Dr. Tania Kim from Kansas State University.

Landscape simplification is the conversion of natural habitat to agriculture and has increased over the last 50 years. As a result, a decline in the number of beneficial insects including natural enemies and pollinators have been observed, leading to reductions in arthropod-derived ecosystem services such as pest control and pollination.  For this talk, I will provide a general overview of my research program at Kansas State University in the Department of Entomology where we study the landscape ecology of plant-insect interactions in human-modified ecosystems.  Specifically, I will talk about the mechanisms by which landscape simplification affect insect foraging and movement behaviors and the consequences for insect populations and communities.  I will provide examples of projects carried out by members of my lab group in managed systems such as soybean, grasslands, and urban farms.