Julian Dupuis of the University of Kentucky

The seminar, both in-person and virtual, will begin at 4:10 p.m. The Zoom link is 
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672

“With increased global trade and transport, anthropogenic movement of non-indigenous, pestiferous species is becoming more coming,” Dupuis writes in his abstract. “Effective management and prevention of these invasions relies on accurate species identification and geographic pathway analysis (that is, what is it and where did it come from?) However, many of these pests belong to highly diverse groups of closely related species that are difficult or impossible to delimit using traditional taxonomic methods, and traditionally used molecular markers have proven ineffective for these tasks. Here, I will present ongoing efforts to use genomic data to inform and develop molecular diagnostic tools for the highly diverse and economically damaging true fruit flies of the family Tephritidae. These efforts combine foundational phylogenomics and population genomics with highly applied uses of these data for phytosanitary purposes, with the ultimate goal of providing highly sought after tools to regularly agencies such as USDA-APHIS."

Dupuis received his bachelor's degree in biology in 2009 from Northern Michigan University and his doctorate in systematics and evolution in 2016 from the University of Alberta. His research interests include insect systematics, speciations, evolution, genomics, phylogenomics and population genomics.

“We are broadly interested in insect speciation and systematics and use an integrative approach to study these phenomena with a large emphasis on genomic approaches,” he writes on his website.

He served as the lead author of research, "Range-Wide Population Genomics of the Mexican Fruit Fly: Toward Development of Pathway Analysis Tools," published in May 2019 in the journal Evolutionary Applications.

The Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens, is very serious pest of various fruits, particularly citrus and mango, in Mexico and Central America. "The USDA estimates that the Mexfly causes $1.44 billion worth of damage in a 5-year time span, mostly to citrus farms," according to Wikipedia. "They are frequently designated as an invasive species in Southern California and Arizona and pose a serious threat to Florida's grapefruit agriculture."

Emily Meineke, assistant professor of urban landscape entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, coordinates the department's seminars for the 2022-23 academic year. All 11 seminars will take place both person and virtually at 4:10 p.m. on Wednesdays in Room 122 of Briggs Hall except for the Nov. 9th and Dec. 7th seminars, which will be virtual only, she said.  (See list of seminars)

For further information on the seminars or technical difficulties with Zoom, contact Meineke at ekmeineke@ucdavis.edu.