PI, Donald A. Yee, Ph.D., donald.yee at USM dot edu

Board Certified Entomologist with Medical Entomology specialization

Community ecology of aquatic insects, focusing on mosquitoes and predaceous diving beetles.

Interests: invasive species, stoichiometry, urban ecology, tropical ecology, life history, evolution, climate change, predator-prey interactions, competition, arboviruses, species diversity patterns, container systems

Current Graduate students

Cassie Urquhart – Ph.D. student: Culex antillummagnorum life history, ecology, and role in lizard malaria transmission

Ella Branham – M.S. student: Discerning floral nectar preference exhibited by mosquitoes endemic to Puerto Rico

Current undergraduates

2026- current: Morgan Dale (Honors thesis): Mosquito blood feeding patterns

2024-current: Jelly James: Jumping spider predation in response to different patterns of mosquito adults

2024-current: Dylan Vo: Function of thoracic setae in mosquito larvae

Former Graduate Students

2017-2025 Limarie Reyes-Torres (Ph.D.): Bottom-up regulation and competition of Aedes aegypti along an urban gradient in Puerto Rico: effects on population performance and dengue vector competence

2017-2023 Catherine Dean (M.S.): The effects of human sewage on the southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus

2019-2022 Nate Dahlberg (M.S.): Hide and seek: an exploration of antipredator and predator avoidance mechanisms in Orthopodomyia signifera in response to predation from Toxorhynchites rutilus

2019-2022 Patrick Gilkey (M.S.): Rocky real estate: disturbance ecology of aquatic insect larvae inhabiting freshwater rock pools in Puerto Rico

2017-2020 Nicole Scavo – (M.S.): Mosquito communities and viromes across urban environments  in Puerto Rico

2017-2020 Nicole Fijman (nee Mackey) – (M.S.): Historical and contemporary distributions of Aedes aegypti in the United States

2017-2020  Joseph Nelsen – (M.S.): Do mosquito pesticides harm their natural enemies? Ecological consequences and non-target effects of larvicides on mosquito predators

2016-2018 Hunter Deerman – (M.S.): Mosquito nutrient stoichiometry and Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus in cemeteries

2010-2015 Francis Ezeakacha (Ph.D.): Linking effects of different environmental factors across different life history stages of container mosquitoes

2012-2014 Stephanie Schelble (M.S.): The influence of water depth on oviposition behavior and survival of Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus

2011-2013 Jeffrey Skiff (M.S.): Interactions between protozoan prey (Phylum Protista) and their mosquito (Order Diptera; Family Culicidae) predators:  prey size and predator behavior effects

2009-2012 David Allgood (M.S.): Influence of detritus levels and organic pollution on interspecific resource competition, oviposition behavior, and larval survival of two tire-inhabiting mosquito species

2009-2011 Kristopher Pitcher (M.S.): Interspecific coexistence and competition between two similar species of predacious diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) in temporary aquatic habitats

Former Undergraduate projects (*published)

2024-2025: Dylan Russel (Honors College): How detritus types affect mosquito phenotypic characters (Best Thesis award)

2022-2025: Liz Wynne* (Honors College): Culex antillummagnorum: oviposition behavior, habitat  associations, and life history of a lizard malaria vector in Puerto Rico

2021-2023: Coleman Swartzfager (Honors College): What are the non-consumptive effects of dytiscids on mosquitoes?

2021-2022: Taka Nah Jelah* (Honors College): Investigating the effects of maize pollen on the development of the mosquitoes Anopheles quadrimaculatus and Culex quinquefasciatus

2018-2020:  Shelby Hosch (Honors College): Effects of temperature and humidity on egg hatching and larval development of thee species of Aedes

2016-2019: Jaclyn Everly* (Honors College): Invertebrate recolonization of Heliconia systems in Puerto Rico; Effects of larval density on feeding and success of Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus

2016-2019: Rachel Rogers* (Honors College): Effects of acorns on populations of Aedes mosquitoes

2015-2018: James Valentine*: Aedes albopictus nutrient analysis and microbiome across life history stages

2013-2014: Silvano Daniels* (Honors College):  Adult interactions between Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus: implications for oviposition and adult performance

2013-2014: Carmen Bofill* (Honors College):  Differences in consumption rates between larval and adult Laccophilus fasciatus rufus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) on larval Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae)

2013-2014: John Lloyd Martin: Carbon and nitrogen analysis to determine competitive outcomes for three species of container mosquitoes

2009-2010: Anne Winters* (Honors College):  Development and stable isotope analysis of Aedes and Culex mosquitoes on different detritus types

Other undergraduate research alumni (^Puerto Rican student): Karina Rivera Fuentes^, Camila Kuan Monterrey^, Nishrenika Pokhrel, Shania Gregg, Alycia Johnson, Carolyn Crespo^, Edwin Garcia-Rios^, Catherine Dean, Kelvyn Noa Reyes^, Taissae Sanchez^, Elizabeth Dobronski, Doressa Williams, Adam Miller, Bayley Graves, Timothy Carson, Adrianne Charbonnet, Hunter Deerman, Ashley Bowler, Lee Jennings, Kourtney Dunn, Justin Young, Ashton Reeves*, Elizabeth Himel, Thomas Bocek, Anna Reiber, Jennifer Foster, Amanda Bonelli