Affiliates: Invertebrates

The 2023 IPBES Invasive Species Assessment indicates that more than 3,500 invasive species with documented negative impacts have been recorded worldwide. Although their numbers are likely to be underestimated and expected to increase, 1,852 invertebrate species contribute to that statistic, including insects, spiders, mollusks, worms, and more.

Shane Allan

Shane Allan

M.S. Student
Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

Allan is investigating how prescribed burns affect the spread of laurel wilt, an invasive insect-vectored fungal disease caused by Harringtonia lauricola.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
  • Restoration ecology
Olivia Andrews - Entomology Ph.D. Student

Olivia Andrews

Ph.D. Student
Department of Entomology

Andrews’ research focuses on the biological control of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA). She is specifically establishing populations and studying the biology of two specialist predators of HWA, Leucotaraxis argenticollis and Leucotaraxis piniperda, in the eastern United States.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention & eradication
Dr. Brian Badgley

Dr. Brian Badgley

Associate Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences

Dr. Badgley and his lab conduct research in environmental microbiology with a particular focus on how populations and communities of microorganisms impact water and soil quality.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Genetics, genomics, & community/population structure
  • Restoration ecology

Camille Block

Master’s Student
Department of Entomology

Block uses the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius), an invasive urban pest, to study urban evolutionary processes. Such processes include invasion dynamics, the genomics of establishment, and patterns of gene flow and genetic structure.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
  • Genetics, genomics, & community/population structure

Dr. Warren Booth

Associate Professor
Department of Entomology

Dr. Booth’s research explores how organisms adapt and evolve within urban environments, using invasive indoor urban pest insects (most notably bed bugs) as model systems of study.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
  • Genetics, genomics, & community/population structure
Dr. Bryan Brown

Dr. Bryan Brown

Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences

Dr. Brown’s research focuses on aquatic ecology, particularly community assembly, symbioses, and metacommunity theory.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Genetics, genomics, & community/population structure
Dr. Jamie Bucholz

Dr. Jamie Bucholz

Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of Biological Sciences

Dr. Bucholz’s work is focused on the ecology and population genomics of both native and invasive freshwater bivalve species.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
  • Genetics, genomics, & community/population structure
Dr. Kelly Cobourn

Dr. Kelly Cobourn

Associate Professor
Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

 Dr. Cobourn’s research involves integrating biological models of pest dynamics with economic models of human decision making to understand what factors drive the spread of invasive species and what policy instruments effectively and efficiently slow or halt spread.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Economics & policy
  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
Dr. Jon Czuba

Dr. Jonathan Czuba

Associate Professor
Department of Biological Systems Engineering

Dr. Czuba’s research focuses on the transport of water and sediment in streams and rivers and how that affects the distribution of invasive and native aquatic species, including fish, macroinvertebrates, freshwater mussels, and plants.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Restoration ecology
Dr. Jon Eisenback

Dr. Jonathan Eisenback

Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences

Dr. Eisenback’s research focuses on plant-parasitic nematodes.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication

Dr. Stacy Endriss

Assistant Professor
Department of Entomology

Dr. Endriss is an evolutionary ecologist with a passion for understanding the evolution, ecology, and impacts of introduced plants, especially in the context of species invasion and dispersal.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Community engagement & science communication
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication

Dr. Sally Entrekin

Dr. Sally Entrekin

Professor
Department of Entomology

Dr. Entrekin studies how aquatic invertebrate identity and function are changed by human activities on land and in the water.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Community engagement & science communication
  • Restoration ecology
Luis Escobar

Dr. Luis Escobar

Assistant Professor
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

A key component of Dr. Escobar’s research is developing theory and methods to study the biogeography of infectious diseases, disease ecology, and invasion biology. Current projects include bat-borne rabies, chronic wasting disease, spatial epidemiology in the Anthropocene, and disease-biodiversity relationships.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics

Dr. Carrie Fearer

Dr. Carrie Fearer

Assistant Professor
Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

Dr. Fearer’s research explores the micro- and macro- level impacts of nonnative pathogens on forest ecosystems. She has studied laurel wilt disease, beech bark disease, beech leaf disease, and walnut witches’ broom.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
  • Restoration ecology
Christen Hughes

Christen Hughes

Ph.D. Student
Department of Biochemistry

Christen’s research is focused on defining the male determining locus borders of Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and whether it was inherited from a common ancestor (A. albopictus and A. aegypti).

