SPB & Invasive Insects - Team Scientists
Current Research:
- Availability of arthropod prey for the red-cockaded woodpecker under different stand conditions
- Impact of natural and man-made forest disturbances on insect communities
- Population regulating mechanisms offorest Lepidoptera, in particular, the importance of parasitic microorganisms in regulating these populations
- Role of coarse woody debris in maintaining insect populations.
Current Research:
- Ecology of microbial and anthropod associates of southern pine beetle
- Association of fungal root pathogens and their insect vectors with management practices in southern pines.
Current Research:
- Development of integrated pest management (IPM) programs for insect pests of intensive forestry in cone and seed orchards, nurseries and plantations with emphases on impact assessments and the use of behavior-modifying semiochemicals
- Coneworms in loblolly pine seed orchards
- Cone beetles in white pine cone seed orchards
- Reproduction weevils and Nantucket pine tip moth in plantations
- Diversity assessments of arboreal beetles relative to silvicultural treatments.
Current Research:
- examine the effect of oleoresin flow and chemistry on pine resistance to bark beetles
- evaluate the role of behavior-modifying chemicals in host selection by bark beetles
- examine the role of visual cues in host selection by bark beetles
- relate visual responses of bark beetles to other host selection behaviors
- relate fire injury to subsequent bark beetle behavior
- seek to improve our ability to protect trees from bark beetle attack without traditional insecticides
Current Research:
John Moser (emeritus) – Pineville
Current Research:
- Mites phoretic on bark beetles
- Bark beetle-mycangial-mite-tree interactions
- Leafcutting ants and arthropod associates
- Hackberry (Celtis) gallmakers and arthropod associates