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| Insect biologist Stephen Welter will speak March 21 at UC Davis. |
DAVIS--Insect biologist Stephen Welter, San Diego State University’s new vice president for research and dean of the Graduate Division, will be the final speaker in the UC Davis Department of Entomology winter seminar series.
Welter will speak on "Pheromone Mating Disruption Systems for Management of Insects in Perennial Crops: New Successes with Old Problem" from 12:10 to 1 p.m., Wednesday, March 21 in 122 Briggs Hall.
He joined UC San Diego last October from UC Berkeley, where he was a professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley, and associate dean of instruction and student affairs.
Host is Steve Seybold, UC Davis Department of Entomology affiliate.
On Welter's UC Berkeley website, he says of his research:
"Research in our lab focuses on fundamental questions of plant-insect interactions in both native and managed ecosystems as well as their implications for understanding and designing alternative agricultural systems. Studies have ranged in scale from the behavior of individual moths to population regulation by natural enemies of insects to estimations of gene flow at a landscape level. Projects in both wild and agricultural ecosystems have addressed basic ecological questions of host range expansion, the roles of competition or predation on herbivore population levels, and system trait effects on herbivory. Current projects use wild and agricultural sunflower as model systems, whereas previous research has included strawberries, maize, or tomatoes."
"More applied aspects of our research have focused on the development bio-intensive programs as alternatives to insecticides. One program interferes with mate location through the artificial deployment of various chemicals including insect sex pheromones or plant volatiles. Studies ranging from electrophysiological responses of antennae to large areawide pheromone mating disruption programs have helped to produce a viable alternative to insecticides for codling moth, the key pest of apples and pears. Other research has focused on more applied aspects of biological control in strawberries, apples, or pears including the role of plant structures as refugia from natural enemies or detection of prey DNA in the guts of generalist predators."
Welter received his undergraduate degree from UC Davis and his doctorate in entomology from UC Riverside. Among his awards and honors:
2005 -- Entomological Foundation IPM Team Award
2002 -- Distinguished Teaching Award, UC Berkeley
1999 -- Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
1998 -- Agricultural Research Service Technology Transfer Award, USDA
1994 -- IPM Innovators Awards, California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR)
1994-1995--Visiting Professorship, Institute for Food and Agricultural Research and Technology (IRTA), Barcelona, Spain
Coordinating the UC Davis Department of Entomology's winter seminars are assistant professors Louie Yang and Joanna Chiu. Some of the talks will be webcast and then can be viewed on UCTV. Professor James R. Carey is spearheading the project.
The complete list of speakers:
Jan. 11: Denise Ferkey, assistant professor, State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, will speak on "Regulation of Chemosensory Signaling in C. elegans."
Hosts: Valerie Williamson, professor of nematology, and Ed Lewis, professor of nematology and entomology and acting chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Webcast and posted on UCTV: Yes.
Jan. 18: Anurag Agrawal, professor of ecology at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., will speak on "Evolutionary Ecology of Plant Defenses."
Host: Andrew Merwin of the Michael Parrella lab.
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: Yes
Jan. 25: Mary Louise Flint, Cooperative Extension specialist and associate director for Urban and Community IPM, UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, will speak on "Educating the Urban Public about Insect Pests and their Management."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Frank Zalom
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: No.
Feb. 1: T’ai Roulston, research associate professor and curator, State Arboretum of Virginia, will speak on "Pollen as a Resource for Pollinators: What Governs Quality?"
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology.
Feb. 8: Damian Elias, assistant professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley, will speak on "Multimodal Communication in Jumping Spiders."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Leslie Saul of the Neal Williams lab.
Feb. 15: Jamesina J. Scott, district manager and research director, Lake County Vector Control District, will speak on "Aedes japonicus -- Tracking an Invasive Mosquito We Knew Very Little About."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Brittany Mills of the William Reisen lab.
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: No.
Feb. 22: Jennifer Thaler, associate professor, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., will speak on "Interactive Effects of Host Plant Quality and Predation Risk."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Billy Krimmel of the Jay Rosenheim lab
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: No.
Feb. 29: Jay Rosenheim, professor of entomology at UC Davis, will speak on "Ecoinformatics for IPM: Expanding the Applied Insect Ecologist's Tool-Kit."
Site: 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Kelly Hamby of the Frank Zalom lab.
Webcast and posted on UCTV: Yes.
March 7: Candice Stafford, graduate student researcher in the Diane Ullman lab, will speak on "A Virus at the Helm: Infection with Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus Modifies Thrips Feeding Behavior."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Diane Ullman, professor of entomology and associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
March 14: Ulrich Mueller, W. M. Wheeler Lost-Pines Professor of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, will speak on "Ant-Microbe Interaction and Evolution."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Marek Borowiec of the Phil Ward lab.
March 21: Stephen Welter, professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley, and associate dean of instruction and student affairs, will speak on "Pheromone Mating Disruption Systems for Management of Insects in Perennial Crops: New Successes with Old Problems."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Steve Seybold, UC Davis Department of Entomology affiliate
Contact information:
Louie Yang: (530) 754-3261 or lhyang@ucdavis.edu
Joanna Chiu: (530) 752-1839 or jcchiu@ucdavis.edu
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
