that supports previous findings surrounding the use of genetic tool kits found in all animals."
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St. Leger NASA Goddard talk available for streaming!

1/18/2017

 
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In October 2016, Ray St. Leger gave a colloquium talk at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. The colloquium organizers recently made a recording of his talk available. Take a listen HERE.




Alien Invaders

10/25/2016

 
Aliens are invading the forests of the United States! Not the green, bug-eyed aliens from outer space; no we are talking about the, well… green, bug-eyed aliens from Earth. With the globalization of trade, insect introductions leading to invasive pest problems have steadily increased over the last few centuries, causing massive economic and environmental devastation in the systems where these pests permeate. These invaders are especially difficult to manage when they are pests of our native North American forest trees due to the large spatial scale associated with them, making pesticide applications impractical.
Dr. Kris Abell, one of the UMD Department of Entomology’s newest post-doctoral associates, has investigated biological control efforts to combat two invasive forest pests, the elongate hemlock scale and the emerald ash borer. Biological control methods for controlling a pest involve using predators and parasites from the pest’s native range to create a natural population balance in its introduced range.

During his time as a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Dr. Abell followed up Dr. Mark McClure’s work on biological control of Elongate Hemlock Scale (EHS), Fiorinia externa Ferris. EHS is an invasive insect pest from Japan, which attacks hemlock trees. Feeding by EHS scales damages the hemlock’s needles, turning them from green to yellow.

Picture
Elongate hemlock scale on hemlock needles. The oblong brown insects are the adult female scales, the smaller round yellow insects are 1st instar scales. Photo credit: Kris Abell
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Encarsia citrina adult wasp measuring less than 1 mm in length. Photo credit: Kris Abell
The best way to understand a pest is to observe it in its native range, so with that, McClure went to Japan to study EHS. McClure’s research found that one species of wasp, Encarsia citrina, is a parasitoid, an insect that develops in and eventually kills its host, of EHS in both Japan and in its new range in North America.  Wasps lay eggs in the 2nd instar of EHS, and wasp larvae hatch and feed on the scale, which kills the scale insect and produces more E. citrina. McClure’s research indicated that EHS is less abundant and has much higher parasitism rates by E. citrina in Japan than the EHS at his study sites in Connecticut. He hypothesized that differences in climate between the two locations, Japan
having a warmer climate than Connecticut, created an asynchronous relationship between the host (EHS) and the parasitoid (E. citrina) in Connecticut. This means that the scale and parasitoid are developing at different times of year, preventing the wasp from being able to effectively attack the scale in its introduced range. With the colder climate of Connecticut, it was hypothesized that the EHS scales developed more slowly. Wasps, as a result, would have fewer suitable 2nd instar hosts to parasitize. Dr. Abell tested this by observing scale abundance and parasitism by E. citrina at three distinct latitudes in the U.S. (Connecticut [“coldest”], Pennsylvania, North Carolina [“warmest”]), hypothesizing that he would find more parasitoid-host synchrony as he moved further south where warmer temperatures would allow for multiple generations of scales.
 
Ultimately, Dr. Abell did not observe any increase in synchrony between EHS and E. citrina at any of his three field sites. Instead he found continuous reproduction of EHS, and all life stages were present throughout the year. This led Dr. Abell to Japan to better understand how EHS behaves in its native range. While surveying hemlock scales and their associated parasitoids, Dr. Abell found 11 new species attacking EHS in Japan, some of which may have potential as classical biological control agents. 

After Dr. Abell finished his work on EHS, he moved to Michigan State University where he studied another forest pest, the emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, an invasive beetle species introduced to the United States from Asia. The adult females lay their eggs in bark of ash trees (Fraxinus spp.) and the larvae burrow under the bark where they feed and develop. Feeding damage results in girdling and ultimately the killing of the trees. There are a few parasitoid wasps that are known to attack EAB at different stages of its life cycle in Asia. Two of these parasitoids that have been introduced to the U.S. are Tetrastichus planipennisi, a wasp that attacks EAB in its larval stage, and Oobius agrili
Picture
Emerald ash borer adult: David Cappaert, Michigan State University, Bugwood
a wasp that is less than 1mm in length that attacks EAB eggs. Research done by Duan et al. in 2013 indicated that T. planipennisi was effectively established in Michigan and is a strong disperser. However, they observed that there was no parasitism of EAB in larger trees. In a study done by Dr. Abell, it was determined that the bark thickness was preventing this small wasp from attacking the EAB larvae. The ovipositor (egg-laying mechanism) of T. planipennisi is too short to reach the EAB larvae underneath the thick bark.

