Plant-Insect Interactions
Plants form the basis of all terrestrial ecosystems, and insects consume more plant tissue than all vertebrates combined. Insects are therefore critical to understanding the abundance and distribution of both plants and the animals that depend on them. As a result, I am fascinated by what drives differences in resistance and tolerance to insect herbivory at the within-plant, between-plant, and among-population level across plants' native and invasive ranges. I am particularly interested in whether both a shift in the degree and type of insect herbivory drives selection after plants are introduced to a new range (check out the video and its associated graphic below for my 2016 3-minute thesis on this topic). During my PhD, I found that for common mullein, young leaves are better defended than old leaves, but that between-range differences in just how much better defended young leaves are than old leaves are likely driven by factors other than adaptation to between-range differences in herbivory.
As a postdoc and then research associate, I investigated variation in resistance and tolerance to insect herbivory to help inform invasive species management, especially in terms of biological control of invasive Phragmites australis and invasive Japanese knotweeds (Reynoutria japonica, R. sachalinensis, and their hybrid R. x bohemica). My collaborators and I, for example, published an article in Biological Invasions explaining 20 years of research supporting the release of Archanara geminipuncta and A. neurica—two highly-specific, stem-boring moths—for control of invasive Phragmites australis in North America. Additionally, I have assessed the impact of insects released to control purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), a common wetland plant invader, now that we are 25 years post-insect-release. I have demonstrated that these insects have not only driven declines in purple loosestrife, but have also resulted in recovery of native plant communities, which is often the ultimate goal of management.