Rob Williams

Students swarm to Insect Expo at McKenna Children’s Museum

March 6, 2019 by Rob Williams

Video by Paul Schattenberg, Texas A&M AgriLife Communications

Story by Paul Schattenberg, Texas A&M AgriLife Communications

A volunteer at the Bug Expo shows students a tarantula. (Texas A&M AgriLife Communications photo by Paul Schattenberg)

NEW BRAUNFELS — Nearly 1,000 fourth-grade students from New Braunfels and Comal independent school districts recently attended the second annual two-day Insect Expo at the McKenna Children’s Museum in New Braunfels.

“This event was presented by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in collaboration with these school districts and volunteer organizations,” said Wizzie Brown, AgriLife Extension entomologist, Travis County. “We had more than 20 stations with fun and educational activities for the kids to participate in and learn about bugs and entomology.”

Booths and displays for the Insect Expo were set up inside and outside the McKenna Children’s Museum building. Students participated in interactive displays related to insect life cycles, pollinators, beneficial and non-beneficial insects, forensic entomology, “natural” recycling through bug decomposers, aquatic insects, entomophagy and more.

More than 90 volunteers, primarily Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists from Comal and nearby counties, helped at the Insect Expo. (Texas A&M AgriLife Communications photo by Paul Schattenberg)

Activities included an insect petting zoo, cricket races, beekeeping and honey-tasting display area, and a forensic entomology activity where students played bug detectives. During the program, entomology-related topics were shown continually on two large projector screens. Other activities included arts and crafts such as building a bug, maggot art and monarch butterfly coloring.

Pattie Jenkins, fourth-grade teacher from Voss Farms Elementary in the New Braunfels ISD, who teaches math, science and social studies, said her students enjoyed the variety of displays and activities.

“The students were very excited to learn about insects and all they do for our environment,” Jenkins said. “This experience has given them an even greater respect for nature. And the fact there are so many hands-on activities makes it much more interesting for them.”

Students wear beekeeper suits as they learn about bees and pollination at the Insect Expo. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo )

More than 90 volunteers from Master Gardener, Master Naturalist and other volunteer programs in Comal, Bexar, Guadalupe and Gonzales counties assisted AgriLife Extension personnel with the program.

Molly Keck, AgriLife Extension entomologist, Bexar County, said event coordinators made displays fun and engaging for the students so “we could keep their attention and they could enjoy the experience of learning.”

AgriLife Extension also collaborated with New Braunfels and Comal school districts to ensure presentations at the expo addressed Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, and State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, test objectives.

“We made sure the displays touched on aspects of the STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and math,” Keck said. “And we wanted to give the students a fun and memorable educational experience they would want to go tell their parents about.”

Keck said another aspect of planning the event was being mindful of the financial constraints on public education, so the event was presented at no cost to the students.

“The hands-on aspect of this event is the best part,” said Tina Kalebick, a fourth-grade teacher at County Line Elementary in New Braunfels. “Children learn so much more and retain it better when they are allowed to engage in hands-on and interactive activities.”

Don Tuff, an 18-year Comal County Master Gardener Association member and former entomology instructor at Texas State University, was among the volunteers.

“The kids really enjoy these displays and activities,” Tuff said. “Some of the ones they seem most drawn to are the maggot art display, the display showing the soldier flies, the cockroach races and NASCAR termite race, as well as the display about insect noses and pheromones and the forensic entomology display.”

Another event volunteer was Mark de Kiewiet, who has been with the Guadalupe County Master Naturalist association for three years.

“We’re teaching kids about bees and showing the kids that bees are not the enemy,” he said. “We want them to know bees are very important to agriculture and our food supply because they are pollinators. We’d also like to have them get a better overall understanding of bees and learn to respect them for all the beneficial things they do for us.”

Keck said she hoped the Bug Expo experience would help students with their learning.

“Our goal with this event is to get kids interested in insects and entomology, but also to teach them important lessons from seeing the insects up close, touching them, and knowing as much as they can about their biology, behavior and role in the ecosystem,” she said.

