Karen Rane, director of the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Maryland, quoted in Washington Post article on the decline of oaks in the DMV.
“The anaerobic conditions of flooded soil are not good for oaks,” said Rane, noting that many of the hard-hit oaks are next to highway construction, where there are changes in drainage and soil compaction. “They lose oxygen in the soil. That’s stress on older trees — or on any tree, but older ones can’t tolerate it the way younger trees can. That may have triggered an acceleration of decline in these older trees,” Rane said. “Once the trees weaken, trees emit signals that allow opportunistic insects to find them and attack. That’s the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.” Read full article here>> In spring of 2018 the Fritz Lab was asked to investigate a mosquito infestation on federal property in Southwest Washington, DC. So PhD student Arielle Arsenault-Benoit and Assistant Professor Megan Fritz headed off to the capital to scrounge around in dirty basements and look for mosquitoes. Could moderation of winter conditions make belowground urban structures a refugia for warmer-climate species, like Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus, allowing them to overcome assumed thermal barriers? To test their hypothesis they surveyed belowground levels of nearby parking structures for mosquitoes and standing water in the summer months of 2018 and 2019 and compared winter and spring temperatures above and belowground. Their findings, published in the Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, found several species using these structures as adults, but only a few species (and ones that can transmit disease) use them as breeding and development sties. Belowground urban infrastructure may allow populations to persist for longer and build up earlier in the spring, plus warmer temperatures can shorten the development and generational time, extending the breeding season, increasing population size, and potentially affecting disease transmission. Given these results, the authors suggest pest control operators and local public health officials incorporate surveillance of these structures into their integrated pest management programs. This article also includes new records of Aedes aegypti populations beyond the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington DC.
written by: Demian Nunez and Mike Nan
On October 29th, the UMD Entomology Department’s weekly colloquium was unique. Rather than listen to a speaker from outside the department, Dr. Anahi Espindola presented the survey results of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee’s department survey. The survey was developed to assess the internal atmosphere in the department, identify positive experiences and actions happening, assess what negative features needed to be addressed, and define actions to be taken to improve the department for all its members.  written by: Lasair ni Chochlain
Case studies are one teaching tool that can be utilized to engage students, improve learning outcomes and inclusion in the classroom. Dr. Ally Hunter presented her work exploring the effectiveness of case study pedagogy at a Department of Entomology seminar earlier this semester. Dr. Hunter began this work in her doctoral dissertation, completed at University of Massachusetts – Amherst. Now a postdoctoral fellow at UMass Amherst, she utilizes case studies in her undergraduate science classrooms to promote inclusive pedagogy. The advantage in using case studies in scientific teaching is that the stories, with rich narratives, convey scientific content and concepts while also contributing to the maintenance of situational interest which facilitates undergraduate learning. Here, we dive deeper into the methodology of Dr. Hunter’s educational research, to illustrate how her findings can be applied in entomology classrooms and beyond. In 2020, Kriztina Christmon, PhD student vanEngelsdorp Lab, won AGNR's AgEnterprise Challenge. Now Kriztina serves as CEO of Repurpose Farm Plastic LLC, a company developing sustainable plastic recycling practices in the field of agriculture. The Office of International Affairs at UMD - Global Maryland features Kriztina's interests in agro-plastic recycling, her experience as a new CEO and the aims of the new business.
https://globalmaryland.umd.edu/offices/global/international-student%E2%80%99s-idea-repurpose-barns-becomes-agro-plastic-recycling-company
This news bites: Raupp and Arsenault-Benoit weigh in on what warmer weather means for mosquitos11/10/2021
We're not the only ones enjoying the warm weather this Fall, mosquitoes are too! Over the past several months Professor Emeritus Mike Raupp and PhD student Arielle Arsenault-Benoit have been fielding questions on when mosquito season is expected to end and whether or not climate change is a factor in mosquitos lingering longer than years past.
