The Landis Lab

Doug Landis, University Distinguished Professor

A white man with close cropped silver beard and hair, wearing a light blue button up shirt.

Research Interests

I am interested in the application of ecological theory to problems of importance in entomology and natural resource management. Together with my students, I attempt to understanding the influence of landscape structure on insect ecology and management, particularly in regard to biological control of insects and weeds. I hope to use these insights to aid in the design of sustainable landscapes that promote arthropod-mediated ecosystem services such as pollination and pest suppression. I am also interested in invasive species ecology and management, and more recently in the conservation and restoration of rare species and communities.

You can find my publications on Research Gate and Google Scholar.

Education

· PhD - North Carolina State University, 1987, Entomology
· MS - North Carolina State University, 1984, Entomology
· BA - Goshen College, 1981, Biology

Email Me

View My CV

Nate Haan, Post-Doctoral Research Associate

Research Interests

My research applies ecological principles to help inform biodiversity conservation and agricultural sustainability. Systems I work in range from individual species to whole communities and landscapes. Some of the projects I lead focus on insect-plant interactions, including those between endangered or declining butterflies and their host plants. Others test how mobile organisms respond to characteristics of landscapes and plant communities, and what this means for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. I have recently led efforts to investigate how landscape structure affects natural pest suppression services in agricultural landscapes, and how adopting various bioenergy crops could affect biodiversity.

See my website: www.natehaan.com and Google Scholar profile for more.

Previous Education

PhD and Postdoctoral - University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
MS - University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment
BS in Biology - Calvin College.

Allison Zahorec, PhD Student

Research Interests

While my interests are broad, I am particularly interested in how insects interact with and impact other organisms in the community and the implications of such multi-trophic interactions on the environment. My PhD research focuses on investigating the multi-trophic effects of arthropods in bioenergy cropping systems, with the goal of gaining a better understanding of the role of arthropods in carbon cycling within these ecosystems. Current work involves characterizing the litter and soil-dwelling arthropod communities associated with several different bioenergy cropping systems. For more information on this ongoing project, I can be contacted via email at zahoreca@msu.edu

Previous Education

During my undergraduate career at Kent State University, I had the opportunity to conduct independent research under the guidance of Dr. David Costello. For this project, I wished to combine my interest in invertebrate ecology with my concerns on environmental degradation. I chose to investigate the environmental impacts of wintertime road salting, a practice I am all too familiar with growing up in Northern Ohio, by studying the toxicological effects of road salts on great pond snails. I received a B.S. from Kent State in December of 2017. I’ve since joined the Landis Lab at MSU to study my favorite group of animals: insects.

Cynthia Fiser, Graduate Student

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Research Interests

My past research touched on the impacts of habitat management or disturbance on pollinator diversity; I would like to expand the scope of my work from forested ecosystems to agroecosystems. Studying how managed and agricultural landscapes will affect arthropod diversity, and the potential for reciprocal benefit of a more diverse agroecosystem. I am also interested in the intersection of social and ecological science, or how future conservation efforts for diversity in agricultural landscapes will impact the lives of farming communities. Currently, I am working within the LTER to study the impact of perennial prairie strips on the dispersal of ground beetles in row crop agriculture.

Previous Education

I earned my BS in Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences from Michigan Technological University. As an undergraduate, I was part of an NSF-funded interdisciplinary research team, directed by Dr. Kathy Halversen, studying the impact of biofuels on biodiversity. The project integrated engineering, social sciences, and environmental sciences, and provided me with an early look at landscape scale research reaching across scientific borders. Specifically, our team studied the effects of managed land on the diversity of both arthropod and avian pollinators. With the assistance of my advisor, Dr. David Flaspohler and mentor, Dr. Colin Phifer, I completed independent research projects on a) the impacts of roadside edge effects on Hymenoptera habitat in northern Wisconsin and b) the use of native grasses in agricultural systems to provide habitat for pollinators and native insect enemies.