My MS research area is insect community ecology.
I examined the importance of interspecific competition as a factor structuring the seed-feeding guild of wild sunflower, Helianthus annuus. There is some controversy about which processes contribute to community structure of insect herbivores. One debate is centered on the relative frequency of interspecific competition between herbivorous insects, as insect populations have often been viewed as limited by predation or abiotic factors. Recent opinion has favored a strong role for competition, based mainly on influential reviews of experimental studies. However, my work suggests that interspecific competition is infrequent when considered over an assemblage of species and at natural densities. Competition is likely to be a factor in our system only infrequently, when irruptions of competitively dominant insects occur.
What next?
SCARABS!
I have been accepted as a Ph.D. candidate in Entomology at the University of Nebraska State Museum, UNL.