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New paper on island-ocean connections published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

12/12/2022

 
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2122354119
With a collaborative interdisciplinary team led by Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the non-profit Island Conservation, our new perspectives article argues that island eradications of invasive mammals such as feral goats, European wild boar, and rats also benefit marine nearshore ecosystems. We need to take cues from indigenous island societies, who managed islands from ‘ridge to reef’, to restore the linkages that benefit flora, fauna, and ecosystems integrity, both on land and in the sea.

At right, Diversity of terrestrial ecosystem changes that have been documented to follow island introduction of invasive mammals such as pigs, rats, and goats. The ecosystem changes are linked to the ecology of the invasive mammal, and some of the stereotyped shifts are captured. Credit: re:wild. (Full article @ Scripps)

Read more from MarylandToday >>

Full open access article from PNAS >>
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Samantha Kowalik and Avery Rice earn Cory Scholarships

12/7/2022

 
Two labbies landed Ernest N. Cory Undergraduate Scholarships for Spring 2023! This scholarship provides up to $1,000 for undergraduate students each semester who are contributing creatively to Department of Entomology research and/or extension efforts. Samantha Kowalik is a Microbiology major with an Entomology minor, and Avery Rice is majoring in Environmental Science and Technology with a Sustainability minor. Both support our research on emerald ash borer biocontrol in the lab. 
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Alumni Alexander Forde publishes thesis in Ecology and the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America

10/3/2022

 
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Photo credit: D. Gruner
Alexander Forde studied classic top-down and bottom-up forces in food webs with his experimental study in an unusual ecosystem. On mangrove cays inside the Belizean barrier reef, severe P-limitation on the peat substrates curbs red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) growth within interior ponds. Along the pond fringes, subsidies from wind-blown flocculent microbial biomass transform leaf traits and growth form, creating fine-grained productivity gradients and heterogeneity in arthropod and bird communities. On Twin Cays, Belize, our study leveraged this steep productivity gradient and experimentally excluded insectivorous birds for more than 1 year. Although bird predation consistently disrupted arthropod numbers and reduced their herbivory, microbial detrital subsidies alone explained red mangrove growth dynamics.

Read the article in Ecology >>

View the photo gallery of the Bulletin of the ESA >>

Grace Soltis graduates with High Honors in Entomology

5/20/2022

 
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Grace Soltis graduated with her BS in Biological Sciences (Ecology and Evolution) and a minor in Entomology. Grace was the first to enroll as an Entomology minor when the program launched in 2021. Earlier this month, Grace successfully defended her thesis with High Honors in Entomology: "Periodical cicadas emergence triggers dramatic shift in avian foraging” - coming soon to a peer-reviewed journal near you! In the fall, Grace will enroll in the Ph.D. program in Ecology & Evolution at Florida State University with Dr. Nora Underwood.

Congratulations and good luck, Grace!

Read more >>

Stokes Aker publishes in the Journal of Economic Entomology

2/1/2022

 
Stokes Aker publishes first, first-authored paper in the Journal of Economic Entomology. Since the introduction of the emerald ash borer (EAB) to the USA in the 1990s it has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees, and it imperils billions more. Stokes documents that the most recently introduced biological control agent – a specialized parasitoid wasp from Asia, Spathius galinae (Braconidae) – that may hold the most promise for spatial spread to keep pace with EAB.

Read more >>

Update 4/2022: Stokes Aker will begin his bid for a Master’s degree in Entomology this fall at the Penn State University. Good luck, Stokes, we will certainly miss you!
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Dan receives Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching

1/26/2022

 
Dan was honored by the Entomological Society of America’s Eastern Branch with the Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching! UMD Entomology colleagues also receiving ESA EB awards this cycle from the Eastern Branch include Drs. Karin Burghardt and Margaret Lewis for the Excellence in Early Career Award and John Henry Comstock Award for best dissertation, respectively! 
Read more>>

Grace Soltis one of three new Cory Scholarship awardees

8/24/2021

 
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Congratulations to Grace Soltis, one of three awardees of the Fall 2021 Ernest N. Cory Undergraduate Scholarship! This scholarship provides up to $1,000 for undergraduate students each semester who are contributing creatively to Entomology Department research and/or extension efforts. For her Entomology Honors thesis, Grace is researching the impacts of Brood X periodical cicadas on the food webs of Maryland forests, observing changes in bird predation pressures both before and after the cicada 2021 event. Grace is an Entomology Minor also working on emerald ash borer biocontrol research in the Gruner lab. Dominique Desmarattes (Fritz lab) and Molly Jones (Burghardt lab) also earned a scholarship.
​Read more>>

