Integrated Pest Management in Cities and Suburbs

Can cultural controls and diversification create more pest-resistant and equitable landscapes and conserve non-target species?

Speaker: Dr. Karin Burghardt

Dr. Karin Burghardt is an Assistant Professor in the Entomology Department at the University of Maryland and a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Trained as a community ecologist, she specializes in understanding plant-insect interactions in human-modified landscapes ranging from suburban yards to managed forests and urban tree plantings.

By examining how human management practices alter the support of biodiversity in these spaces, the lab’s research program helps determine the best practices for how humans can share space with flora and fauna while maintaining pest-resistant landscapes.

Karin received a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale University, working with Oswald Schmitz on herbivore-induced defenses in goldenrod plants. Before that, she received a B.S. from the University of Delaware in 2007, working with Douglas Tallamy on the role of non-native plants in ecosystems. Find more information on the lab’s work on the Burghardt Lab website.

Cornell IPM Academic Seminars

This event is part of the Cornell Integrated Pest Management academic seminar series which is designed to increase awareness of new research and techniques that advance Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and its adoption in all types of pest management settings.