Prof Tallamy answers a question following his lecture at Lafayette – click for closer view
Biography
Doug Tallamy is Professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has taught for 35 years. He received his BS in Biology from Allegheny College, the MS in Entomology from Rutgers, and the PhD in Entomology from University of Maryland. He then did a post-doc in entomology at University of Iowa before moving to University of Delaware in 1982. His popular book Bringing Nature Home has been highly influential on the fields of horticulture, landscape architecture, and green stormwater infrastructure since its publishing in 2007.
Research
Prof Tallamy has numerous publications, most recently focused on understanding the ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His work is well-known and widely cited for quantifying the degree to which alien plants impact native insect herbivore and bird populations in suburban environments.
Sampling of recent research papers
Burghardt and Tallamy, 2016. Not all non-natives are equally unequal: Reductions in herbivore β-diversity depend on phylogenetic similarity to native plant community. Ecology Letters 18:1087-1098.
Ballard, Hough-Goldstein, and Tallamy, 2013. Arthropod Communities on Native and Nonnative Early Successional Plants. Environmental Entomology 42(5):851-859.
Burghardt, Tallamy, and Shriver, 2008. Impact of native plants on bird and butterfly biodiversity in suburban landscapes. Conservation Biology 23(1): 219-224.