President

Doug Landis
Center for Integrated Plant Systems
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
landisd@msu.edu

Expertise: I am interested in the application of ecological theory to problems of importance in entomology and natural resource management. Together with my students, I attempt to understanding the influence of landscape structure on insect ecology and management, particularly in regard to biological control of insects and weeds. I hope to use these insights to aid in the design of sustainable landscapes that promote arthropod-mediated ecosystem services such as pollination and pest suppression. I am also interested in invasive species ecology and management, and in the conservation and restoration of rare species and communities.

President-Elect

Jonathan Lundgren
North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Brookings, South Dakota
Jonathan.Lundgren@ars.usda.gov

Expertise: I am a predator ecologist, and my main areas of research include predator feeding ecology and nutritional physiology, integrating generalist predators within modern farming systems, the importance of biodiversity in managing pests, and carabid taxonomy and natural history.

Past President

Les Shipp
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Harrow, Ontario
Les.Shipp@agr.gc.ca

Expertise:  Development of integrated pest management programs for pests of greenhouse vegetable and ornamental crops with the emphasis on biological control. Also, conduct research to determine the influence of greenhouse climate on pest management strategies. Current projects include the investigation of seasonal climatic conditions and supplemental food sources on the establishment of predatory mitesand the development of novel application technologies for the deliveryof microbial control agents using pollinators.

Vice-President

Michael Brownbridge
Vineland Research and Innovation Centre
Vineland, Ontario
Michael.Brownbridge@vinelandresearch.com

Expertise: As Research Director of Horticultural Production Systems at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, I oversee research activities across a broad range of horticultural crops, including greenhouse and nursery ornamentals, turf, berries, mushrooms and new field vegetable crops.  My specific research interests lie in the use of microbial biocontrol agents, particularly fungi and nematodes, against insect pests, and their integration into crop production systems. This involves the evaluation and development of new candidate organisms, application strategies, compatibility/integration studies, field-research and cost-benefit analyses of biocontrol systems.  Our work incorporates horticulture industry and value-chain partners, and broadly seeks to promote the wider adoption of biological strategies to mitigate insect pests and diseases.

Secretary-Treasurer

Stefan Jaronski
Pest Management Research Unit
Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Sidney, Montana
bug@midrivers.com

Expertise: After 17 years in industry, commercializing microbial pest control agents, I joined USDA in 2000. My current research at Sidney centers on evaluating new technologies and new fungi for the microbial control of grasshoppers, in cooperation with USDA APHIS. In this context I am also studying the population genetics of the insect pathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana, derived from grasshoppers, using molecular techniques. In a second project, I am assessing the effect of the surrounding landscape ecology on the fungal pathogens of alfalfa weevil in Montana.

Corresponding Secretary

Don Weber
Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Beltsville, Maryland
Don.Weber@ars.usda.gov

Expertise:  I have worked on environmentally friendly pest management in a variety of fruit and vegetable systems such as apple, cranberry, cole crops, sweet corn, and cucurbits.  My research at Beltsville focuses on biological and pheromonal control of chrysomelid beetles and other vegetable pests.  This includes cultural controls to enhance conservation biological control, semiochemical manipulation both of natural enemies and of pests, and diel patterns of predation.  Our recent focus on small farms and urban gardens will allow some interesting studies as to how scale and different types of diversity affect small agroecosystems which may be distant from or close to surrounding ecosystems and their services such as biological control.

Members-At-Large

Steven E. Naranjo
Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Maricopa, Arizona
Steve.Naranjo@ars.usda.gov

Expertise:  My areas of interest include conservation of natural enemies, predator biology and ecology, population ecology, and the integration of biological control into pest management systems for cotton and other arid-land crops.  My current projects include the investigation of selective insecticides for pests of cotton, the development of economic thresholds that incorporate natural enemy abundance and activity, the use of attractants to manipulate natural enemy populations, identification of source-sink relationships for pest and natural enemy populations within the agroecosystem, and  study of non-target effects of transgenic crops with emphasis on biological control services.
 

Cynthia Scott-Dupree
School of Environmental Sciences
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario
cscottdu@uoguelph.ca

Expertise:  My research interests include integrated management of insect crop pests using environmentally compatible control methods (i.e., biological control, reduced risk insecticides, cultural controls etc.); insecticide resistance management; and, the impact of agro-ecosystems on non-target beneficial arthropods such as honey bees, bumble bees, native bees and natural enemies of insect pests (i.e., biological control agents). I conduct research on horticultural and field crops, but most recently have focused primarily on greenhouse crops - ornamental and vegetable.
 

Paula Shrewsbury
Department of Entomology
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland
pshrewsbury@umd.edu

Expertise:  My research and extension program develops Integrated Pest Management approaches for pest insects of ornamental plants and turfgrass.  I am interested in the development of ecologically based practices aimed at restoring ecosystem function to managed urban ecosystems and production nurseries.  My particular focus examines the influence of habitat diversity and structural complexity on the conservation of natural enemies and pest suppression.  I am also interested in invasive species ecology and management.  Current projects examine the influence of native and alien plants on biological control services in urban landscapes, and the use of cover crops in production nurseries on arthropod community dynamics and pest suppression.