Meeting 1219 Minutes
Minutes from the 1219th Meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club
The 1219th meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club was called to order at 7:43pm on Tuesday October 11th, 2022. Approx. 16 members and guests attended, plus 15 more joined us via Zoom.
New business:
Sarah Ying-Fei was nominated for membership.
Old business:
After two years of Zoom meetings, the Club has returned to in-person in meetings
with a Zoom option for remote members.
The slate of officers for 2022-2023 was approved.
Karina Bellavia was approved for membership.
Our speaker was Dr. Mayra Vidal from the UMass Boston, Department of Biology. Her talk was entitled “Ecology and evolution of interactions between insect herbivores and plants”.
Interactions between species can drive the evolution of traits and potentially lead to the formation of new species. Dr. Vidal pointed out that more than 90% of insect herbivores are specialists as opposed to generalists. But why? Her lab is investigating this question by examining the “top-down” effects of natural enemies such as predators and parasitoids and “bottom-up” effects such as host plant qualities including mechanical or chemical deterrents to herbivory.
To investigate, Dr. Vidal’s lab chose the Fall webworm, so called for the silken webs that house its caterpillars. Hyphantria cunea is a widely distributed generalist that feeds on hundreds of plants. Her lab looked at populations of H. cunea that differed in morphology, genetics, development timing, and geographic distribution. Lab-based studies found that H. cunea did slightly better on a specialized diet but still did OK on a varied diet. Field work conducted in Colorado found diet makeup of H. cunea varied geographically.
Next steps in Dr. Vidal’s research include further studies in what makes a generalist herbivore, how host plants affect the community of parasitoids, and whether or not an expanded diet plays a role in escaping enemies.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 pm.
Respectfully submitted, Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary
