Ward Tingey

Department of Entomology > People > Ward Tingey

Ward M. Tingey
Professor
wmt2@cornell.edu

Areas of Expertise

Insect pest management, plant resistance to insects, IPM, potato, vegetable insect pests

Research

My research and extension programs are focussed on understanding the interactions between insect pests, their host plants and the stresses within agricultural ecosystems which affect pest and host plant fitness. I am also involved in developing practical pest and insecticide resistance management tactics which include an array of cultural, chemical and biological tools including insect-resistant varieties. The outreach component of my potato IPM extension program involves farm visits which offer diagnostic services and risk assessment as well as on-farm demonstration trials. My annual course, Insect Pest Management for Practitioners, ENT 241) targets undergraduate students majoring in fields other than entomology; e.g. plant breeding, animal science, plant pathology, floriculture, pomology, vegetable crops, general agriculture. All of the formal lectures that I personally deliver (16 of 26) are now laptop-projected html presentations rich in color image, color video and audio content and are up-dated annually. Graphics-oriented PowerPoint presentations for introducing each of the nine hands-on weekly laboratory sessions (Introduction to Phylum Arthropoda & Classes of Arthropods, Insect Morphology & Development, Systematic Relationships Among Insects, Pest & Beneficial Insects: Orders Orthoptera, Homoptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, Mallophaga & Anoplura) are up-dated annually. During summer and fall of 2005 and the spring of 2006, materials representing 35 pest and beneficial taxa were obtained from local collecting or from colleagues across the U. S. These specimens were prepared through dry, liquid or slide mounting, labeled and introduced into the ENTOM 241 teaching collection to renew damaged specimens or to represent those not currently present.

Extension and Outreach

My extension program activities involve training of pest management scouts, extension field staff and growers in insect identification, sampling and risk assessment in commercial potato production. I have also participated in on-farm demonstrations of insecticide resistance monitoring procedures and season-long demonstrations of novel non-insecticidal insect management tactics such as insect-resistant cultivars, propane flaming, trap crops, trench traps. Delivery methods I employ include traditional presentations (using video or electronic media) to grower groups, the agrichemical industry, and extension field staff; consultation on matters relating to use of insecticides and other insect management tactics; farm visits for diagnostic purposes; twilight on-farm workshops and annual revision of the potato insect management section published in "Cornell Guidelines for Commercial Vegetable and Potato Production".

Courses Taught

ENTOM 2410 Insect Pest Management for Practitioners

Publications (last 5 years)