Grace Soltis featured in Audubon and WIRED magazines for cicada research

6/21/2021

 
Grace Soltis was featured in the Audubon and WIRED magazines for her senior thesis research on bird foraging on periodical cicadas. The articles feature her work with George Washington University and Georgetown University ecologists, including Dr. Zoe Getman-Pickering pictured with Grace (photo credit: Chris Linder). Grace is studying Brood X impacts on Maryland food webs.
​Read more>>
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Madhvi Venkatraman defends dissertation, accepts NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology!

5/26/2021

 
Madhvi -- ahem -- Dr. Venkatraman defended and filed her dissertation: "What makes a successful invader? Population genomics and adaptation in the invasive Japanese white-eye (Zosterops japonicus)"

Dr. Venkatraman was awarded a prestigious NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology to continue her research in this system, collaborating with Dr. Marty Martin at the University of South Florida and Dr. Rob Fleischer at the Smithsonian Center for Conservation Genomics at the National Zoo.
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Fig. from Venkatraman et al. 2021 Genome Biology and Evolution doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evab063

Welcome, MS candidate Ángela Sáenz!

1/20/2021

 
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We are pleased to welcome Ángela Soto Sáenz as a Masters candidate in Entomology. Her arrival from Costa Rica was delayed from August 2020 to January 2021 because of the COVID-19 crisis. Ange, we appreciate your patience and perseverence!

​Ángela is interested in biological control and landscape management to attract natural enemies of invasive insects.

Grunerlab alumna Dr. Elske Tielens wins competitive NSF Macrosystems Biology award!

8/12/2020

 
Dr. Tielens will use NEXRAD atmospheric radar with data from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) to study aerial feeding and population change of purple martins, tree swallows, and Mexican free-tailed bats. 
Read more >>

​Mayda Nathan Successfully Defends Dissertation

5/18/2020

 
Mayda Nathan successfully defended her dissertation, "Plant-insect interactions in a shifting coastal ecosystem: Avicennia germinans and its associated arthropods."

Dr. Nathan seeks opportunities in science policy. Congratulations & best of luck in all your future endeavors, wherever these may take you!
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Lab Alumni Named NSF Predoctoral Fellows

4/2/2020

 
Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award goes to 2 Gruner Alum! THE NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees. The awardees are:

Lily Durkee (B.S. ’18, biological sciences) with Gruner Lab, now MS student at Colorado State University.
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Kristin Jayd (B.S. '19, Environmental Science and Policy) starting entomology grad program in fall 2020 w/ Burghardt Lab. Her current research focus is on parasitoids and their relationships, and how tree diversity shapes them.

Nathan Selected Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award Recipient

3/2/2020

 
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Congratulations Mayda Nathan (PhD student, Gruner Lab) on being selected to receive the Ecological Society of America's Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award! Mayda is currently studying the recent northward range expansion of Florida’s mangroves. As a recipient of the award Mayda will meet with lawmakers and advocate for federal funding for biological and ecological sciences. 

Follow link to read ESA's press release: 
https://www.esa.org/blog/2020/03/02/esa-selects-2020-katherine-s-mccarter-graduate-student-policy-award-recipients

Jayd wins 2019 ESA Competition

11/18/2019

 
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​Kristin Jayd (Undergrad student, Gruner Lab) was awarded first place in the Student Virtual Infographics Competition. Jayd’s award-winning graphic: "Mangrove herbivory across a salinity gradient” (pictured to the left). This was the first year for the infographic category. 

Jayd Presents Research in Singapore

7/5/2019

 
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​Kristin Jayd (Undergraduate, Gruner Lab) particpated in a poster presentation at the fifth Mangrove Macrobenthos and Management meeting held in Singapore this year. Her poster, titled "Patterns of Mangrove Seedling Herbivory Across a Salinity Gradient", presented her work done last summer in Kosrae, FSM.  Currently Jade is interning at the Smithsonian Entomology Collection at the Natural History Museum, working on micro-hymenoptera from Singapore mangrove forests. The location of this year's meeting was opportune Kristin says, "I was able to connect with people who have done the field work for that project, which I hope to roll into graduate study next year via the University of Maryland College Park’s Certificate in Museum Scholarship and Material Culture."