New research gives insight into warding off insect pests by way of nematode odors

February 27, 2019 by Rob Williams

by Laura Muntean, Texas A&M AgriLife Communications

The above image shows the findings from the study. Helms found that chemical cues from certain entomopathogenic (insect-killing) nematodes enhance plant defenses and can help deter insect herbivores. (Image courtesy of Anjel Helms et al 2019.)

COLLEGE STATION — A recent study revealed insect-killing nematodes also produce distinctive chemical cues that enhance plant defenses and deter Colorado potato beetles.

Entomologists from Texas A&M University, including Dr. Anjel Helms, who led the study, and Penn State University took a look at whether Colorado potato beetles and potato plants responded to the presence of entomopathogenic nematodes, EPNs, or insect-killing nematodes.

The study, “Chemical cues linked to risk: cues from below-ground natural enemies enhance plant defenses and influence herbivore behavior and performance,” focused on how organisms communicate using signals and cues, specifically how organisms eavesdrop on each other as part of their survival strategies, said Helms.

“For this study, we wanted to flip things around and determine whether plants and insect herbivores can eavesdrop on chemical cues produced by a predator,” she said.

Throughout the study, Helms found that these insect-killing nematodes do produce distinctive chemical cues that both the plant and insect herbivores respond to. While the female Colorado potato beetles laid fewer eggs when the cues were present, the potato plant also increased its defenses.

This was especially important since the Colorado potato beetle is notorious for developing insecticide resistance, making them an especially devastating pest, she said.

“Although Colorado potato beetles feed above ground on plant leaves, they are susceptible to EPNs at all life stages,” she said.

While a beetle is not likely to come in contact with EPNs during most stages of life, it is most susceptible to EPNs while on the ground moving from plant to plant, or when entering the soil to pupate and emerge as an adult beetle.

The study also found that growers can experience additional benefits from using EPNs for biological control of insect pests.

“Not only are the EPNs directly killing insect pests in the soil, they also produce chemical cues that provide additional protection to plants,” Helms said. “They deter herbivores and enhance plant resistance to pests.”

For more information, view the study in the journal “Functional Ecology” here.

Liz Walsh Receives Outstanding Grad Student Award

February 20, 2019 by Rob Williams

Liz Walsh, left, with Dr. Craig Coates. Photo by Rob Williams

The Department of Entomology would like to congratulate Ph.D. candidate Liz Walsh as she received the 2019 Outstanding Grad Student Award in the Ph.D. category.

The award was given during a special presentation during the pre-seminar social held in the Heep Center fourth floor atrium on Thursday, February 14.

Walsh is no stranger to the Department, as she joined Dr. Juliana Rangel’s laboratory in June 2013 as a student in the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduate – EXCITE program. Walsh graduated from her undergraduate institution, Ripon College, in Wisconsin in 2014 and was recruited by Rangel to work in her lab in the fall of 2014.

Walsh is conducting her research projects related to the combined effects of using miticides and other agro-chemicals and how they affect the reproductive health of queens in honey bee colonies. She also co-authored a paper that was published recently in the journal called Insects.

Walsh also is an Apprentice Master Beekeeper for the Texas Master Beekeeper Program and is a regular instructor for the annual bee schools held by the Central Texas, Brazos Valley, and the Austin Area beekeepers associations, as well as the Texas Beekeepers Association’s Summer Clinic, and has been invited to speak at various beekeeping organizations around the country.

She received several awards and honors during her college career, including the 2018 Research Award from the American Association of Professional Apiculturists and the 2017 International Union for the Study of Social Insects’ Jeffery LaFage Award in Applied Social Insect Biology projects. Walsh also won second place in the oral competition at the Entomological Society of America’s oral competition in 2017 and the Graduate Student Research Award in 2015.

She has also been active in beekeeping outreach, including writing a methods paper titled “Queen pheromones and mandibular gland dissection” and a review paper titled “Local honey bee queen production and quality” in the journal Bee World and is a regular column writer for the Kelley Online Newsletter.

Walsh has been a teaching assistant in the ENTO 320 Honey Bee Biology class for 3 years and for the ENTO 321 Beekeeping Laboratory during the spring semester of 2018.

“I am delighted that I get to work with Liz every day, as I am proud that I am helping promote diversity in the STEM fields and the field of apiculture by helping to train such a strong and intelligent female scientist,” Rangel said.