Raupp in the Diamondback: Entomology professor Michael Raupp explained that temperature increases the speed in which insects develop, grow, molt and capture their prey. In a warming world, winter is shorter, so mosquitoes become active earlier in the year and remain active later in the year. Arsenault-Benoit in the Washingtonian: This matters because mosquitoes “take a lot of their cues from the environment,” says Arielle Arsenault-Benoit, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Entomology at the University of Maryland, who has been collecting and conducting research on mosquitoes for three years. “The temperatures are not very cold for the [mosquito] adults to realize it’s getting to be winter,” Arsenault-Benoit says Raupp in The Washington Post: Raupp mentioned that the mosquito species Culex pipiens, common house mosquitoes that are well-known carriers of West Nile virus, can remain active all year. “Even on warm days in late autumn or winter in D.C., there could be blood,” Raupp said. “These devils live and breed year round in basements, parking garages, and tunnels under cities. They can bubble out and feed when it is warm enough.”  Fig. 1. Dr. Jessica Ware. Source: American Museum of Natural History Written by: Maria Cramer, Ebony Argaez and Graham Stewart
As research entomologists, it’s easy to focus on one tiny area of study. In fact, this is a normal way to do research. So when Dr. Jessica Ware, the speaker for the University of Maryland’s entomology colloquium, talks about her research interests which cover many areas including dragonfly evolution and global migration, termites, and cockroaches, she is often asked why she chooses to study so many different things. Her answer is simple; it’s ok to study more than one group at once. It’s ok to let curiosity about the incredible diversity of insects drive your interests. [Seminar Blog] Reaching maturity? Malaria parasites’ developmental journey through the mosquito11/4/2021
Written by PhD students Arielle Arsenault-Benoit & Minh Le
Malaria is a mosquito-borne illness that has plagued human civilization for millennia (Cox 2010), and continues to infect many people, with over 200 million documented cases in 2019 (World Health Organization, 2020). Preventative interventions and treatments are available for those that can access them, yet according to the WHO, there are 400,000 annual deaths worldwide, and nearly 70% of those are children under 5 years old. Among those interventions are insecticide treated bed nets, residual insecticide spraying, preventative drugs, and treatment with combined drug therapy. Effective prevention and treatment efforts, plus advances in diagnostic testing, have greatly reduced both case numbers and mortality rates, but the development of resistance, including insecticide resistance in the mosquito vector population and drug resistance in the pathogen population present new challenges. A greater understanding of the underlying biology of the pathogen may allow for improved and more targeted interventions in the future. Homeowners, landscapers, and gardeners DYK protecting habitat for overwintering insects can be as simple as leaving leaves lie? Preliminary data from a study conducted by Max Ferlauto, PhD student in the Burghardt lab, shows the number of emerging moths and butterflies are reduced by about 67 percent in areas where leaves are removed. For more on Ferlauto’s project and steps you can take to support overwintering insects check out The Diamondback article.
Congrats on the coverage Max! Share with your networks on facebook and twitter. Professor Bill Lamp & colleagues part of multi-state team studying diverse perennial forage systems. Lamp says, “We want to test that growing diverse species of crops, and using perennial crops, will add more beneficial insects to the farm. We are especially interested in ‘conservation biological control,’ in which populations of natural enemies of pests are enhanced by diverse, perennial crops.” Full AGNR press release: https://agnr.umd.edu/news/entomology-and-extension-faculty-join-national-team-study-and-support-diverse-perennial-forage?fbclid=IwAR26bwOizAlo1wLYMflnzqnq3tMCMMY-V75XdUDOV3GwLQNJBSNy83FnZd4
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written by Angela Saenz & Alireza Shokoohi
Dr. Miguel Altieri is a Chilean agronomist and entomologist that has dedicated his life and career to agroecology. He is currently an emeritus professor from the University of California, Berkeley, where he teaches sustainable management practices to enhance biological control on farms. He is also a part-time farmer in the slopes of the Colombian Andes and the co-director of CELIA (Centro Latinoamericano de Investigaciones Agroecológicas), an organization focused on teaching, extension, and outreach for small farmers and research for food production through biodiverse systems.  Photo credit: Frontiers UMD Research Associate & Lecturer Magdalene Ngeve and her colleagues have a new publication out in Frontiers in Conservation Science that takes a closer look at Rhizophora propagules to better understand the dispersal and connectivity of mangroves. Their study shows drift Rhizophora propagules found on a beach area in Cameroon originated well beyond the Cameroonian borders, probably from the south and/or other Atlantic island, pointing to long distance dispersal of mangroves. The evidence of this transboundary dispersal of propagules highlights the need for intergovernmental efforts in mangrove biodiversity protection.
