Principles of Integrated Pest Management (ENTO 401)
Every Fall Semester
ENTO 401 presents IPM (integrated pest management) within an ecological and evolutionary framework. The main objective of the class is to demonstrate to students that agricultural fields are ecosystems in which biological, ecological and evolutionary principles apply as much as they do in feral ecosystems. As concerns about environmental safety increase worldwide, ways to control agricultural pests with the least possible environmental impact are discussed. I redesigned this class to specifically fulfill this goal. New lectures were prepared for the entire course. Laboratory practices were redesigned. Only 3 out of 13 lab sessions were kept from the older version of this class. Emilie Hartfield, my master student, and I have edited a laboratory manual that includes several hands-on experiments that show the impact that ecological knowledge has on IPM practices.
General Entomology (ENTO 201)
Every Fall Semester
ENTO 201 is an introduction to insect evolution and biology, with a guide to basic insect taxonomy and a survey of the insect orders. The aim of this course is to introduce students to basic insect evolution and biology, including basic taxonomy. The course stresses that insects as a group make up more than 50% of all the named species of organisms, and they impact on all aspects of our daily lives. The course emphasizes that although people mostly think of insect negative impacts, (e.g., as pests of agriculture crops and livestock, disease vectors, etc.), insects are also beneficial in many ways, as essential pollinators, as valuable food items for many animals, as agents of control of invasive plants and pest insects, and as excellent models for scientific research (e.g. Drosophila melanogaster). Students taken this class are taught how to recognize and name all insect orders. To achieve our goals my co-instructors and I have picked a new text book (Essential Entomology by McGavin), a new laboratory text book (Insects Spiders and Other Terrestrial Arthropods by McGavin) and we have redesigned the laboratories to convey excitement by insects while teaching how to differentiate among the different insect orders.
Research Entomology Credits (ENTO 491)
For this class undergraduate students are given a project to be completed in 10 weeks (in the Summer) and in a semester (in the Fall). Students are taught field, molecular and/or lab rearing methods and are taught to analyze their data. Each student is expected to prepare a poster presentation to be presented at a national annual meeting (e.g., The Ecological Society of America or the Entomological Society of America annual meetings).