Thematic Area(s):

  • Genetics, genomics, & community/population structure
Dr. Benjamin Jantzen

Dr. Benjamin Jantzen

Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy

Dr. Jantzen’s current research involves clarifying the nature of biological entities and processes through philosophical analysis,  developing computational tools for automating scientific inference (especially concerning complex systems measured through time), and the monitoring, natural history, and conservation of invertebrates.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Arts & humanities
  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
Dr. Anne Jones

Dr. Anne Jones

Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of Entomology

Dr. Jones investigates temporal and spatial changes in insecticide resistance in German cockroach populations, as well as the chemical ecology of several pest and invasive species behavior.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Genetics, genomics, & community/population structure
Dr. Tom Kuhar

Dr. Thomas Kuhar

Professor
Department of Entomology

Dr. Kuhar has over twenty years of experience working on various invasive species of agricultural importance including brown marmorated stink bug, kudzu bug, spotted lanternfly, Asian jumping worm, Asian longhorned tick, and others.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
Dr. Angie Larsen-Gray

Dr. Angela Larsen-Gray

Adjunct Faculty
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Dr. Larsen-Gray’s research focuses on wildlife ecology in private, working forests throughout the eastern United States.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
Harrison Miles

Harrison Miles

Ph.D. Student
Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

Miles studies the biological control of tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) with a soil-borne fungus (Verticillium nonalfalfae) and their interaction with spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula).

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
Dr. Lindsay Miles

Dr. Lindsay Miles

Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of Entomology

Miles uses genomic data of invasive and pest invertebrates to understand evolution in urban habitats.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Genetics, genomics, & community/population structure

Mitch Miller

Mitch Miller

Adjunct Drawing Professor
School of Visual Arts

Miller believes art and science work well together, when they work together, which is not often enough. He has interests in all drawing, sustainable design and systems, international art fairs, bugs, and art/science collaborations.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Arts and humanities
Dr. Ksenia Onufrieva

Dr. Ksenia Onufrieva

Research Scientist
Department of Entomology

Dr. Onufrieva coordinates and manages research on the optimization of mating disruption tactics against spongy moths (Lymantria dispar) in support of the national “Slow the Spread Program”.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
Shirin Parizad

Shirin Parizad

Ph.D. Student
Department of Entomology – Southern AREC

Shirin examines the roles of invasive aphids and alternative host plants in barley yellow dwarf virus transmission to understand better how environmental changes affect its spread.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
  • Genetics, genomics, & community/population structure
Brian Ruether

Brian Ruether

Ph.D. Student
Department of Biological Sciences

Ruether studies chemically-mediated interactions between spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) and its host plants, tree-of-heaven and wine grapes.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
Scott Salom

Dr. Scott Salom

Professor and Graduate Program Director
Department of Entomology

Dr. Salom researches forest insect and weed pests, with an emphasis on developing tools and strategies to improve management for those pests. His main area of focus is the biological control of hemlock woolly adelgid and tree of heaven.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication

Jordan Thompson

M.S. Student
Department of Entomology

Thompson’s research explores the ecological impact of Asian jumping worm (Amynthas agrestis) on soil ecosystems through analyses of soil properties, microbial enzymes, and microarthropod communities.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication

Dr. Esra Buyuktahtakin Toy

Associate Professor
Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Dr. Buyuktahtakin Toy’s research explores optimal management of invasive species with mathematical modeling and artificial intelligence. Past species of interest include the emerald ash borer in North America, Sericea Lespedeza in the Great Plains, and buffelgrass in the Sonoran Desert.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
  • Social science, economics, & policy

Dr. Scotty Yang

Assistant Professor
Department of Entomology

Dr. Yang studies invasive ants through an integrated approach combining genetics & genomics, behavior ecology and microbial interactions with a goal of developing biorational invasive ant management strategies that mitigate their impacts.

Thematic Area(s):

  • Biology, ecology, & ecosystem dynamics
  • Detection, management, prevention, & eradication
  • Genetics, genomics, & community/population structure