Bugs

the education and enthusiasm of Duennes herself resonated with one student in particular. With the idea of studying genetics, senior biology student Clare Mulcahy and Duennes began diving further into their research on Spotted Lanternflies.

An invasive species native to Asia, the Spotted Lanternfly causes serious damage to trees, vines, crops, and other plants. They can lay egg masses with more than three dozen eggs, and they leave behind a sugary substance that encourages the growth of black, sooty mold.

eggs, Duennes, Mulcahy, and National Geographic reporter Jason Biddle took to the Pittsburgh Steelers tailgate areas to gather samples.

Following a recent National Geographic article publication, Duennes was invited by the United States Department of Agriculture to be part of the consortium of researchers working with Spotted Lanternflies.

“I’m hoping we can serve as a resource for other larger, million-dollar research projects, but also continue our own work,” Duennes explained.

“Although Clare’s project is limited to only 18 months, I’m eager to continue working even after she graduates. I would like to do a project where we collect Spotted Lanternflies every year, preserve them in ethanol, and look at local adaptation as they evolve over time in this area.”

Although Duennes is unsure of their effect on campus itself, she believes this invasive species may become harmful in the near future. With the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve (WPNR) having found their first fly on the grounds, Duennes is concerned with monitoring their presence on campus now and in the future.

“This is a rare opportunity as an entomologist to be somewhere at the very beginning, or yearzero, of an invasion and to track it over time,” explained Duennes.

With the help of the Saint Vincent Community, Duennes and Mulcahy were able to gather numerous samples of this invasive species in an attempt to understand its roots.

“The goal for this project is to see if we can try, using genetic tools and techniques, to pinpoint where Spotted Lanternflies in Western Pennsylvania are coming from,” said Duennes. “It’s quite similar to a forensic genealogy investigation.”

Duennes references the ideas of Penn State University researchers who assert that large events could be possible transmission points of these flies. With the hypothesis of vehicles being the mode of transportation for Spotted Lanternfly

“The research being conducted at Penn State shows the species damages the younger trees more than the older ones” Duennes commented. “Regardless, I would really like to have my classes monitoring the species on campus to make sure we are controlling and mitigating the damage they could do, especially to the trees recently planted.”

Fromparticipating in triathlons and studying at the College of the Atlantic, an oceanfront campus directly across from Acadia National Park, Jim Kellam considers himself to be a very outdoorsy person. As an Associate Professor of Biology, he finds joy in teaching and researching in the world of ornithology, the study of birds.

“I knew I wanted to be a professor of birds. I have the job that I dreamed of since I was in high school,” Kellam reflected.

With his self-designed education, Kellam took his research to Purdue University where he received his Ph.D. while studying wild birds. Today, he gets to continue his research, coming full circle from where he started: at a small liberal arts college.