Graduate student position (M. S. or PhD.)

A graduate student position (M. S. or PhD.) is available in the Fall of 2005 for a highly motivated student to join an NSF-funded research project to study tritrophic interactions in a natural system. In southern California, plants of Datura wrightii produce leaves that are covered either with glandular or non-glandular trichomes. Glandular trichomes secrete defensive chemicals, and plants with glandular trichomes are resistant to many of D. wrightii’s insect herbivores. The primary objective of this position is to test the working hypothesis that glandular trichomes of Datura wrightii impede the natural enemies of D. wrightii’s herbivores and reduce the benefits of producing glandular trichomes. Such reductions may constrain the increase in the frequency of glandular genotypes.
The preference and performance of natural enemies attacking herbivores on plants with glandular or nonglandular trichomes will be emphasized. Potential areas of investigation can include: 1) analyses of insect behavior after manipulating the concentration of defensive chemicals, 2) orientation and host-finding behaviors of herbivores and natural enemies to volatile chemicals from plants varying in trichome morphology, or 3) community-level analyses of herbivores and natural enemies on plants varying in trichome morphology in natural populations.
Application information for the UCR graduate school can be obtained from the UC Riverside Biological Sciences Graduate Student Affairs Center, 1151
Batchelor Hall, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521. Phone
(951)-827-4716 or (800) 735-0717. Website: http://www.bioscigrad.ucr.edu/index.html.
For further information about the research please contact Dr. J. Daniel Hare by e-mail at daniel.hare@ucr.edu, or by surface mail at the following:
Dept. of Entomology and
Evolution and Ecology GRU
University of California
Riverside, CA 92521.
Complete applications for graduate study should be received by December 31, 2004.