October 2011
Faculty News
Dr. Amanda Hodges is part of a national coordination team involved in the development and launch of a new educational campaign for public botanical gardens entitled the 'Sentinel Plant Network.'
PCT Magazine picked up Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman's QR Code Natural Area Teaching Labortory trail story in an article titled "UF Nature Trail Project Enables Smartphone Users to Hear Insect Sounds." Scroll past the eye-catching "moth" story.
Forest Entomologist Assistant Professor
The search and screen committee for the Forest Entomologist Assistant Professor position has invited four individuals to campus for interviews in the second half of October. Each candidate's schedule is provided below.
Although this person's tenure-accruing department will be in the School of Forest Resources and Conservation, it is a joint appointment with our own department. I encourage all of you to participate in this interview process. In order to facilitate the viewing of the candidate seminars, each will be provided via polycom and we are working to see if the extension component can also be sent through polycom. The research and extension presentations/discussions will occur in Newins-Ziegler Hall. On the afternoon of the first day of each candidate's visit (Monday or Thursday), the candidate's will be brought to the Entomology and Nematology department to meet with faculty and to tour our facilities from 2:30 until 4:00 PM.
Folders with each candidate's information is also available on the counter in the main office, near the van sign-out book.
Please provide either Dr. John Capinera or me with comments and feedback regarding each candidate such that I can convey the views of our department to the search and screen committee. I will follow up again as the time nears for the candidate interviews.
We continue to add to our site on YouTube that features videos on information helpful to prospective students seeking degrees in entomology and nematology and who have an interest in our department and the University of Florida. Click here to visit the site.
Alumni News
Dr. Trevor Smith (Ph.D. 2006), of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, was featured in a photograph on a major news Web site. He was collecting a giant African land snail, an invasive species, which was once again discovered in Florida.
Daniel Carrillo (Ph.D. 2011), who studied at the UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center at Homestead, won first place in the student contest of the Third Meeting of the International Organization for Biological Control, held at Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic, 13-16 September 2011.
Publications
Anderson M, Kaufman PE. (September 2011). Common green bottle fly, Lucilia sericata (Meigen). Featured Creatures. EENY-502. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/livestock/flies/lucilia_sericata.htm
Hall DW, Butler JF. (September 2011). Eastern black swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes asterius (Stoll). Featured Creatures. EENY-504. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/bfly2/eastern_black_swallowtail.htm
Diaz L, Kaufman PE. (September 2011). A flesh fly, Sarcophaga crassipalpis Macquart. Featured Creatures. EENY-503. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/flies/sarcophaga_crassipalpis.htm
Stocks SD, Hodges AC. (October 2011). European pepper moth, Duponchelia fovealis (Zeller). Featured Creatures. EENY-508. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/leps/european_pepper_moth.htm
Rohrig E. (September 2011). An Asian citrus psyllid parasitoid, Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis (Shafee, Alam and Agarwal) Featured Creatures. EENY-505. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/beneficial/wasps/Diaphorencyrtus_aligarhensis.htm
Hall DW. (October 2011). Question mark, Polygonia interrogationis (Fabricius). Featured Creatures. EENY-506. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/bfly2/question_mark.htm
Copeland RS, Nkubaye E, Nzigidahera B, Cuda JP, Overholt WA. 2011. The African burrowing mayfly, Povilla adusta (Ephemeroptera: Polymitarcyidae), damages Hydrilla verticillata (Alismatales: Hydrocharitaceae) in Lake Tanganyika. Florida Entomologist 94: 669-676.
Cuda JP. 2011. IPM from cotton to hydrilla. pp. 41-52. In Langeland K, Fishel F, Farrell J (editors). Speaker Presentations & Course Materials, Southeast Herbicide Applicator Conference. UF/IFAS Office of Conferences and Institutes, Gainesville, FL.
Fall Semester 2011 Entomology Seminars
The department's entomology seminars take place on Thursday afternoon in Room 1031, unless indicated otherwise. The talks start at 4:00 pm. with refreshments served at 3:50 pm. Other details, as well as a listing of this semester's talks, are available on the seminar site.
Meetings and Presentations
On 23 September, Dr. Amanda Hodges delivered an invited presentation at the first Sentinel Plant Network regional workshop at the Arnold Arboreatum in Boston, Massachusetts. Her presentation was "Using online resources for diagnostics and training."
During 19-23 September, Dr. Delano Lewis and graduate student Thomson Paris, were the facilitators for the Regional Lepidoptera Identification Workshop organized by the Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Caribbean and the Americas, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture, and the United States Department of Agriculture held at the Windward Islands Research & Education Foundation facility on the campus of St. Georges University, Grenada. A manual was also compiled for use by the 20 participants who came from 18 Caribbean countries.
