Meeting Abstract
Insects thrive in every terrestrial habitat on earth, and are destructive agricultural and forest pests, as well as disease vectors. To some extent, studying these phenomena is the realm of pest-focused applied entomology, but what contributions can we make as comparative physiologists? And will addressing these applied questions help us to learn more about how insects work? I will present case studies of applied insect thermal biology, including the emerald ash borer, Asian long horn beetle, Western bean cutworm, and spotted-wing drosophila, using them to illustrate the role of comparative physiology in addressing applied questions. In particular, I will discuss the challenges and opportunities of this applied work, and provide a critical assessment of whether our work has actually yielded benefits (and what we need to do in future to improve knowledge acquisition, transfer, and application). I intend this talk to be of interest to both early career and established investigators hoping to broaden their research portfolio.
