Hunter laboratory at the University of Arizona
Welcome
In the Hunter laboratory, most of our current and recent projects, with a few exceptions, involve trying to better understand the ecology and evolution of interactions between heritable, intracellular microbial symbionts and their insect hosts. We are currently studying the population ecology of the symbiont Rickettsia in the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, the mechanisms of reproductive manipulation of Encarsia parasitoids by the symbiont Cardinium, interactions of cochineal scales, predators and symbionts, and transmission and fitness consequences of the environmentally-acquired Burkholderia on the stilt bug Jalysus wickhami.
Encarsia females with whitefly nymphs. Photo credit Alex Wild
In the Hunter laboratory, most of our current and recent projects, with a few exceptions, involve trying to better understand the ecology and evolution of interactions between heritable, intracellular microbial symbionts and their insect hosts. We are currently studying the population ecology of the symbiont Rickettsia in the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, the mechanisms of reproductive manipulation of Encarsia parasitoids by the symbiont Cardinium, interactions of cochineal scales, predators and symbionts, and transmission and fitness consequences of the environmentally-acquired Burkholderia on the stilt bug Jalysus wickhami.
Encarsia females with whitefly nymphs. Photo credit Alex Wild
|
Molly Hunter is also currently the Chair of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Entomology & Insect Science. If you are interested in graduate study in the Hunter laboratory, contact Molly Hunter (see contact page), and check out what the EIS graduate program has to offer. Click on the beetle icon on the left to take you to the GIDP-EIS home page where you can find out more about the program.
|
Lab News
Fall 2016. More new arrivals! PERT postdoc Alison Ravenscraft joined the laboratory In July after completing her PhD at Stanford. PhD student Matt Doremus has arrived, having completed his MS degree with lab alumnus Kerry Oliver at the University of Georgia. And PhD student Jessica Vogt has joined the lab after her first year in the GIDP-EIS program. Jessica completed a MS at the University of Wyoming. Welcome Alison, Matt and Jessica! For a photo with everyone facing forward and names, look here! |
