Campuses:
Now that the area ticks call home is expanding, the risk of getting Lyme disease isn't limited to those who live up north -- and the FOX 9 Investigators found out that means the dangerous illness is under-diagnosed because the symptoms can mimic other illnesses and tests can be inconclusive. Dr. Uli Munderloh, Dept. of Entomology, explains...
Please join us on Monday, May 14 at 3:00 p.m. in 105 Cargill Building to recognize our graduate students and our Hodson Alumni Award Winner.
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Bees are a vital part of our ecosystem, but they're declining at alarming rates. It's called colony collapse and it affects humans more than you may think… Marla Spivak, director of the Bee Lab at the University of Minnesota, will join the discussion. Minnesota Public Radio Daily Circuit
The number of requests for beekeeping permits is spiking in Minneapolis, nearly two years after it was legalized… Others cities have also acted in recent years, said Gary Reuter, who works for the University of Minnesota's entomology department. Minnesota Public Radio Daily Circuit
The warm spring has meant an early visit from Minnesota’s blood-sucking, disease-carrying insect: the tick…“I would say we could probably come up with some things,” said University of Minnesota Extension entomologist Jeff Hahn. WCCO-TV
"...We’re trying to figure out if biofuel crops can be helpful with biocontrol of soybean aphids, which are a major problem for soybean producers,” says George Heimpel, a professor in the Department of Entomology, who is a co-investigator on the study. "We already know that more diverse habitats tend to attract more of the beneficial insects that prey on soybean aphids,” he says. “What’s not clear yet is if there will be enough (insects) to make a difference in biocontrol... See Solutions Magazine article.
If survival in nature depends on the ability to adapt, then the corn rootworm must be the fittest bug in the field. Entomologists study why the persistent corn pest may be staging a comeback. Ken Ostlie has been in the fields trying to identify the source of the resistant pests and to help farmers learn how to deal with ailing fields. Solutions Magazine.
After a year of drought, insects, windstorms, and fire, how healthy are Minnesota's urban and recreational forests? Brian Aukema participated in a roundtable discussion about Minnesota's trees. Solutions Magazine.
Beekeepers from Minnesota and across the country this month asked the federal government for a temporary ban on one of the most widely used pesticides until its effect on bees is clear. "Seventy percent of crops - apples, oranges, zucchini, melons, strawberries - they all need pollinators," said Vera Krischik, an associate professor of entomology at the University of Minnesota who studies the pesticides and bees. "It's a huge issue." StarTribune.
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas will be holding an awards presentation and reception in appreciation of alumna Marla Spivak. The awards presentation and alumni reception will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 30 in the Fireplace Room of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, MN. In recognition of her contributions to her profession, she has been selected as a recipient of the College’s 2011–12 Alumni Distinguished Achievement Awards, the highest honor bestowed upon its alumni.
Spivak is a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow and Distinguished McKnight Professor and Extension Entomologist in the Department of Entomology at the University of Minnesota. She obtained her Ph.D. from the College at KU under Dr. Orley Taylor in 1989 on the ecology of Africanized honey bees in Costa Rica. From 1989–92 she was a post-doctoral researcher at the Center for Insect Science at the University of Arizona. She was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota in 1992.
Currently, her research and extension efforts focus on honeybee health, breeding, and behavior, and on the sustainable management of alternative pollinators.
For America's agricultural biotech companies, the corn rootworm is threatening to turn into their worst nightmare..."It raises real questions about how stable this house of cards is," says Ken Ostlie from the University of Minnesota. Read more.
Dr. Stephen Kells will be leading seminars in Rochester, Duluth, and Northwest Minnesota. People who attend the free information sessions will learn how to identify bed bugs, prevent infestations, remove bed bugs, and develop a response program for hotels, hospitals, and social services. Click on a link below to register for a seminar near you!
Rochester, MN: March 28, 2012
Duluth, MN: April 3, 2012
Northwest Minnesota: April 12, 2012
St. Cloud, MN: To be determined.
