Current Projects

I am using traditional field sampling and molecular tools (DNA barcoding, pollen metabarcoding) to investigate the bee-plant interactions in agroecosystems with a special focus on watermelon. Watermelon is highly dependent on bees for pollination and farmers can suffer yield losses if their plants receive insufficient bee visits. I am conducting research to determine which bees support watermelon pollination in local agroecosystems and what other plants those bees rely on. This research will use a network-based approach to make recommendations for growers on planting strategies to support a healthy and diverse pollinator community to promote watermelon pollination. 

Strepsiptera is a taxonomically challenging order due to their unique life history, morphological traits, and rarity of specimens. I have been using specimens of Strepsiptera in the family Stylopidae sourced from the University of Kentucky Insect Collection to generate DNA barcoding data for species with little or no existing molecular data. This data is being used to aid in the delimination of species, and these specimens are being used to update species descriptions and ranges.