Elske Tielens Successfully Defends Dissertation - Spring 2019

5/6/2019

 
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On May 6, 2019 Elske Tielens successfully defended her dissertation, "Diversity and structure of Metrosideros polymorpha​ canopy arthropod communities across space and time."

Dr. Tielens will accept a postdoctoral research position at the University of Oklahoma, in the Aeroecology group.

Wang Named Spring 2019 Cory Undergraduate Award Recipient

12/3/2018

 
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Over the last two semesters, Betsy has analyzed spider communities in the Hawaiian Islands in Dr. Gruner’s lab. Her goal is to gain a better understanding of which ecosystem factors influence the assemblage of a predator community. Because Hawaii is made up of several volcanic islands of differing ages, it is a good system for studying differences in communities at different stages of primary community assembly. She says, “So far, I have found that age is not a good predictor for abundance of most spider families; instead, their abundance may be based on other environmental factors, like canopy structure or available plant types. Recently, I have also joined a project studying parasitoids of the Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive pest in the United States.”

Gruner Among 2018's Most Highly Cited

11/27/2018

 
​Congratulations to Associate Professors Daniel Gruner & Dennis vanEngelsdorp for making the Clarivate Analytics’ 2018 list of Highly Cited Researchers, a compilation of influential names in science.

Gruner studies insects and plants to explore the dynamic interplay of biodiversity, food web interactions and ecosystem function in rapidly changing environments. 

Read full announcement

Durkee Successfully Defends Honors Thesis

5/11/2018

 
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Congratulations to biological sciences student Lily Durkee who successfully presented their entomology honors thesis. Lily Durkee's thesis title, "Does goose exclusion impact the benthic macroinvertebrate community of a restored freshwater marsh?"

Lily Durkee is now an MS student at Colorado State University. In 2020, Durkee received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award!

UMD Entomology colleague Dr. Fritz comments on Gruner's research in The Scientist

2/28/2018

 
Dr. Megan Fritz quoted in The Scientist commenting on Dr. Daniel Gruner's research publication titled, "Local extinction of the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) following rat eradication on Palmyra Atoll."

Quote: “This is an interesting paper that opens up the fascinating possibility that eradicating one human-introduced pest, which would be the rats, could lead to the secondary elimination of another human-introduced pest, A. albopictus,” says entomologist Megan Fritz of the University of Maryland who was not involved with the study. “The findings have implications for conservation biology and habitat restoration and possibly even human health in sparsely populated tropical island communities.” Read more>>

Lily Durkee Named Spring 2018 Cory Undergraduate Award Recipient

12/6/2017

 
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​Lily Durkee has been working with the Gruner Lab since the summer before her senior year of high school. It was because of this incredible experience that summer that she decided to attend UMD as an undergraduate student and pursue a degree in Ecology and Evolution. Currently, she is working towards completing an Honors Thesis within the Department of Entomology that focuses on assessing the effects of restoration strategies on the macroinvertebrate benthic communities in Anacostia Park marsh systems. After she graduates next spring, she plans on attending graduate school to pursue a PhD in entomology, ecology, or natural resource management. 

Settles Named Fall 2017 Cory Undergraduate Award Recipient

6/2/2017

 
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VICTOR SETTLES, Gruner Lab, Undergraduate Research Assistant
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Victor has been impressed by the diversity of insects since he was a child. After taking an entomology course this past spring and reading deeper into the primary literature, he pursued an undergraduate research position in Dr. Dan Gruner’s Lab. He now works under the guidance of Elske Tielens, a Gruner Lab BEES graduate student. His major tasks involve sorting, identifying, and curating arthropod samples from the Hawaiian Islands in order to assist Elske in investigating the effects of invasive predators on canopy insect communities in forests fragmented by lava flows and how these communities assemble over evolutionary time.

​Victor hopes to use his experience in the Gruner lab working with dichotomous keys and learning to develop hypotheses about ecology and evolution to build a foundation in research that will ultimately set him on a path towards a career as a Principle Investigator.  

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Department of Entomology
4112 Plant Sciences Bldg
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
4142 Plant Sciences (office)
4164 Plant Sciences (lab)
(301) 405-3957
​dsgruner [at] umd.edu
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