Jennifer White

Department of Entomology
410 Forbes Building, PO Box 210036
Tucson, AZ 85721
Telephone: (520) 626-4094
Fax: (520) 621-1150
Email: jenwhite@email.arizona.edu

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Research Interests

At the broadest level, I am interested in mechanistically understanding interspecific interactions among diverse taxa on both ecological and evolutionary timescales. Over the course of my career I have researched interactions between plants and mycorrhizae, plants and insect herbivores, among insect herbivore species, and, for my dissertation research, between an insect herbivore and its parasitoid. Using field-scale distributional studies, I found that parasitism of the European corn borer by its specialist parasitoid, Macrocentrus grandii, varies as a function of corn borer density and spatial distribution, co-occurrence of a non-host herbivore, and habitat quality. I then focused in on the behavioral interactions between the two species as an explanatory factor for this variation in parasitism. As a parasitoid of a concealed feeder that is often inaccessible, M. grandii is faced with a decision process when it encounters a corn borer feeding tunnel: Is it better to invest time waiting at the tunnel to see if an inaccessible host will emerge, or is it better to abandon the tunnel in the hope that the next tunnel found will have a more accessible host? I developed an optimal foraging model for parasitoids of such hosts that intermittently emerge from concealment, and I collected an extensive dataset of field-based behavioral observations within my system that largely confirms the model predictions. I also undertook a series of laboratory behavioral assays that found that parasitoid physiological state and previous experience both have an important influence on this decision-making process.

For my post-doctoral research, I am building upon these behavioral findings to look at the evolutionary underpinnings of host utilization behavior. I am working with Dr. Molly Hunter to examine the evolutionary trajectory of the behavior of endosymbiont-infected and cured parasitoid wasps. By examining the life history characteristics and behavior of parasitoids of differing infection status (physiological state) over the course of generations, we hope to improve our understanding of the behavioral mechanisms by which insects can respond to and potentially compensate for endosymbiont infection, thus integrating the fields of endosymbiont biology and behavioral ecology.

PUBLICATIONS

White, J. A., and D. A. Andow.  2006.  Habitat modification contributes to associational resistance between herbivores.  Oecologia, in press.  Available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0388-1

White, J. A., and D. A. Andow.  2005.  Host-parasitoid interactions in a transgenic landscape: spatial proximity effects of host density.  Environmental Entomology 34: 1493-1500.

White, J. A., J. P. Harmon, and D. A. Andow.  2004.  Ecological context for examining the effects of transgenic crops in production systems.  Journal of Crop Production 12: 457-489. Special volume: New Dimensions in Agroecology.

Harmon, J. P., J. A. White, and D. A. Andow. 2003.  Oviposition behavior of Ostrinia nubilalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in response to potential intra- and interspecific interactions.  Environmental Entomology 32: 334-339.

Tang, F., J. A. White, and I. Charvat.  2001.  The effect of phosphorus availability on arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization of Typha angustifolia.  Mycologia 93(6): 1042-1047.

White, J. A. and T. G. Whitham.  2000.  Associational susceptibility of cottonwood to a box elder herbivore. Ecology 81(7): 1795-1803.

White, J. A. and I. Charvat.  1999.  The mycorrhizal status of an emergent aquatic, Lythrum salicaria L., at different levels of phosphorus availability.  Mycorrhiza 9(4): 191-197.

Raymond, J. D, T. A. Ojala, J. White, and M. J. Simmons.  1991.  Inheritance of P-element regulation in Drosophila melanogaster.  Genetical Research 57: 227-234.