HARDY LAB

Making sense of insect diversity

Home

Research

Our research addresses three major questions about herbivorous insects:

  1. What insect species eat plants?
  2. Why do they eat what they eat? (And not something else?)
  3. How can we use general biodiversity theory to address practical problems in agriculture and conservation?
Some sap-sucking bugs. Top left: Aphis coreopsidis; top right: Aphis sambuci; bottom left: Icerya purchasi, bottom right: Melanspis obscura.

We address the first question by working on the systematics of sap-sucking bugs, in particular aphids and scale insects (Hemiptera: Sternorrnyncha: Aphidomorpha). We find and describe species, estimate phylogenetic relationships among species, and make tools to manage information about species. The other questions we primarily address with modeling and comparative approaches.