Chemical mediation of plant-herbivore interactions
My group investigates the role of chemistry in mediating interactions between plants and insect herbivores. We study how plant defenses influence insect performance, and how insects and their associated microbes circumvent defenses by detoxification. Currently, we are placing special emphasis on researching how microbes influence the success of bark beetles in colonizing their host trees.
Keywords
Chemical ecology / biochemical pathway discovery / regulation and function / plant-parasite multitrophic interactions / plant and insect defense / stress signaling