Dan Pavuk

Research Interests:

My research interests are in insect biodiversity, parasitoid and predatory arthropod communities, conservation biological control, and ecology of insect vectors of pathogens. The ecology of insect parasitoids and predatory arthropods, and how these organisms structure phytophagous insect communities, are particularly interesting to me. My research emphasis has been primarily in agricultural ecosystems, including studies of population and community ecology of insects within those systems. This research has a strong plant component; agricultural ecosystems provide excellent opportunities to study plant-arthropod interactions. The research has focused on the influences of alternative agricultural approaches, such as strip intercropping, on phytophagous as well as predaceous and parasitic arthropods. I have also examined the effects of tillage on soil arthropods. Most recently, I have broadened my perspective and have begun to investigate influences of noncrop habitats present in agricultural regions on phytophagous insects, parasitoids, and predators, with a strong emphasis on how the natural enemies might be conserved in agricultural regions.

Selected Publications:

With, K. A. and D. M. Pavuk. 2019. Habitat configuration matters when evaluating habitat-area effects on host-parasitoid interactions. Ecosphere 10(2):e02604. 10.1002/ecs2.2604

With, K. A. and D. M. Pavuk. 2012. Direct versus indirect effects of habitat fragmentation on community patterns in experimental landscapes. Oecologia (Published online 12 April 2012).

With, K. A. and D. M. Pavuk. 2011. Habitat area trumps fragmentation effects on arthropods in an experimental landscape system. Landscape Ecology 26: 1035-1048.

With, K. A., D. M. Pavuk, J. L. Worchuck, R. Oates, and J. L. Fisher. 2002. Threshold effects of landscape structure on biological control in agroecosystems. Ecological Applications 12: 52-65.