To tell the full story of how his mutant worms may help find better drugs for Parkinson’s disease, The University of Texas at Austin’s Jon Pierce-Shimomura goes back a few decades…“Nature doesn’t like to give up on a good strategy,” says Karen Mesce, a neuroscience and entomology professor at the University of Minnesota. Read more.
Blacklegged ticks continue to infiltrate the Arrowhead…But that doesn’t necessarily mean this year’s mild winter will produce a bumper crop of the ticks, said Jeff Hahn, an entomologist for the University of Minnesota. Read more.
New UofM Video on the contributions of students to the research mission, features Entomology Graduate Student, Lindsey Christianson, working on the cold hardiness of the Emerald Ash Borer in Minnesota. Her advisor is Dr. Rob Venette, U.S. Forest Service, and Adjunct Assoc. Faculty member, Dept. of Entomology.
Diamesa mendotae, a cold-hardy but delicate insect also known as a midge, may provide a measure of how the state's climate is warming, and what effect that might have. Researchers from the University of Minnesota are working to understand more about the relationship between these unusual freeze-resistant insects and the fish that eat them in streams in the southeastern part of the state. "We're thinking that a changing climate and increasing air temperatures will affect water temperatures, and that could reduce [fish] populations," said entomology professor Len Ferrington, principal investigator on the project. Read more.
Marla Spivak is a world expert on honeybees. Carl Flink is a leading dancer and choreographer. These U of M faculty members work in what seem radically different disciplines. Yet the heart of what drives them—and countless other seekers, whether they're labeled "teachers" or "students"—is remarkably similar. See for yourself.
Growing up in a coastal Brazilian town, Renata Borba loved to surf year-round. And as a student at the University of Ceara, she came to love honeybees.
But that university requires students to spend their final semester in an internship outside its walls. So Borba applied to study bees through the Minnesota Agricultural Student Trainee (MAST) program, which could have sent her anywhere in the United States. Read more.
The resurgence of a major corn pest has led to a growing debate about the role of genetically modified corn, and cast doubts on the economic and environmental benefits of one of the nation's most popular seed lines.
Rootworms have damaged corn plants in Minnesota and other states, and research suggests rootworms have developed immunity to the protections in Monsanto's genetically modified corn. Read more.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has stepped up its fight against the spread of emerald ash borer in the past year, releasing stingless wasps and setting purple traps to eradicate the invasive insect. "When the eggs are deposited in the tree, they will hatch out and eat through the live part of the tree," explained Andrea Hefty, a graduate student at the University of Minnesota and member of the research team studying the bothersome bug.
As a St. Paul resident herself, she said the removal of the trees is personally heartbreaking -- but it also helps them find ways to treat the trees and eradicate the insect.
"The faster we can get rid of them, the better," she said. Read more.
Plant Resistance to Insects (April 1-4)
Minneapolis, MN
New findings from Dr. Kells on how to keep bed bugs away (KSTP).
January 24, 2012 - Jeff Hahn discusses, "Warm winters, more Insects?" (KARE 11)
December 28, 2011 - Ken Ostlie: Corn rootworm resistance concerns.
December 27, 2011 - Marla Spivak and breeding a better bee.
December 19, 2011 - Stephen Kells' Bed Bug Hotline (KSTP)
August 28, 2011 - Ian MacRae was interviewed by The Prairie Star regarding remote sensing for soybean aphids.
August 25, 2011 - Marla Spivak and her PhD student, Elaine Evans were featured in an article about Prairie Day, near Princeton, MN
August 16, 2011 - Elaine Evans (Advisor, Marla Spivak) was featured in the Southwest Minneapolis Patch - Counting Bumble Bees in the Peace Garden
August 1, 2011 - Lindsey Christenson (Advisor, Rob Venette), New M.S. Student, featured in UofM News, "Power in small things"
Ralph Holzenthal has been honored with the University's Award for Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education and Roger Moon received the 2011 ESA North Central Branch Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching. Congratulations to both of them!
