Randy Gaugler

Department of Entomology Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 93 Lipman Drive New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8524 732-932-9459 Fax: 732-932-7229 gaugler@rci.rutgers.edu

Research Interests:

White grubs are the most serious insect pests affecting turfgrass. Entomopathogenic nematodes are insect pathogens that, working with their bacterial symbionts, can provide effective grub suppression but efficacy is unpredictable. We appear unable to exploit nematodes against grubs effectively because we have a poor understanding of the factors regulating parasitism. Our laboratory conducts basic and applied research aimed at enhancing the use of nematodes for turf protection by resolving the infection process, including search behavior and host defensive mechanisms used to avoid parasitism. Additional approaches include genetic engineering of nematodes for enhanced environmental tolerance and developing mass rearing technology.