Natural curiosity rears essential research

New York State Integrated Pest Management
Entomology

From cultivating a snail sanctuary as a child to successfully rearing spotted lanternfly eggs to adulthood at Cornell University’s Hudson Valley Research Laboratory, Hannah Tolz’ lifelong passion for nature and insects is playing a key role in New York State Integrated Pest Management’s (NYSIPM) efforts to stop the spread of invasive species and better understand orchard, vineyard and livestock pests.

Meet Hannah Tolz

We recently talked to Hannah about what inspires her work and how it’s contributing to NYSIPM’s mission to lead research and education on the selection and use of pest management options to protect personal, environmental and economic health.

"I find myself turning over leaves and carrying a small hand lens wherever I go. Knowing there are tiny mysterious lives hidden from my larger view has made the world feel so much larger and so much more magical."

What is your educational background?

I earned a bachelor’s degree in plant sciences with minors in entomology and fungal biology from Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The concentration of my studies was “The Ecology of Natural Landscapes,” as I have an affinity for learning about the intricate ways plants, fungi and insects interact with each other in the natural world.

During my time at Cornell, I had the pleasure of working at the Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium, one of the largest collections of preserved fungi in North America. The collections not only contain hundreds of thousands of preserved mushrooms and plant pathogens, but they hold historically significant scientific illustrations, hand-painted books and anatomically correct, paper mache sculptures. It was during my three years there, that I learned, under the mentorship of Teresa Iturriaga, Ph.D., the careful art of curation and found my passion for integrating creativity and scientific principles.

Entomology was also a big part of my educational pursuits during my undergraduate career. I worked in Jennifer Thaler, Ph.D.’s, Plant-Insect interactions lab for a year, including a summer where I first learned insect rearing techniques. I assisted in rearing spined soldier bugs, Colorado potato beetles, three-lined potato beetles, and (occasionally painful) indoor bumble bee hives. I spent that summer watching and recording data on the pollinators that foraged pollen and sipped nectar from tomatillo plants.

How/When did you become interested in working with insects?

I’ve always loved bugs. I have journals from when I was in elementary school that detail my fondness for watching the little creatures all around me. I also always wanted to help them out whenever I could. My parents encouraged me to explore my backyard and spend as much time outdoors as possible. I even had what I called. “Hannah’s Snail Sanctuary,” in the summers as a kid, where I would collect all the tiny snails drying out in the hot sun and move them to the shade on a moistened pillow.

One of my first paid jobs was collecting mosquito eggs for an entomologist at Cornell. I was living in Westchester, NY at the time, and with permission, I would set up buckets of water in people’s backyard to attract ovipositing mosquitos and mail the eggs to main campus in Ithaca. I loved all the places entomology could take someone and felt drawn to how important and relevant insects are in our lives, despite their tiny size. I always wanted to learn more.

Describe your role at the Hudson Valley Research Laboratory:

I work as a research technician at the Hudson Valley Research Laboratory in the entomology laboratory under the direction of Andres Antolinez, Ph.D. I also work jointly as a technician for NYSIPM, whose values and priorities align with those of the Lab’s. My responsibilities for both cover a wide range of tasks primarily focused on orchard, vineyard and livestock pests. These tasks include monitoring insect traps in orchards, vineyards and pastures; identifying dung beetles; cultivating plants for insect colonies; conducting bioassays; photographing notable insects; and designing educational graphics. Of course, this also includes maintaining the insect colonies at the Lab. The Hudson Valley Research Laboratory focuses on applied agricultural research to address challenges faced by Hudson Valley fruit and vegetable growers. As a result, the colonies we currently have are all apple or grape pests: black stem borer, brown marmorated stink bug, woolly apple aphid, and the notorious spotted lanternfly. Every day is different, and I always look forward to checking on the insects first thing in the morning because I never know what changes might have happened overnight.

Adult spotted lantenfly — Photo by Hannah Tolz

You’ve recently completed the challenging task of rearing spotted lanternfly from eggs to adulthood, can you describe that process?

The process begins by collecting egg masses from trees. They look very similar to the bark they are often laid on, so I had to quickly develop the eye to find them. Dr. Antolinez and I honed the skill of finding places to scout and collect the eggs. Depending on the time of the year we collect them, the eggs need to undergo cold stratification to break dormancy. For us, this means keeping the eggs in the fridge for a certain period before they will be ready to hatch.

The selected egg masses are then placed in incubators, which are set to controlled conditions, mimicking natural temperatures and humidity levels most conducive to their growth. Roughly three long weeks later, we see baby SLF emerge. This is a very alien-looking process; I’ve learned insects look quite strange when they hatch and molt.

Once the eggs hatch, the emerging nymphs are monitored closely as they progress through various instar stages, which involve molting and growing. It’s important for me to monitor their behavior and to regularly change out the plants they feed from. We mainly grow Ailanthus, or tree of heaven trees, which are known to serve as the primary host plant for SLF. We also grow maple trees and black walnut trees to help support the varied diet they prefer.

As they age and molt, I change the conditions to continue to match what they might be experiencing in the natural environment. I increase the temperature and day-length in their growing chambers to emulate the changing of the months from spring to summer.

When fourth instars are ready, they molt for their last time into the spotted and red winged lanternfly we have all learned to recognize. It’s always a great surprise!

How does rearing SLF at the Hudson Valley Research Laboratory support the overall efforts of NYSIPM?

The mission of NYSIPM is to develop sustainable ways to manage pests and help people to use methods that minimize environmental, health, and economic risks. The program seeks ways to serve as a trusted authority on invasive species prevention and management. By keeping live colonies, we can learn about the environmental conditions most favored by this invasive pest, observe behavior not easily studied in the field, and design experiments that may be able to test different IPM strategies on how we can address these insects.

What has been the most surprising thing you have learned from rearing colonies?

One of the most surprising aspects for me has been the creativity involved in this process. Essentially, the task is to craft a miniature world where these insects can thrive. It involves making decisions on how to replicate a small microcosm of their natural habitat within laboratory conditions. It has been rewarding to learn about the unique requirements of each insect and find solutions to recreate them within the limitations of a lab setting.

Learning about insects in general has wholeheartedly influenced the way I perceive and interact with the world. I find myself turning over leaves and carrying a small hand lens wherever I go. Knowing there are tiny mysterious lives hidden from my larger view has made the world feel so much larger and so much more magical.