Research at the Interface of Ecology and Agricultural Entomology

Larry Hanks

Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology

Ph.D., University of Maryland

We study the ecological interrelationships between plants, herbivorous insects, and their natural enemies in ecosystems dominated by humans, with the ultimate goals of identifying factors that promote outbreaks of herbivorous species, and developing environmentally sound strategies for managing these pests. One emphasis of our research program is conservation biological control of pests, such as by manipulating the composition of plant communities within urban landscapes to encourage natural enemies. Our model organisms include scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccoidea), longhorned beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), and the evergreen bagworm (Lepidoptera: Psychidae), as well as other types of herbivorous insects. We also place research emphasis on the chemical ecology of wood-boring beetles, investigating the relationships between environmental stress and resistance to borers, identifying chemical compounds of trees that beetles use in locating suitable hosts for their larvae, and sex pheromones that are involved in locating and recognizing mates.

Research projects:
Bottom-up regulation of herbivorous pests-direct and indirect effects of plants:
a) influence of the larval host plant on reproductive strategies of cerambycid beetles
b) environmental stress and tree resistance to Asian longhorned beetle
c) environmental stress of street trees in urban habitats
d) influence of urbanization on the structure of cerambycid beetle communities
e) role of the host plant in aggregation and mate location in the red milkweed beetle
f) host plant effects on dispersal behavior of neonate evergreen bagworms

Top-down influences on phytophagous insects-the roles of natural enemies:
a) manipulating plant communities within ornamental landscapes to encourage natural enemies
b) conservation biological control of pine needle scale in ornamental landscapes
c) conservation biological control of pine needle scale in Christmas tree plantations
d) encouraging parasitoids of evergreen bagworm with flowering forbs
e) role of vertebrate predation in regulation of evergreen bagworm
f) foraging behaviors of urban birds that kill evergreen bagworms
g) population regulation of native gall wasps in prairie ecosystems surrounded by agriculture

Chemical ecology of longhorned beetles-chemical cues for locating host plants, and locating and recognizing mates:
a) relative roles of long-range pheromones and host plant volatiles in mate location
b) aggregation and mate location in the red milkweed beetle
c) cuticular hydrocarbons and recognition of mates

Research on Asian longhorned beetle:
a) environmental stress and tree resistance to Asian longhorned beetle
b) environmental stress of street trees in urban habitats
c) molecular genetics of Asian longhorned beetle: introduction, invasion, and spread in North America

For more information: http://www.life.uiuc.edu/hanks