PI, Donald A. Yee, Ph.D.

Board Certified Entomologist with Medical Entomology specialization

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

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

Current Graduate students

Clayton Ziemke –  Ph.D. student: Effects of climate and disturbances on ant communities in Puerto Rico (co-advised with Kaitlin Baudier, USM).

Catherine Dean- M.S. student: The effects of human sewage on the southern house mosquito, Culex

                        quinquefasciatus

Limarie J. Reyes Torres –  Ph.D. candidate: Regulation and urbanization on Aedes aegypti population performance and vector competence

Current undergraduates

2022-current: Liz Wynn (Honors College): TBD

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

Former Graduate Students

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)

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 humidities 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: Shania Gregg, Alycia Johnson, 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