- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Eleven members of the UC Davis Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) delivered presentations, and now we have a few photos of many of them, shared by Lexie Martin, doctoral candidate in the Rachel Vannette lab, and president of EGSA.
As previously reported, doctoral candidate Mia Lippey, mentored by UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus Jay Rosenheim and assistant professor Emily Meineke, won a coveted President's Prize for her presentation, "A Big Data Approach to Characterizing Impacts of Climate Warming on Agricultural Arthropod Populations" in the category of Plant-Ecosystems, Biocontrol. Doctoral candidate Ziv Lieberman of the Phil Ward lab won a second-place award for "Evolution and Classification of the Ant Subfamily Dolichoderinae from the Phylogenomic Perspective" in Systematics, Evolution and Biodiversity, Phylogenetics. (See Bug Squad blog)
Student competitions are one of the highlights of the annual ESA meetings. This meeting drew more than 3,600 scientists, ranging from internationally renowned entomologists to students just beginning their academic work.
Hats off to the EGSA presenters, who in addition to Lippey and Lieberman, included:
- Lexie Martin, Rachel Vannette lab: "Microbial Acquisition and Interactions in the Blue Orchard Bee (Osmia lignaria)"
- Briley Mullin, Ian Grettenberger lab: "Evaluating the Use of Predatory Plant Bugs (Hemiptera: Miridae) as Biological Control Against the Invasive South American Tomato Leaf Miner (Tuta absoluta) in California Tomato Fields."
- Madi Hendrick, Ian Grettenberger lab: "Fish are Friends, Shrimp are food: Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) as a Potential Biological Control Agent for Tadpole Shrimp (Triops longicaudatus)."
- Marielle Hansel Friedman, Emily Meineke lab: "Herbarium Specimens Faithfully Capture Changing Plant-Insect Interactions Over Years."
- Abigail Lehner, Neal Williams lab: "Do Blue Orchard Bees (Osmia lignaria) Exhibit Plastic Behavior in Response to Parasitism by the Non-Native Houdini fly (Cacoxenus indagator)?"
- Addie Abrams, Ian Grettenberger lab: "Operation Bug Drop: In-Field Drone Releases of Natural Enemies to Control Lettuce Aphid(Nasonovia ribisnigri)and Western Flower Thrips (Frankliniella occidentallis) in California Lettuce."
- Iris Quayle, Jason Bond lab: "A (Finally) Complete Phylogeny for the Charismatic Genus Onymacris Using Ultraconserved Elements."
- CC Edwards, Geoffrey Attardo lab: "Resisting Resistance: Identifying Biochemical Biomarkers for Pyrethroid Resistance in Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes."
- Grace Horne, Emily Meineke lab: "Environmental Entomology's People's Choice Runner-Up: Specialist Herbivore Performance on Introduced Plants During Native Host Decline."
In addition, UC Davis doctoral candidate Christofer Brothers of the Animal Behavior Group--and an affiliate of the Bohart Museum of Entomology--presented "Spine Dining: Leg Spur Morphology Patterns Provide Insight into Adult Dragonfly Foraging Behaviors."
The list of student competition winners is here.
EGSA also sold its always-popular entomology T-shirts at the meeting. Designed by the members, they are also available online at https://ucdavisentgrad.square.site.
If you're interested--or know someone who's interested--in the UC Davis Entomology Graduate Program, you can access more information at https://grad.ucdavis.edu/programs/gent. Excerpt: "Students gain advanced knowledge of insect physiology; insecticide toxicology; ecology; evolution; behavior; plant-insect interactions; biological control; integrated pest management; chemical ecology; molecular biology; olfaction; demography; apiculture; systematics; arthropod-borne diseases of plants and animals; and medical entomology. Students graduate with the qualitative and quantitative skills necessary for professional research and teaching in the integration of basic and applied aspects of insect sciences." The general admission deadline is Jan. 5, 2025.
The 2025 ESA meeting, themed "Entomology 2025: Bridging Generations with Innovation, Legacy, and Passion," will take place Nov. 9-12 in Portland, Ore.
