Guest Editors
Judy Wexler
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
<p>Dr. Judy Wexler is a Zuckerman Postdoctoral Fellow working in the lab of Ariel Chipman at the Hebrew University. She received her PhD in population biology from the University of California, Davis with Artyom Kopp in 2018, and worked as a postdoc with Leslie Pick at the University of Maryland from 2018-2019. Dr. Wexler studies the evolution and development of insects, primarily using hemimetabolous insects as models. Her dissertation focused on the evolution of alternative splicing in the sexual differentiation pathway of insects. Current projects include work on rewiring of the segmentation gene network and the evolution of larval types in Holometabola.</p> <p> </p>
Daniel Friedman
University of California-Davis, Department of Entomology & Nematology
<p>Dr. Daniel Friedman is currently an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow working in the labs of Brian Johnson (UC Davis) and Tim Linksvayer (UPenn). He received his PhD in Biology from Stanford University in 2019, studying ant ecology and neurogenetics with Prof. Deborah Gordon. His dissertation explored how behavioral variation among ant colonies was associated with tissue-specific physiological and gene expression differences. Currently he is asking how colony-level traits evolve in eusocial insects, and approaches the question using techniques from genomics, ecology, mathematics, and philosophy. </p>
Sebastian Alvarado
City University of New York, Queens College
<p>Sebastian Alvarado worked in the private biotechnology sector for three years before undertaking graduate training at McGill University. He received his PhD from the department of pharmacology where his dissertation research focused on the epigenetic signatures that accompany chronic pain and metastasis in breast cancer cell lines. After receiving his PhD in 2013, he was awarded an A.P. Giannini postdoctoral fellowship to pursue training at Stanford University where he adopted a cichlid fish model system, <em>Astatotilapia burtoni</em>. In 2018, he became an assistant professor at Queens College at the City University of New York in the department of biology. His research program is fundamentally interested in how plastic molecular substrates can shape a genome to dynamic changes in the environment. Currently, he has adopted diverse model systems (Fall Army Worms, Snowshoe Hare, Cichlids, etc) to address this question with a focus on DNA methylation and its ability to regulate behavior, pigmentation, and the intersection between these areas. </p>
Collection Overview
Entomology has a long history of rigorous and accessible investigation into the basis of insect behavior, morphology, and physiology. Today, entomologists use a variety of methods to study insects, drawing from diverse fields. More recently, in an increasing number of "non-model" insect species, chemical and genetic manipulations (e.g. pharmacology, RNAi, transgenics) are being paired with high-throughput sequencing approaches (e.g. gene expression analysis, epigenomics). Integrative studies in many insect species are also beginning to address the phylogenetic landscape and molecular basis of important insect traits, for example, the reversible transition from solitary to swarming behavior in locusts, and the evolution of eusociality in ants, bees, wasps, and termites.
Transparent experimental methods are key for clear interpretation and accurate replication of insect experiments. Behavioral studies in insects require details as to how behaviors are quantified (manually or by automated algorithms), as well as aspects of the experimental setup, such as ambient temperature and circadian cycling. Studies involving high-throughput genomics methods further require accurate description of the sample collection, laboratory wet work protocols, and tissue-specific dissection stages.
This collection will aim to use the video medium to make modern entomology studies more reproducible, accessible, and productive. We solicit submissions related to behavioral, ecological, neurobiological, and genomic studies of insects. We highlight the social insects as an area of growing interest, reflected by work on the mechanistic basis of collective behavior, and quantification of collective behavior in natural settings and/or using computational techniques.
Editorial
Experimental Entomology in the Age of Video
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2023
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Articles
Assessing Agrochemical Risk to Mated Honey Bee Queens
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Cited by 9
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2021
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Abstracts
Application of Entomopathogenic Nematodes for Control of Queensland Long-horned Beetle
Roxana Myers*1
1USDA-ARS Pacific West Area