peopleAndrew (Andy) Stephenson
Professor of Biology
Email: as4@psu.edu
Phone: 814-863-1553
Fax: 814-865-9131
Office: 315 Mueller Laboratory
Research
My research focuses on the role of inbreeding and genetic variation on the establishment and transmission of plant diseases. My research has three interrelated themes:
1) Interrelationships among inbreeding, herbivory, and transmission of bacterial and viral diseases vectored by herbivores
How does inbreeding affect:
- The pattern, timing and magnitude of herbivory?
- Rates of exposure to pathogens transmitted by herbivores?
- When — and the extent to which — plant defense systems respond to herbivores and pathogens?
2) Production of volatile organic compounds that signal herbivores (pathogen vectors)
- How do plant volatiles vary with inbreeding in natural populations? How do herbivores respond to these differences?
- How does the composition of plant volatiles change upon damage by an herbivore or infection by a pathogen?
- Do herbivores/vectors respond differently to the volatile compounds produced by healthy and diseased plants?
3) Impact of the escape of viral resistance transgenes from agricultural crops to wild populations
- How do viral resistance transgenes affect the fitness of plants during introgression into natural populations?
- Is there a cost associated with viral resistance transgenes when the viral disease is not present in the population?
- How do viral resistance transgenes affect non-target pathogens?