Lab members at EntSoc 2023 in National Harbor, MD (L to R): John, Lily, Eric, Alexela, Robert, Fran, and Jared

Lab members at EntSoc 2023 in National Harbor, MD (L to R): John, Lily, Eric, Alexela, Robert, Fran, and Jared

Plant-Insect Interactions in Agroecosystems

We study relationships among plants, insect herbivores, and natural enemies to understand factors that regulate populations of herbivorous insects. We are interested in both plant- and natural-enemy-mediated factors and how they influence insect behavior, community composition, and herbivore mortality. Our long-term goal is to exploit the ecology/biology of our study organisms to provide strategies and tactics for more sustainable insect pest management.

Some of our projects and collaborators

Penn State's Sustainable Dairy Cropping Systems Trial
Slugs as pests of field crops

Gerard the Slug Tamer

Gerard Troisi, a valuable collaborator, member of the PA No-Till Alliance, and a talented slug tamer.

Laser tag

A little laser tag to celebrate Eric's thesis defense!

Getting too close to the sentinel caterpillars

Emily and Katie getting ready to deploy sentinel caterpillars.

Emily and Katie, enjoying samples

Summer of 2013 - Emily and Katie enjoying sample sorting

The Tooker Lab April 2011

Lab Photo - April 2011: Back L to R: Ian, Kim, Eric, Maggie, Andrew, Anjel; Front: John

white lab coats

Penn State requires that we have lab coats for safety reasons, so why not wear them? Nathan, Masoomi, Brandon, Mackenzie, Sarah, and Andrew, Summer 2016

Contact Us

John Tooker, Ph.D.
  • Professor of Entomology