Follow link to see publication: https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2021.746461 & share with your networks via facebook and twitter The Entomological Society of America's Plant-Insect Ecosystems Lifetime Achievement Award in Entomology goes to Professor Emeritus Galen Dively. Awarded to Galen for his LEGENDARY career as an entomologist, his contributions to the advancement & promotion of the field, and for his inspiration and mentorship to others. Galen will be presented with this award along with an ESA Fellows award during the Annual ESA Meeting, October 31 - November 3 in Denver, CO. Please join us in congratulating Galen for another well-deserved honor!!!
ESA announcement released in August 21 P-IE newsletter.
 Professor Emeritus Galen Dively has been elected as a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America in recognition of his outstanding contributions to entomology research, teaching and extension. Galen’s research is broadly focused and closely linked to his extension efforts to address IPM issues. Most recently, he developed and directs a multistate sweet corn sentinel monitoring network for tracking field-evolved resistance to the Bt toxins, which has influenced EPA to consider changes to the insect resistance monitoring protocol for Bt crops. Galen will be presented with this award during the Annual ESA Meeting, October 31 - November 3 in Denver, CO. Please join us in congratulating Galen on this well-deserved honor!!!
For more on Galen’s efforts in entomology check out ESA's press release here>> Hooks Lab measures which farming practices lead to faster degradation of insecticidal toxins7/29/2021
Veronica Yurchak, a Ph.D. student working in the Hooks Lab, and colleagues have a paper out in Transgenic Research that looks into how Cry proteins, insecticidal toxins created by Bt corn, break down after crops are harvested and whether or not farmers practices can accelerate the degradation process. Although research to date reveals few adverse effects resulting from cry proteins on non-target organisms, the authors say knowing the practices that degrade these proteins will be important for assessing the ecological risk of future genetically engineered crops.
Share with your networks on facebook and twitter Bee Informed Partnership has released results from their annual survey, which highlights the continuing cycle of high honey bee colony turnover, with beekeepers and researchers hoping to find solutions.
“This year’s survey results show that colony losses are still high,” says Nathalie Steinhauer, BIP’s science coordinator and a post-doctoral researcher in University of Maryland Department of Entomology. "We should remember, however, that loss rates are not the same as population decline. The recent numbers of honey bee colonies in the U.S. are relatively stable despite those high losses, but that’s because beekeepers invest a lot of time and effort to increase their operation size to mitigate their losses.” See AGNR's full press release here Share on facebook and twitter  Photo credit: Chris Linder Shout out to Undergrad - and first Entomology minor- Grace Soltis (Gruner Lab) on her debut in the Audubon and Wired. The articles feature her work with George WashingtonUniversity ecologist Dr. Zoe Getman-Pickering studying Brood X impacts on Maryland food webs.
https://audubon.org/news/see-emergence-and-feast-brood-x-cicadas-all-their-glory https://www.wired.com/story/we-hiked-along-with-cicada-biologists-so-you-dont-have-to/ After 62 years of teaching in various places including 26 years in the Entomology Department, Don Messersmith has finally pulled back from formal instruction. With his final course at JHU's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute wrapping up early due to the pandemic. Barbara Johnson, President Maryland Ornithological Society, authors a beautiful article that celebrates his many decades as an educator.
 UMD’s Entomology Games team—known as the Checkerspots—earned second place in the eastern regional competition. With their win, the Checkerspots advanced to the national competition, which will be held at the Entomological Society of America’s (ESA) national meeting in Denver in November.
See CMNS article to learn more about the team and their preparations for the national games.  Join Dr. Sara Via, Professor & Climate Extension Specialist for the 2021 Climate and Sustainability Webinar Series beginning at 4 p.m. on June 23. Learn about the impacts of climate change and what you can do to help every other Wednesday in this summer-long series ending Sept. 15. Learn more and register for one or all of the webinars at https://climatecorner.org/webinars/ |
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