Professor
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences | Department of Entomology
Hometown: San Diego, CA
I am a Professor in the Department of Entomology. I earned my PhD at the University of California Berkeley (2009) in Environmental Science, Policy, & Management. My research expertise lies in the area of evolutionary genetics and molecular ecology, but I have broad interests in understanding how organisms adapt to environmental change and disperse over complex landscapes. My current research projects focus on both biodiversity conservation and pest management research.
Talks:
Understanding the evolution of insecticide resistance
Pesticide resistance remains a major concern for food production, as pests cause considerable damage if they are not managed effectively. New approaches are needed to improve our management of pesticide use to improve environmental sustainability. In particular, insecticide resistance often develops rapidly in insect species. Using my research on the Colorado potato beetle, I discuss the history of insecticide use, the mechanisms that allow insects to rapidly evolve resistance to insecticides, and new approaches that can be used to refine management practices.
Impacts of past and present climate change on alpine insects in western North America
Montane ecosystems of western North America provide a wonderful system to test a wide range of evolutionary and ecological processes, as environmental gradients across elevation and isolation among mountains provides opportunities to repeatedly study the relationship between climate variation and species distributional ranges. My research focuses on groups of insects that vary in habitat preference and dispersal ability, with the goal of understanding how past environmental change has shaped their biodiversity and how ongoing change impacts their conservation. Based on genetic approaches, I discuss how climate change is linked to the origin, current distribution and pattern of endemism in these insects. I then examine how physiological limitations relate to local climatic conditions to discuss current impacts of global change processes.