John Tooker
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, Entomology | Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA, UNITED STATES
John Tooker's research includes insect-plant interactions in agricultural systems and gall-inducing insects
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Industry Expertise (2)
Research
Education/Learning
Areas of Expertise (7)
Gall insects
Plant-insect interactions
Integrated Pest Management
Chemical Ecology
Ecological Applications
Insect Ecology
Conservation biological control
Biography
John Tooker's research includes insect-plant interactions in agricultural systems, chemical ecology, induced host-plant defenses, natural-enemy ecology, tritrophic interactions, gall-inducing insects.
Education (3)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Ph.D. 2003
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: M.S. 1999
Bates College: B.S. 1992
Links (3)
Media Appearances (3)
Neonicotinoid seed treatments: Effective crop protectants—or unnecessary, with potential collateral damage to bees?
Genetic Literacy Project online
2017-10-03
Neonicotinoids, the world’s most popular class of insecticides, have been making headlines for the last decade due to concerns that they negatively impact bees. Now, a new debate has emerged in the fight over their use, pitting university entomologists against agricultural economists, the EPA against the USDA, and pesticide manufacturers against environmental activists. Farmers, as usual, are caught in the middle, trying to figure out how the conflicting narratives will impact them.
Plant 'smells' insect foe, initiates defense
Penn State News online
2017-08-24
It cannot run away from the fly that does it so much damage, but tall goldenrod can protect itself by first "smelling" its attacker and then initiating its defenses, according to an international team of researchers.
Bumble Bees Pick the Most Nutritional Pollen, Research Suggests
National Geographic online
2016-06-29
Bumble bees can detect the nutritional quality of pollen—an ability that helps them selectively forage among plant species to optimize their diet.
Articles (5)
In-Field Habitat Management to Optimize Pest Control of Novel Soil Communities in Agroecosystems
Insects
Kirsten A. Pearsons and John F. Tooker
2017 The challenge of managing agroecosystems on a landscape scale and the novel structure of soil communities in agroecosystems both provide reason to focus on in-field management practices, including cover crop adoption, reduced tillage, and judicial pesticide use, to promote soil community diversity. Belowground and epigeal arthropods, especially exotic generalist predators, play a significant role in controlling insect pests, weeds, and pathogens in agroecosystems. However, the preventative pest management tactics that dominate field-crop production in the United States do not promote biological control. In this review, we argue that by reducing disturbance, mitigating the effects of necessary field activities, and controlling pests within an Integrated Pest Management framework, farmers can facilitate the diversity and activity of native and exotic arthropod predators.
Identification of an insect-produced olfactory cue that primes plant defenses
Nature Communications
Anjel M Helms, Consuelo M De Moraes, Armin Tröger, Hans T Alborn, Wittko Francke, John F Tooker, Mark C Mescher
2017 It is increasingly clear that plants perceive and respond to olfactory cues. Yet, knowledge about the specificity and sensitivity of such perception remains limited. We previously documented priming of anti-herbivore defenses in tall goldenrod plants (Solidago altissima) by volatile emissions from a specialist herbivore, the goldenrod gall fly (Eurosta solidaginis). Here, we explore the specific chemical cues mediating this interaction. We report that E,S-conophthorin, the most abundant component of the emission of male flies, elicits a priming response equivalent to that observed for the overall blend. Furthermore, while the strength of priming is dose dependent, plants respond even to very low concentrations of E,S-conophthorin relative to typical fly emissions. Evaluation of other blend components yields results consistent with the hypothesis that priming in this interaction is mediated by a single compound. These findings provide insights into the perceptual capabilities underlying plant defense priming in response to olfactory cues.
Developing ecologically based pest management programs for terrestrial molluscs in field and forage crops
Journal of Pest Science
Marion Le Gall, John F Tooker
2017 Terrestrial molluscs are some of the most important herbivores in temperate habitats. They tend to be generalists and can be serious pests in agricultural fields, particularly no-till fields used for field and forage crops; however, farmers have access to few commercially available solutions, and the existing ones present many disadvantages (e.g. reliability, cost, environmental concerns). In this paper, we review these current management options with a focus on agronomic crops, as well as the biotic factors that influence mollusc feeding, such as natural enemies, plant nutritional content, and chemical defences. These biotic factors all have important direct consequences on mollusc fitness and can be manipulated in agricultural settings. We then review evidence from the latest research in the field of nutritional ecology to propose the use of the Geometric Framework, a well-established nutritional approach, to measure nutrient regulation and performance of terrestrial molluscs and develop ecologically based management programs that also relies on susceptibility to natural enemies. To illustrate our point, we detail a specific strategy being used by farmers in the Mid-Atlantic US to manage slug populations; in this system, farmers are using cover crops terminated after the cash crop is planted (also called “planting green”) and this approach appears to harness slug nutritional preferences and natural enemies to manage slug populations.
The volatile emission of Eurosta solidaginis primes herbivore-induced volatile production in Solidago altissima and does not directly deter insect feeding
Functional Ecology
Eric C Yip, Consuelo M De Moraes, Mark C Mescher, John F Tooker
2016 Plants frequently employ induced, rather than constitutive, defences against herbivores and pathogens, presumably as an adaptive response to the unpredictability of attack by particular antagonists. Plants may further accelerate defence deployment by ‘priming’ appropriate defences in response to environmental cues that reliably predict impending attack. However, the population- and community-level ecological consequences of such priming remain relatively unexplored.
Biology and Economics of Recommendations for Insecticide-Based Management of Soybean Aphid
Plant Health Progres
Koch, R., B. Potter, P. Glogoza, E. Hodgson, C. Krupke, J. Tooker, C. DiFonzo, A. Michel, K. Tilmon, T. Prochaska, J. Knodel, R. Wright, T. Hunt, B. Jensen, A. Varenhorst, B. McCornack, K. Estes, J. Spencer
2016 Soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura, remains the key insect pest of soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merrill, in the north-central United States. Management of this pest has relied primarily on scouting and application of foliar insecticides based on an economic threshold (ET) of 250 aphids per plant. This review explains why this ET remains valid for soybean aphid management, despite changes in crop value and input costs. In particular, we review how soybean aphid impacts soybean yield, the role of biology and economics in recommendations for soybean aphid management, and the short- and long-term consequences of inappropriately timed insecticide applications.