Dr. rer. nat. André Kessler, Professor
I am a chemical ecologist whose research focuses on the mechanisms, ecological consequences, and the evolution of plant induced responses to herbivore damage. Conceptually, I study plant secondary metabolism as a vehicle of information transfer. Chemical information can mediate complex interactions from the molecular and cell to the whole plant and community level. As a consequence, my research includes studying chemical elicitation of plant responses, plant chemistry-mediated alterations in insect population and community dynamics, plant-plant communication, plant-pollinator interactions, and plant defense mechanisms against herbivores. In my lab, we use chemical and molecular tools in manipulative field and laboratory experiments to understand the mechanism of elicitation, signal transduction, and information-mediating secondary metabolite production in plants responding to biotic and abiotic environmental stresses. Moreover, we put a particular emphasis on studying the ecological functions and evolution of plant metabolic responses and chemical information transfer in the plants’ native habitats. In more recent projects my group tries to apply some of the chemical ecology principles found in native systems to control insect pests in agricultural systems. My research includes a number of different study systems in New York, Utah, Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Kenya.
I studied ecology, genetics, and geobotany and received my master’s degree at the University of Würzbug, Germany. I received my Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology and the University of Jena, Germany.
I teach and co-teach in a number of courses, including BioEE 3611 Field Ecology, BioEE 3690 Chemical Ecology, BioEE 4460/4461 Plant Behavior, and BioEE 7640 Plant-Insect Interactions Seminar.
Graduate Students
Juan Pablo Jordán, Ph.D. student
My interests lie at the intersection between chemical ecology and agroecology. By studying intercropping system, I try to better understand how species interactions both above and below ground mediate resistance to herbivores and pathogens. I am also interested in the maintenance of phytochemical diversity, evolution of plant defenses, and plant-soil feedbacks. B.S., Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador (2021)
Michael Mueller, Ph.D. student
My current research focus can be summarized in a few fundamental questions: What makes organisms behave the way they do? What cues or information make an organism behave in a particular way? How can we use these findings to develop sustainable pest control and nature conservancy applications? Currently, I am studying the ways plants integrate chemical and spectral information from their neighbors, and how this exchange impacts species interactions, community, and ecosystem dynamics.
Mario Sandoval-Molina, Ph.D. student
I’m broadly interested in the evolution of plant defense strategies—particularly thigmonasty (rapid movement), physical traits (spines, prickles), and chemical defenses in the Mimosoid clade. My research combines field and laboratory experiments to understand the ecology and evolution of plant defenses. My other research interests are related to the ecology of insect-plant interactions, ant-plant interactions, pollinator-plant interactions, and herbivory. I am a committee member with editorial duties at EcoEvoRxiv, a not-for-profit subject-matter specific research repository for preprints related to ecology, evolution and conservation.
Rachael Shippee, Ph.D. student
Broadly, I am interested in uncovering the ways in which plants overcome ecological conflicts. Specifically, plants experience a phenomenon called “herbivory-induced pollinator limitation”, which occurs when interactions with both antagonists (insect herbivores) and mutualists (pollinators) are in conflict. I will be investigating the mechanisms wild tomato plants use as reproductive assurance strategies when under herbivore stress. I also plan to investigate the mechanisms behind pollinator avoidance of damaged plants.
Undergraduate Students
Alumns
Ethan Bass, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago.
Then: Ph. D. student
Rayko Halitschke, Research Group Leader
Then: Senior research associate
Now: Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany
Chemical Ecology, Mass spectrometry , Proteomics
Amy L. Parachnowitsch, Associate Professor
Then: Ph. D. student
Now: Associate Professor at the University of New Brunswick, Canada
Evolutionary and Chemical Ecology of Plant-Pollinator interactions
More updates coming soon…