Department of Entomology Landis Lab

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.

Research

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