Picture
Under the bark of this ash tree we see the aftermath of developing EAB larvae: Serpentine galleries of EAB larvae that have fed on this tree. All of this damage results in girdling. Photo credit: Kris Abell
Once biological control agents like these wasps are released, it is important to continue monitoring them.  Dr. Abell helped determine the best methods to monitor the establishment and range of the tiny egg parasitoid, O. agrili.  Logs infested with sentinel EAB eggs were set out in the field to detect O. agrili. This method, while effective, did not accurately represent the parasitism, taking place on wild trees. Dr. Abell tested two other methods; visual searching and bark sifting. Visual searching is a labor-intensive method by which observers flake off pieces of ash bark to reveal EAB eggs. Once parasitized by O. agrili the eggs turn black, therefore any black eggs were brought back to the lab and were further analyzed to confirm parasitism by O. agrili. Bark sifting entailed shaving the outer bark off of the ash trees and sifting out the smallest pieces in the lab to look for parasitized EAB eggs.
The bark was also placed in emergence chambers to collect any parasitoid wasps that emerged from the bark remnants that were missed in earlier screening. After two years of testing these methods, Dr. Abell concluded that the bark-sifting method was a more effective way to measure the rate of O. agrili egg parasitism in the field because significantly more parasitoids were recovered with this method. Invasive insects continue to attack our forests today, therefore it is very important to continue to understand and utilize biological control methods to preserve our forests. Dr. Abell continues his work on EAB biological control in the Shrewsbury lab here at the University of Maryland where he is evaluating other introduced and native parasitoids and additionally an integrated approach that combines pesticides with classical biological control methods.

About the Authors:
Olivia Bernauer is a second year Master’s student in Dennis vanEngelsdorp’s bee lab working to better understand the floral preferences of Maryland’s wild, native pollinators. 
 
Jackie Hoban is a second year Master’s student working on emerald ash borer biological control in Paula Shrewsbury’s lab.


Jonathan Wang received 1st place presentation award

8/24/2015

 
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Graduate student, Jonathan Wang, advised by Dr. Raymond St. Leger received the 1st place presentation award at the Society of Invertebrate Pathology 48th Annual Meeting held August 9-13, 2015 for his talk entitled " A Genome Wide Association Study of Resistance to Metarhizium anisopliae.

Entomology Recent Publications,Talks and Presentations

8/24/2015

 
Publications
  • Hsiao-Ling Lu, Jonathan B. Wang, Markus A. Brown, Christopher Euerle & Raymond J St. Leger. July 23, 2015. Identification of Drosophila mutants affecting defense to an entomopathogenic fungus. Scientific Reports. 5:12350.
Talks & Presentations

  • Gruner D.S. gave an oral presentation entitled “Landscape-level experimental decoupling of competing vertebrate insectivores in Hawaiian forest islands.” 52nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Honolulu, HI on July 16, 2015.
  • Leslie Pick gave a talk at the Tribolium satellite meeting of the Inaugural meeting of the Pan American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology in Berkeley, CA on August 4, 2015.
  • Jie Xiang presented a poster on her work on Dermestes maculatutus as a new model system at the Inaugural meeting of the Pan American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology in Berkeley, CA August 5-9, 2015.
  • Forde A.J. & D.S. Gruner gave a poster presentation entitled “Differential responses of arthropod communities in a dynamic marsh-mangrove ecotone.” Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Baltimore, MD on August 11, 2015. 
  •  Yu S.W., A.J. Forde, & D.S. Gruner gave a poster presentation entitled “Nutrient inputs and herbivores interactively influence black mangrove tolerance to damage.” Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Baltimore, MD on August 11, 2015.
  • Brian Lovett gave an oral presentation entitled “Semi-field trials and tribulations” at the Society of Invertebrate Pathology Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on August 12, 2015.
  • Brian Lovett gave an oral presentation entitled “GeoChip analysis of the soil microbial community in turf and winter wheat treated with genetically modified Metarhizium” at the Society of Invertebrate Pathology Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on August 12, 2015.
  •  Brian Lovett gave an oral presentation entitled “Metarhizium as a multifactorial growth promoter” at the Society of Invertebrate Pathology Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on August 12, 2015.
  • Brian Lovett gave a poster presentation entitled “Comparative genomics of cold adapted Metarhizium frigidum” at the Society of Invertebrate Pathology Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on  August 12, 2015.
  • Johnston C.A. and D.S. Gruner gave an oral presentation entitled “Preference and survival shape habitat use along a fluctuating wetland landscape.” Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Baltimore, MD on August 12, 2015.
  • Martinson, H, PD Venugopal, E Bergmann, P Shrewsbury, M Raupp. Drivers of host plant use for invasive stink bugs in heterogeneous habitats. Ecological Society of America National Meeting, Baltimore, MD on August 13, 2015.





 



Entomology Recent Publications and Talks

7/2/2015

 

Publications

  • Smith, R.F., P.D. Venugopal, M.E. Baker, and W.O. Lamp. June 4, 2015.  Habitat filtering and adult dispersal determine the taxonomic composition of stream insects in an urbanizing landscape.  Freshwater Biology (online preview: doi:10.1111/fwb.12605). 

Talks

  • Raymond St. Leger gave an invited talk "Field testing a transgenic anti-mosquito pathogen" at Vector Encounter 2015, held at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, June 5, 2015.
  • Sara Via gave invited talks "Mechanisms of genomic isolation during speciation with gene flow" at the Graduate School of Population Genetics, and "Using between-ecotype linkage disequilibrium to track progress towards speciation" at the Gregor Mendel Institute,  Vienna Austria, and visited colleagues at the Australian Institute for Science and Technology, June 16, 2015.  

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.

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

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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.

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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
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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Mike Raupp on The Kojo Nnamdi Show 

5/21/2015

 
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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

PictureFigure 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.



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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.

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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