Dr. James P. Cuda was an invited speaker for the Southeast Herbicide Applicator Conference held in Panama City Beach, Florida, 3-5 October. He gave the presentation "IPM from cotton to hydrilla."
Dr. James Cuda attended the XIII International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds held at Waikoloa Beach, Hawai’i, 11-16 September. He co-authored the following poster presentations:
Drs. Amanda Hodges and Norm Leppla received a $50,000 competitive grant from USDA-NIFA. The project title is "New Technologies and Educational Material to Address Emerging Citrus Pests and Diseases."
Dr. Amanda Hodges and Stephanie Stocks received a $50,000 subcontract from a University of Illinois grant funded by USDA-NIFA. The project title is "Collaborative Pest Detection for Underserved Audiences."
Dr. Amanda Hodges received a $90,909 contract from USDA-NIFA. The project title is "Systematic Internship Program."
Carrie Harmon, Jeff Jones, Dr. Amanda Hodges, and Aaron Palmateer received a $500,000 contract from USDA-NIFA for the Southern Plant Diagnostic Network Regional Center.
Dr. James Cuda was awarded a $2,000 grant from the UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants to conduct upland and/or aquatic plant research.
Outreach
Thank you to those members and friends of the department who participated in our September and early October outreach activities:
The following are programs and outreach events currently scheduled for October:
The live critters are always a hit with children and adults alike. The critters are available for you to check out should you be leading an outreach event. We have doubles of our most popular critters, as well as various native insect species depending on the time of year. We have large wood and plexiglas cages for viewing our native orb weaving spiders. There is one traveling cage and one larger static cage. Please be sure to contact me and review the protocol on transporting and handling the critters if you are not already familiar with it. If you lead an outreach, be sure to fill out a documentation form so your event can be included in the newsletter and so that we can log all outreach events. If you would like to schedule an event or have any outreach questions, go to the Outreach pages on our Bug Club Web site and contact us. - Dale A. Halbritter, Outreach Coordinator
The Florida School IPM Program is in its second year of producing an e-newsletter. Back issues of Florida School IPM News are available on the Florida School IPM web site. If you wish to be added to the newsletter mailing list, please email Gillett@ufl.edu.
ButterflyFest at UF
During 22-23 October, celebrate wings and backyard things at the Florida Museum of Natural History’s sixth annual ButterflyFest. The free event will feature tagged monarch butterfly releases, special presentations, food and merchandise vendors, a large butterfly-friendly plant sale featuring 80-100 species of host, native and nectar plants, presentations and much more. ButterflyFest is dedicated to increasing awareness of Florida's butterflies as fun, fascinating ambassadors to the natural world. Activities will promote inquiry and provide a call to action for the conservation and preservation of backyard wildlife and habitats. Click here for details. - Dr. Jaret Daniels
Florida Statewide Pest Update
Dr. Amanda Hodges was involved in the coordination of a statewide videoconferencing pest update on emerging and exotic pest issues on 19 September. The Florida Statewide Pest Update program is a collaborative effort between the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry; University of Florida, Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences Extension; and the Southern Plant Diagnostic Network. Training topics covered included:
If you missed the videoconference and are interested, you can view the 2-hour training online. Note that the presentations begin at around the 5-minute mark of the video footage.
Natural Area Teaching Laboratory
We have a Twitter account and a Facebook account to report on UF's Natural Area Teaching Laboratory (NATL) activities.
These outlets serve as an element of our outreach and teaching activities in NATL. They give us a way to connect with faculty, volunteers, students, and visitors. On Facebook you can find our page at http://www.facebook.com/NATL.UF, and on Twitter our account is @UFNATL (http://twitter.com/#!/UFNATL). You can read both without logging on or you can follow us for regular NATL updates. Any questions? Send an email to NATL@ufl.edu. - Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman
Newsletter Minutiae
Thomas Fasulo is the newsletter editor. Departmental faculty, staff, students and alumni can submit news anytime to fasulo@ufl.edu. Issues usually are published by early mid-month. Submit items for an issue by the 7th of that month.
UF-Bugnews-L listserv subscribers receive notices when issues are posted on the newsletter Web site at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/news, which has instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing. Pam Howell and Nancy Sanders review the newsletter for errors. Thomas Fasulo does the HTML coding.
In the last 12 months, the newsletter Web site recorded 123,217 page views.
October 2011.