Jessica Rootes

Laurentian tiger beetle
PhD Student

Department of Entomology
St Paul, MN 55108
United States

Degree
Ph.D.
Advisor
Brian Aukema
Education
  • Bachelor of Arts in Physiology with a Spanish minor from the University of Minnesota
  • Associate of Arts in Spanish from the Defense Language Institute in California
  • Associate of Applied Science in Intelligence Studies and Technologies from the Community College of the Air Force, Alabama

Areas of Interest

I will be studying a native insect called the eastern spruce budworm, or Choristoneura fumiferana. This moth is a pronounced disturbance agent on Isle Royale, but has not yet been studied there. My dissertation research will study the population dynamics of spruce budworm in northern Minnesota and on Isle Royale, and whether or not wolf reintroduction to the island has helped facilitate the regeneration of Balsam fir within canopy gaps caused by spruce budworm by suppressing excessive moose browse.