Faculty and Staff:
Pedro Barbosa, Amy E. Brown, Gerald Brust, Robert Denno, Galen P. Dively,
Mike Embrey,
Dan Gruner,
David Hawthorne, Cerruti Hooks,
William O. Lamp, Betty Marose, Terry Patton, Michael Raupp, Raymond St. Leger, Sandra Sardanelli, Paula Shrewsbury
Description of Focus Area:
Agricultural crops are of considerable importance to the Maryland economy
and also vital to other industries, such as poultry, the leading agricultural
enterprise, which relies upon certain field crops for feed and a place for
waste management. To ensure profitable production, faculty members with pest
management expertise in the Department of Entomology address both short-
and long-term solutions to the most important arthropod-related problems
facing Maryland agriculture. Management strategies that are environmentally
and socially acceptable are developed and implemented to protect the unique
environment associated with the Chesapeake and nearby urban areas.
Currently, major emphasis is placed on pest management strategies for use
in corn, soybeans, small grains, forage crops, vegetables, and beekeeping.
High priority is placed on applied research to solve problems and address
issues of immediate concern. For example, with the introduction of transgenic
insecticidal crops, Entomology faculty have taken a leadership role in
evaluating
benefits and potential uses of this new technology, assessing its potential
impacts on nontarget invertebrates, and developing resistance management
strategies. Other applied projects focus on control strategies for new emerging
pests, application strategies for reducing the cost and selection pressure
of insecticides, baseline monitoring and detection of pest resistance,
development
of economic treatment thresholds, decision aids, and monitoring methods,
enhancement of biological control through conservation and landscape design,
insecticide efficacy and environmental fate studies to support new insecticide
registrations, and management of mite pests of honeybees. Basic research
toward long term solutions is underway in the areas of host plant resistance,
plant/insect interactions, biology of new pest species, plant-mediated
resistance,
ecology and behavior of natural enemies, isolation of bioactive substances
from microbial symbionts of insects, and the identification and incorporation
of genes from entomopathogenic fungi into plants. Emphasis is placed on
multidisciplinary
approaches, so many projects involve departmental faculty members with plant
pathology, weed science, and nematology expertise, faculty from the College
of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and scientists from government agencies
and the private sector. An annual report of pest management activities and
projects in Maryland is posted on the Maryland Pest Management Program Website .
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