Frank Gilstrap Honored with Lifetime Achievement Recognition

February 14, 2019 by Rob Williams

Dr. Frank Gilstrap, center, with Dr. Pete Teel, left, and Dr. Kevin Heinz. Photo by Rob Williams.

Congratulations to Dr. Frank Gilstrap as he received recognition for his oustanding work during his career with the Department and Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension during a special departmental seminar on Thursday, February 14.

Gilstrap joined the Department in 1974 as a teaching and biological control research faculty member. From 1996 until 2003, he worked as the director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research and then served as the director of the Urban Solutions Center in Dallas from 2005-2011.

As a faculty member, Gilstrap provided leadership to the establishment of the biological control facility and the facility within the Department of Entomology. His research advanced the principles governing importation biological control in ephemeral crop habitats while contributing to the development and implementation of biological control programs of Hessian fly infestations of wheat and Russian wheat aphid infesting grain crops.

Gilstrap taught courses on biological control, natural enemy ecology, and developed a non-majors course in agricultural entomology at the end of his career. He also authored/co-authored over 300 scholarly publications with many occurring in high profile journals and cited nearly 100 times or more. Gilstrap’s program was well funded by competitive grants and his team was the recipient of a significant INTSORMIL USAID funded project that was renewed several times.

As an AgriLife Research administrator, Gilstrap developed agency protocols and processes for protecting and managing intellectual property, managed nearly $5 million in state appropriated funds, and was administrative liaison to numerous Texas commodity groups.

As a Center Director, Gilstrap developed and implemented the Dallas Model©, a business approach for managing Center research and education in the Dallas- Fort Worth Metroplex. He also established more than 60 regional partnerships and collaborations with private and public leaders in the Metroplex and elsewhere, and facilitated significant changes for acquiring grant and contract funds, growing Dallas Center annual revenue from an average of $250,000 in 2000-2004 to average more than $2.1 million in 2007-2011.

Gilstrap also has been a continuous Entomological Society of America member since 1972, and through 2010 attended all but one ESA Annual Meeting. Highlights of his service to the discipline include 1989 President of the International Organization for Biological Control/Nearctic Regional Section (1979-1989) and project leader within the International Sorghum-Millet Collaborative Research Support Program (1979-1995).

Within the ESA, he served as President (2006), as member of the ESA Governing Board (2000-2007), as member of the Entomological Foundation Board of Counselors (1997-2011), and as member of the editorial board for the Journal of Economic Entomology (1983-87; Chair in 1987). Gilstrap also was named Fellow of the Entomological Society of America in 2011.

Gilstrap retired in 2010 and was given Professor Emeritus status by the Board of Regents in 2011.

Brundage Receives Honoring Excellence Award

February 12, 2019 by Rob Williams

Dr. Adrienne Brundage, right, with Danielle Dessellier. Photo by Texas A&M Residence Life.

Dr. Adrienne Brundage’s engaging teaching style and her caring for students has yet garnered another award as she was recognized by Residence Life on Friday, February 1 at the Memorial Student Center.

Brundage was recognized with the organization’s Honoring Excellence Award during its ceremony in the Gates Ballroom. The awards are given annually to eight outstanding and faculty staff who go above and beyond inside and outside of their daily jobs to impact student learning and academic success.

As an Associate Instructional Professor, Brundage teaches the Veterinary Entomology (ENTO 208), Medical Entomology (ENTO 423), undergraduate seminar, and Intro to Forensic Sciences (FIVS 205), where she has taught several hundred students each semester.

Brundage also is very active in several outreach programs, including teaching high school students during the Youth Outreach Program and various children’s groups and schools in the Brazos Valley in both entomology and forensics. In addition to outreach, she has advised such organizations as the First Responders Training Unit, the Order of Aggie Illusionists, and the Aggie Forensic Sciences Organization during her career.

“It was really sweet, and it means a lot to be recognized by my students. As another professor at the event said we often hear the negative from our students, and seldom get to hear the positive,” Brundage said. “The whole event was full of smiles and laughter, and I really appreciated my students going out of their way to do this for me. I am touched that they would, and so incredibly honored that I was chosen for this award.”