Michael Mueller

Research Interests: Primarily, the basic research questions I am interested in exploring can be summarized in a few simple questions: what makes organisms behave the way they do? What cues or inputs make an organism behave in a particular way? What are the trophic consequences of these behaviors and cues? How can we use these findings to benefit society? Currently I am exploring entomopathogenic nematode aggregation pheromones via bioassay in the Applied Chemical Ecology Technology lab here at Cornell. Interspecific dispersal compounds have already been shown to exist between entomopathogenic nematodes and free living bacteriovorus nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, this current research has the potential to discover an aggregation equivalent.