2024-04-01
- Have you ever wondered how plants protect themselves from predators? This is a question Erinn Dady addresses in her research as a graduate student in the Department of Entomology.
Dady grew up in Champaign-Urbana. Prior to becoming a plant researcher she worked for several years in local restaurants, including as the head pastry chef...
2024-02-06 - The College of LAS has selected 14 professors, graduate students, lecturers, and an advisor as the recipients of the 2024 teaching and advising awards. “We are proud to have such an impressive group of people advancing our vital teaching and advising goals,” said Venetria K. Patton, the Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of LAS. “We received exceptional feedback from students and alumni about...
2024-02-01 - The 41st Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (IFFF) will be held on Saturday, February 24, 2024, at Foellinger Auditorium, on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Hosted by the Entomology Graduate Students Association in the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign, this year’s theme is Ant-Men—movies featuring...
2024-02-01 - Plants produce a range of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds that influence their interactions with the world around them. In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigated how the type and amount of these VOCs change based on different features of tomato plants. The smell of cut grass is one of the defining fragrances of summer. Smells like...
2023-06-29 - A new report reveals that U.S. beekeepers lost roughly half of the honey bees they managed last year. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign entomology professor Adam Dolezal, who...
2023-04-07 - A new look at decades of data from museum collections and surveys of leaf-litter ants in Florida reveals a steady decline in native ants and simultaneous increase in nonnative ants – even in protected natural areas of the state, researchers report. The study tracked leaf-litter ant abundance from 1965 to 2019. Nonnative ants represented 30% of the 177 ground-dwelling species detected in surveys...
2023-04-06 - Meet T. Josek, who joined the Beckman Institute as a microscopist in June 2022. The following profile of alumni Tanya Josek was published by the Beckman Institute. T. graduated with a Master of Science in Entomology and studied in the Alleyne Lab. Describe your role at the Beckman Institute. I am a microscopist in the Microscopy Suite. One of my main responsibilities is to...
2023-03-13 - DR. JAMES NARDI says you can tell a lot about a tree by the company it keeps. From life in the soil around their roots to the action up in their canopies, trees are swarming with engagement—unseen microbes and fungi, countless insects and other arthropods, and vertebrates like birds, squirrels, and even porcupines. Jim Nardi spoke about their diverse community of companions. He is research...
2023-03-01 - We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Insects 2022 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Adam G. Dolezal, Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, United States.
2023-02-27 - The Insect Fear Film Festival celebrates 40 years of entertaining and educating people about insects and their close relatives at this year’s March 4 event at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It will be the first in-person festival since 2020. Living Fossils.
2022-11-07 - Honey bee workers collect pollen and nectar from a variety of flowering plants to use as a food source. Honey bees typically forage from up to 1-2 miles away from the hive, though sometimes they travel even further, including up to 10 miles away. However, much of the modern landscape consists of agricultural fields, which limits the foraging options for honey bees in these areas.
2021-10-20 - From pesticide detox to increased longevity, the benefits of the sweet stuff go well beyond simply nourishing the hardworking insects in the hive. May Berenabaum answers questions for Knowable Magazine about honey and its health benefits.
2021-10-20 - Wildflowers peek their heads through the grass. An eastern tailed-blue butterfly flits among the tall, swaying blades as a red-winged blackbird flies overhead. When Fred Delcomyn looks outside, this is what he might see. In 2001, when he and his wife, Nancy, moved to their home outside of Urbana, Illinois, it looked a lot different.
2021-10-12 - This edition of Beckman's Grad Student Visionaries series features Elizabeth Bello, a graduate student studying entomology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She takes advantage of Beckman’s Microscopy Suite to further her research in the Alleyne Bioinspiration Co-...
2021-08-24 - It’s a sweltering summer afternoon. I’m pushing aside tree limbs and crunching leaves to get back to the trap that I baited two hours ago with dry ice to attract ticks. When I get closer, I can see a gossamer mist hovering over a bright white cloth in the dark underbrush. Dry ice “sublimates” in the open air, going from a solid to a gaseous state. It gives off a vapor of carbon dioxide gas that’s...