Mountain Chickadee, Parus gambeli
© The Regents of the University of California, (1996).
The laboratory of Dr. Donald L. Dahlsten has been operating under the Division of Biological Control (now Center for Biological Control) at the University of California, Berkeley since 1963.
The focus of research in our laboratory is on the development of ecologically sensitive methods for controlling insects that feed on forest trees and trees in urban environments. The studies are primarily field oriented in order to gain insight into the ecological mechanisms and trophic interactions so that the control strategies can be implemented. Most of our work is with insects that either parasitize or prey on tree feeding insects but we also work with some species of insectivorous birds and their effects on the forest ecosystem.
Current members of the lab include:
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The objective of this study is to develop an integrated pest management program for the elm leaf beetle. This insect is one of the top three insects of importance in urban environments in the United States. We have developed monitoring and timing techniques using degree days but we have been only partially successful in developing control techniques. We are working in a city with 4000 elms and are now evaluating the use of a bacterial insecticide and the introduction of a warm weather adapted egg parasitoid from Spain. Other strains of these egg parasitoids have been released for several years with little success.
We are working with native bark beetle species and their natural enemies. Bark beetles are the most important forest pests in California. We have been studying the natural enemy complexes of these beetles for many years and are now trying to identify the mechanisms that bark beetle parasites and predators use to locate their hosts.
Mountain Chickadee, Parus gambeli
To study insectivorous birds such as the mountain chickadee, chestnut-backed chickadee and pygmy nuthatch, we are using nesting boxes in forest environments. The goal is to determine the impact that secondary cavity nesting birds have on forest insects. We use remotely triggered video and movie cameras to identify prey items brought to the nest boxes by adult birds. We are also studying the reproductive biology of these bird species. The impact of predators, such as weasels and snakes, on these birds is being studied by the use of remotely triggered still cameras to directly observe predation on the birds in their nest boxes.
(Comments to: DaveR@UCLINK.Berkeley.Edu)