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How do Insects Locate and Select Appropriate Hosts and Mates? |
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| Rufus Isaacs
Associate Professor, Entomology |
Entomology | |
| My research focuses on the
behavioral and sensory adaptations of insects that enable their location
of reproductive and nutritional resources. Past projects have studied
flight and feeding behaviors of homopteran insects, whereas my current
research focuses on insects in perennial and annual fruit crop
ecosystems. A multidisciplinary approach is used to explore mechanisms
of plant-insect interactions from both the entomological and botanical
point of view, in close collaboration with colleagues in other
disciplines. Current projects involve electrophysiological studies of
pheromone olfaction, host chemical discrimination in fruit feeding
Lepidoptera, and mark and recapture studies of insect movement between
native and managed habitats.
I have pest management responsibilities in grapes, blueberries and other small fruits, and the applied goal of our research is to determine optimal methods for disruption of host and mate location in an effort to provide less toxic options for insect control. |
Selected Publications
Isaacs, R., Cahill, M. and Byrne, D.N. 1999. Host plant evaluation behavior of Bemisia tabaci and its modification by external or internal uptake of imidacloprid. Physiological Entomology 24:101-108. Isaacs, R. and Byrne, D.N. 1998. Aerial distribution patterns, flight behavior and egg-load: Their inter-relationship in the sweet potato whitefly. Journal of Animal Ecology 67:741-750. Isaacs, R., Byrne, D.N. and Hendrix, D.L. 1998. Feeding rates and carbohydrate metabolism by Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) on different quality phloem saps. Physiological Entomology 23:241-248. Hardie, J., Isaacs, R., Pickett, J.A., Wadhams, L.J. and Woodcock, C.M. 1994. Methyl salicylate and (-)-(1R,5S)-myrtenal are plant-derived repellents for black bean aphid, Aphis fabae Scop. (Homoptera, Aphididae). Journal of Chemical Ecology 20:2847-2855.
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