Agricultural and Life Sciences (IFAS)
Plant-Herbivore Interactions Lab
Led by Philip Hahn · Entomology and Nematology
What we study
The lab studies how plants and insects interact, focusing on how environmental factors affect these interactions. They use field work and experiments with herbaceous plants and insects.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Plants
- Other insects
- No coding
- Projects
- 2
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Herbivory Variability in Florida Plants: Rare Species Show Higher Mean but Less Skewed Distributions of Damage
Field surveys of 480 plants from eight Florida species showed that rare species experienced a higher average amount of insect chewing damage but a less skewed distribution of that damage compared to common species, with the data fitting a log‑normal pattern.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 256
Bend or Break: Nutrition affects the mechanical response of a sexually selected weapon
Researchers studied how the quality of adult food affects the strength and flexibility of the spiny hind legs that male insects use to fight for mates. They found that insects fed low‑quality food had weaker, less bendable spines.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 97
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Variation of multiple plant defences and herbivory reveal different patterns of adaptation across a productivity gradient
2026 · Journal of Ecology
Compares plant defenses and damage across different climates to see how they adapt.
- Laboratory evaluation of commercially available and naturally occurring predatory mites against Thrips parvispinus (Thysanoptera: Thripidae)
2026 · Experimental and Applied Acarology
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- Megalurothrips usitatus and other Thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) Associated with Lablab purpureus (Fabales: Fabaceae) in South Florida
2026 · Journal of Insect Science
Identifies pests on lablab beans in Florida, including a damaging Asian insect.
- Temperature-dependent oviposition, development, and life table parameters of Lilioceris egena (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), biocontrol agent of air potato (Dioscoreales: Dioscoreaceae) in Florida
2026 · Biocontrol Science and Technology
Tests how temperature affects beetle reproduction, finding more eggs at 25 and 30°C, none at 10°C.
- Sequencing foundational computational instruction in the life sciences
2026 · Ecology and Evolution
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
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