Tonya Bittner

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• Doctor of Philosophy
• Research Associate at New York State College of Agriculture & Life Sciences

The fungal order Entomophthorales occurs worldwide, with most species infecting arthropods as pathogens. Species in this order can cause epizootics and change the behavior of infected hosts. Molecular data are available only for 20% of the known species, and distributions of species are seldom summarized. Significant diversity of hosts, poor molecu...

The hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), is an invasive pest causing significant ecological and economic damage to certain hemlock tree (Tsuga (Endlicher) Carrière, Pinales:Pinaceae) species. In response to this invasive threat, biological control strategies have been implemented, introducing natural predators such...

Increasing effciency of data gathering at the landscape scale on the growing number of pests and pathogens threatening forests worldwide has potential to improve management outcomes. Citizen science is expanding, with growing support and utility in environmental and conservation felds. We present a case study showing how citizen science observation...

The hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA, Adelges tsugae, Hemiptera: Adelgidae) is an invasive insect that threatens the ability to maintain eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and Carolina hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana) as ecologically functional components of eastern North American forests. Since the early 1990s, a classical biological control program for HWA...

Sympatric host-associated genetic differentiation is a prominent pattern that could lead to speciation. In insects, there are numerous examples of host-associated differentiation among herbivores that prefer different plants, and parasitoids that prefer different hosts, but few examples for specialist predators. We developed new microsatellite loci...

Successful use of biological control agents can be improved with a thorough understanding of the life history, survival, diapausing strategy, and synchrony with the host in the introduced range. Introduction of a novel organism can be influenced by abiotic factors that can impact the interactions with their target prey. Leucotaraxis argenticollis (...

The hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae (Annand)) is a serious invasive pest of hemlock trees in eastern North America. Multiple biological control agents have been the focus of research aimed at pest management and conserving hemlock communities. Three promising A. tsugae specialist predators are the beetle Laricobius nigrinus (Fender) (Coleopt...

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis can be a powerful tool for the early detection of invasive organisms. However, research on terrestrial eDNA detection from foliage surfaces has been limited. In this study, we developed methods to capture and detect eDNA using qPCR from an invasive forest pest, hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae), and three of...

The hemlock woolly adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae Adelges tsugae Annand) poses a serious threat to hemlocks in eastern North America, and ongoing research is focused on the identification and development of biological controls to protect and manage hemlock resources. Three predators native to the Pacific Northwest of North America that have been the...

We collected data on mortality of late-instar gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), from outbreak populations over 4 wk in June 2017 at 10 sites in the New England region of the United States, along with estimated rainfall at these sites. Deposition of airborne conidia of the fungal pathogen, Entomophaga maimaiga Humber, Shimazu & R.S. Soper, was meas...

Sirexnoctilio is an invasive woodwasp that, along with its symbiotic fungus, has killed pine trees ( Pinus spp.) in North America and in numerous countries in the Southern Hemisphere. We tested a biological control agent in North America that has successfully controlled S.noctilio in Oceania, South Africa, and South America. Deladenussiricidicola n...

Entomophaga maimaiga is an important host-specific fungal pathogen of gypsy moth larvae in North America. In 1999, this entomopathogenic fungus was successfully introduced into Bulgaria. At present, it is spreading fast in southeastern and central Europe. It has been recorded from Serbia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech...

We evaluated the presence and impact of Entomophaga maimaiga on both target and non-target phytophagous larvae. All six study plots, with low gypsy moth population density, were situated in Central and Southeastern European oak forests and E. maimaiga had previously been reported from these plots. Totally, 45 of 4,045 (1.13%) collected non-target l...

The goal of this study was to develop effective and practical field sampling methods for quantifying aerial deposition of airborne conidia of Entomophaga maimaiga over space and time. This important fungal pathogen is a major cause of larval mortality in invasive gypsy moth ( Lymantria dispar ) populations in the United States. Airborne conidia of...

Hosts and their associated microbes are being increasingly introduced around the world, which can lead to novel host/microbe associations via new sympatries. Woodwasps (Hymenoptera: Siricidae) are able to utilize wood for its nutrients due to obligate mutualistic associations with white rot fungi in the genus Amylostereum and when invasive woodwasp...

The invasive woodwasp Sirex noctilio (Hymenoptera: Siricidae) has been moved from Eurasia into regions in the Southern Hemisphere, where extensive tree mortality has occurred in pines (Pinus spp.) introduced for forestry. More recently this woodwasp was found in northeastern North America, where pines are native, and it is a species of concern due...

Molecular methods were used to determine the generic placement of two species of Entomophthorales known only from resting spores. Historically, these species would belong in the form-genus Tarichium, but this classification provides no information about phylogenetic relationships. Using DNA from resting spores, Zoophthora independentia, infecting T...

Serropalpus substriatus Haldeman (Coleoptera: Melandryidae) develops within the same trees as Sirex noctilio F. and Sirex cyaneus F. (Hymenoptera: Siricidae). This species is now reported emerging from red pine (Pinus resinosa Sol. ex Aiton) and balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) (Pinaceae) in eastern North America. Numbers of Se. substriatus e...

Within populations, the stochastic effect of genetic drift and deterministic effect of natural selection are potentially weakened or altered by gene flow among populations. The influence of gene flow on Lake Erie populations of the common garter snake has been of particular interest because of a discontinuous colour pattern polymorphism (striped vs...

Models of snakes varying in color pattern have been used to test hypotheses about predation and mimicry. In the present study, clay models of the common garter snake were used to test for a dif-ference in attack frequency between adult and juvenile striped and melanistic garter snakes; such difference may indicate a difference in cryptic coloration...

Both color (i.e., reflectance) and body size should influence body temperature in heliothermic ectotherms. We compared heating rates and equilibrium temperatures between the normal striped morph and the solid black melanistic morph of the garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, from polymorphic populations in the Lake Erie region. Snakes ranging in mass...

Sex differences in body size and head dimensions are widespread in adult snakes, but because data are scarce for neonates, it is unclear whether differences are present from birth or arise post-natally. Here we analyse patterns of sexual dimorphism in neonates and adults of four species of natricine snakes, Nerodia sipedon, Storeria dekayi, Thamnop...