Paul Nabity

1500 Institute for Genomic Biology
1206 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801 (MC 195)
Email: pnabity2@illinois.edu

Lab: (217) 333-1632
Home: (402) 203-1547

CV

About me… 

I grew up in Nebraska… I earned a bachelor of sciences from the state university in Lincoln with a couple of majors and several minors. After I finished my degree, I spent some time adrift across country and overseas, and then found a home for graduate studies in the department of Entomology back in Lincoln.

I quickly realized I loved chasing insects, indentifying them, and questioning why they exist. Insects make me happy. But after I finished my degree, I left home to venture into the plant kingdom. After all, neither I nor my passion would exist without plants. And what could be more intimate when studying plant-insect interactions than to investigate an insect living inside a plant!  

I am interested in many things but am focusing my PhD research on how insects manipulate plant eco-physiology through gall formation. I am focusing on developmental (hormonal) regulating mechanisms by using genomic and proteomic tools to examine how these mechanisms interact or change with changing environments (e.g., climate change).

Some of my side projects look at 1) signaling cascades within Nicotiana genotypes and their relationship to ROS, insect performance and physiological costs to photosynthesis associated with defense-signal induction; 2) Soybean herbivory and defense modulation through changing climate; 3) Spatially resolving guild-specific direct and indirect affects of herbivory on plant fluorescence.

Publications

Plant-focused:

• Nabity PD, JA Zavala, EH DeLucia. 2008. Indirect suppression of photosynthesis on individual leaves by arthropod herbivory. Ann. Bot. 1-10
• DeLucia EH, CL Casteel, PD Nabity, BF O’Neill. 2008. Insects take a bigger bite out of plants in a warmer, higher carbon dioxide world. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 105:1781-1782
• Nabity PD, TM Heng-Moss, LG Higley. 2006. Effects of insect herbivory on physiological and biochemical (oxidative enzyme) responses of the halophyte Atriplex subspicata (Chenopodiaceae). Environ. Entomol. 35:1677–1689
• Nabity PD, KD Hoagland. 2006. Seedbank viability of potential saline wetland restoration sites in agro-ecosystems. Great Plains Research. 16:173–180

Insect-focused:

• Spomer SM, PD Nabity, ML Brust. 2008. Larval description of Cicindela (Dromochorus) pruinina (Casey) (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae) with notes on habitat and adult behavior (in press) Coleopterists Bull.
• Nabity PD, LG Higley, TM Heng-moss. 2007. Light-induced variability in development of forensically important blow fly Phormia regina (Diptera: Calliphoridae). J. Med. Entomol. 44:351-358
• Nabity PD, LG Higley, TM Heng-Moss. 2006. Effects of temperature on development of Phormia regina and use of development data in determining time intervals in forensic entomology. J. Med. Entomol. 43:1276–1286
• Brust ML, WW Hoback, SM Spomer, WJ Allgeier, PD Nabity. 2005. New county records for Nebraska tiger beetles. Cicindela. 37:37–58
• Spomer SM, WJ Allgeier, PD Nabity, 2004. A fall collecting trip to southwestern and western Nebraska and a new state record for Cicindela decemnotata. Cicindela. 36:57–59

Teaching!!

I love to teach and to work with enthusiastic students and peers. As an educator, I have a strong set of core values to which I adhere. If you are looking for a project or something fun to get involved with plants and insects, I have too many ideas to implement on my own and could use some help. I also love to talk shop… but am equally amicable to escape into secularity

Research interests:

• Insect-plant interactions, primarily how herbivory alters plant ecophysiology
• Forensic entomology
• Pollination ecology & biology (bees!)
• Taxonomy (Carabidae & Cicindelidae)