Population dynamics and community ecology
Every crop system is threatened by pests and pathogens, yet we often lack effective tools to predict pest outbreaks. Our lab collaborates with many partners to collect datasets on insect and insect-borne pathogens, and we then use various modeling techniques to develop spatial and temporal forecasts of pest populations. Our lab is also fascinated by community ecology and the roles of insects in ecosystem functioning.
Representative publications:
- Rincon DF et al. (2025) Sequential testing of complementary hypotheses about population density. Methods Ecol Evol 16, 1228-1238.
- Rincon DF et al. (2024) Predicting insect population dynamics by linking phenology models and monitoring data. Ecol Model 493, 110763.
- Bartel SL et al. (2024) Global change influences scavenging and carrion decomposition. Trends Ecol Evol 39, 152-164.
- Bloom EH et al. (2023) Long-term organic farming and floral diversity promotes stability of bee communities in agroecosystems. Func Ecol 37, 2809-2825.
- Cohen AL et al. (2022) Linking herbivore monitoring with interpolation to map regional risk of pest species. J Pest Sci 95, 315-325.
Landscape ecology
Insect pests, invasive species, pollinators, and predators live across diverse landscapes containing agricultural and natural habitats. Yet, for most species, we lack an understanding of how they are distributed over space and time. Our research seeks to build habitat suitability and niche models for pests and invasive species, as well as beneficial natural enemies and pollinators. We use these models to guide management of insect pests and invasive species and promote conservation of beneficial insect taxa.
Representative publications:
- Zhu G et al. (2025) Enhancing monitoring to promote early detection and eradication of invasive species. Ecography 2025, e07105.
- Zhu G et al. (2024) Assessing geographic dimensions of biological control for Halyormopha halys in United States. Entomol Generalis 44, 895-904.
- Clark RE et al. (2023) Risk assessment for non-crop hosts of pea enation mosaic virus and the aphid vector Acyrthosiphon pisum. Agric Forest Entomol 25, 427-434.
- Gutierrez Illan J et al. (2022) Evaluating invasion risk and population dynamics of the brown marmorated stink bug across the contiguous United States. Pest Manage Sci 78, 4929-4938.
- Zhu G et al. (2021) The use of insect life tables in optimizing invasive pest distributional models. Ecography 44, 1501-1510.
Molecular ecology
Many insects transmit pathogens to crops, and we works on several pathosystems of importance to Washington and the Pacific Northwest. Our recent work is assessing how aphid-borne pathogens affect symbiosis between legumes and soil rhizobial bacteria. Other work has used molecular tools to assess the ecology of insect vectors across broad landscapes.
Representative publications:
- Foutz JJ et al. (2025) Weeding them out: identifying noncrop hosts and sources of infectious beet leafhopper, Neoaliturus tenellus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), in the Columbia River Basin. Annals Entomol Soc Am, saaf022.
- Chisholm PJ et al. (2025) Soil rhizobia promote plant yield by increasing plant tolerance to pests and pathogens under field conditions. Agric Ecosyst Environ 384, 109552.
- Gorman CJ et al. (2023) A high-throughput plate method for nucleic acid extraction from beet leafhopper (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) and potato psyllid (Hemiptera: Trizoidae) for pathogen detection. J Econ Entomol 5, 1876-1884.
- Basu S et al. (2022) Legume plant defenses and nutrients mediate indirect interactions between soil rhizobia and chewing herbivores. Basic Appl Ecol 64, 57-67.
- Basu S et al. (2021) Reciprocal plant-mediated antagonism between a legume plant virus and soil rhizobia. Func Ecol 35, 2045-2055.