RESEARCH FOCUS
- Interaction of genetic and ecological forces and the evolutionary consequences of those interactions
- Study population genetic processes in pest insects to understand how they became pests, how they have evolved to counter our control efforts, and how we might use evolutionary thinking to better manage those pests
- Understanding the genetic basis of adaptation and speciation these maps have been used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL's) that underlie variation in ecologically important traits in these insects,
- Evolutionary process by which the Colorado potato beetle acquired potato (Solanum tuberosum) as a host plant (a great example of animal adaptation to a changed environment) and the means by which it has become resistant to many classes of insecticides
- Understanding the genetic basis of insecticide resistance in order to contribute both to the development of management plans to slow or prevent the adaptation of this pest to new insecticides and to the rational development of those new compound
- Work on the pea aphid is also focused on the genetic basis of adaptation of an insect to its host plants
