OSU Entomology Program - Seminar Series

The OSU Entomology Program Seminar Series

All Seminars are held in ALS 4001 from 2-3pm
coffee/tea & refreshments served beforehand outside ALS 4001

2008 Schedule

February 12th

Dr. Sujaya Rao - OSU Crop and Soil Science

Native Bee Pollinators in Oregon: Abundance, Behavior, Conservation and Diversity.

Worldwide there are reports of declines in native bees. Research by my group has provided evidence that some groups are actually well represented in Oregon in terms of diversity and abundance, and observations on their behavior have opened up new directions for their conservation in native and agricultural habitats. Downloadable pdf poster.

February 26th

Dr. A. Regupathy - Agricultural College & Research Institute,
Madurai
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Coimbatore-641 003, India.

NEEM Repellent: An Effective Tool of Push-Pull Strategy for Ecofriendly Pest Managment.

Neem is deployed to “push” colonizing insects away from the harvestable crop - a nearby trap crop is left untreated to attract predators or parasitoids into the area. Pests are aggregated on a sacrificial 'ecofeast/trap' crop in which selective control agents, e.g., biocontrol agents such as NPV, Bt, Trichogramma sp. can be used directly to reduce the pest population .

March 4th

George Poinar - OSU Zoology
Amber as a Research Tool
Dr. Poinar will discuss how amber fossils can be used to follow generic lineages,
determine past distributions, reconstruct ancient environments, identify
paleosymbiotic associations and trace the history of both arthropod and
vertebrate diseases

April 8th

Presenters: Sandy Debano, David Wooster, Silvia Rondon, Mahmut Dogramaci, Chiho Kimoto, Phil Brown & Missie Scherr

Entomological Research at the Agriculture-Natural Resource Interface: a synopsis of the research taking place at OSU's Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extenstion Center (HAREC).

April 15th

Dr. David Shaw - OSU Forest Science
Measuring herbivory using randomized sample locations from canopy cranes in
Queensland, Australia and Washington
State, USA

Forest stand-level herbivory estimates are difficult to accomplish due to the complexity of micro-environments in forest canopies, and the diversity of tree species, sizes, and foliage distribution. The number of sample point required to capture this variation can be overwhelming. We used canopy cranes to access the canopy and locate pre-chosen randomized sample points to estimate stand-level herbivory in Australia and Washington State. Herbivory, as the proportion of leaf area missing from existing leaves (static, not an annual rate), was estimated at 1.6% for an old-growth conifer forest, and 8.6% for an evergreen lowland tropical forest.

April 29th

David Lytle Lab - OSU Zoology
Presenters: Laura McMullen and Asako Yamamuro
title: The River Runs Through It - Research into Aquatic Entomology

Come hear about the ongoing research in the Lytle lab.  Dr. Lytle will introduce the seminar by discussing the diverse research projects currently taking place in his lab.  Dr. Lytle will be followed by his two senior graduate students: Laura McMullen and Asako Yamamuro, each of whom will will present their own entomology research projects.

May 13th

Dr. Darrell Ross - OSU Forest Science
title: TBA

May 27th

Russell Messing - Kauai Agricultural Research Center, Hawaii
Host: Peter McEvoy
title: Biocontrol of insect pests in Hawaii: solution or biological pollution?

Hawaii has a unique combination of traits that foster intense scientific and public debate about the safety and practice of classical biological control in the islands (high rates of faunal endemism, many threatened and endangered species, large numbers of invasive pests, and a struggling agricultural economy). How do biocontrol research and implementation proceed in the face of such controversy?