Insect Agroecology and Evolution Lab

Elisabeth is on a roll with two new publications from her thesis!

In a study published in Canadian Entomologist, she found during multiple 24 hour observational studies that swede midge emerge as adults in the first few hours after dawn and are ready to mate.

She has also found that both natural and the cheaper racemic pheromone blends can disorient male swede midge and prevent them from mating.

Here are the publications:

Hodgdon, E. A., R. H. Hallett, K. F. Wallin, C. A. Stratton, and Y. H. Chen. In Press. Racemic pheromone blends disrupt mate location in the invasive swede midge, Contarinia nasturtii. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-019-01078-0

Hodgdon, E. A., R. H. Hallett, C. A. Stratton, and Y. H. Chen. In Press. Diel patterns of emergence and reproductive behaviour in the invasive swede midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). https://doi.org/10.4039/tce.2019.21

Congratulations to Chase Stratton, who just graduated with his Ph. D.!

(pictured below with Kristian Brevik)

Gund PhD Research Assistantships

• Gund Research Assistantships support PhD scholarship across four global research themes.
• Students receive up to four years of funding at $32,000 per year, tuition and health insurance.
• Learn more about Gund Research Assistantships.

For more information, visit here

Follow our lab adventures this summer on Instagram and Twitter! We are active this year in US, Mexico, and Canada.

Lab Instagram: @InsectAgroEco
Twitter: @Yolanda_H_Chen

• Jorge Ruiz-Arocho will spend the next 6 months studying if arthropod diversity differs between crops and their wild relatives in Mexico.
• Elisabeth Hodgdon and Andrea Swan will be working in Vermont and Canada studying pheromone mating disruption for swede midge.
• Chase Stratton is studying the possibility of managing swede midge using a push-pull system.
• Kristian Brevik (absent) will be exploring the “geography’ of transposable elements in the genome of the Colorado potato beetle (CPB).
• Erika Bueno is starting geographic Colorado potato beetle colonies as she begins as Ph. D. student this fall.
• Emma Schoeppner is studying if different ground covers can reduce swede midge success.