Ecology of insects in canola agroecosystems

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My research program focuses on understanding ecological patterns and processes of insects inhabiting canola agroecosystems.  In Canada, these systems comprise approximately four to five million hectares annually, and are associated with a vast array of arthropods at several trophic levels.  My research will encompass three main areas.  First, I am working to understand the mechanisms that drive distribution patterns of canola insects in time and space.  By investigating dispersal and migration patterns of herbivores and their associated parasitoids, and by using geographical information systems technology to draw relationships between insect densities and factors responsible for them, it will be possible to predict areas within crops and within geographical regions associated with high herbivore densities.  Control activities can then be timed to have optimal impact on the pest and minimal effect on its natural enemies.  Second, I will investigate the role of abiotic stresses like drought and low soil fertility on canola, its herbivores, and herbivore natural enemies.  Understanding this relationship can lead to predictive models of the relationship between resource availability and insect population dynamics.  My third line of research will investigate causes and consequences of invasion of canola by alien species.  In particular, I will study how landscape variables affect the rate of dispersal of the cabbage seedpod weevil, and how invasion of the weevil indirectly affects the biodiversity of native weevil species. I currently have students working in one of these three research areas, and am anxious to train additional students if funding is awarded.  There is much work left to do in this field of research, and I consider training the next generation of insect agroecologists to be equal in importance to the research itself.