Training

Division of Effort

Research
60%, Agricultural Entomology, development and nature of crop resistance to insects, physical and chemical plant defensive strategies

Teaching
20%, Applied Entomology (ENT 241)

Extension
20%, Insect pest management for potatoes

Program Overview And Objectives For Next 5 Years

My research interests focus on the development and exploitation of plant resistance in management of insect pests. Over the past 15 years, my program has centered largely on understanding the nature of resistance to the Colorado potato beetle, aphids and leafhoppers conditioned by glandular trichomes derived from a wild potato species indigenous to Bolivia (Franca et al. 1994; Tingey 1991; Tingey & Yencho 1994; Yencho et al. 1994). These efforts and a close continuing collaboration with the Cornell potato breeding program led in 1992 to the germplasm release of NYL 235-4, the first near cultivar-quality insect-resistant potato clone developed by traditional plant breeding (Plaisted et al. 1992). Efforts to produce similar hybrids with improved horticultural traits will continue and we will provide advanced germplasm to colleagues in eastern Europe for evaluation of resistance to the Colorado potato beetle and adaptation to their growing conditions. However, our major focus over the next 5 years will be to investigate the feasibility of utilizing glandular trichomes in developing cultivars resistant to the most devastating global insect pest of potato, potato tuberworm moth. This work is made possible by a grant from the McKnight Foundation and collaborators not only within CALS but in Brasil, Chile and North Dakota.

My extension program strives to provide New York potato growers with accurate and timely information relevant to managing insect pests in a sustainable fashion. This has in the past and will continue in the future to involve farm demonstrations/visits, workshops, winter meetings and preparation of annual recommendations, newsletters and video materials (Albers & Tingey 1994) and, when necessary, emergency exemption requests to US-EPA (Tingey et al. 1993).

With the departure of R. T. Roush, I was asked to assume the permanent responsibility for teaching Ent. 241 (Applied Entomology). I previously co-hosted this course (with J. P. Sanderson) during Spring Semester 1994 when Professor Roush was on sabbatical.

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Professional Experience

• 1987 Professor, Department of Entomology, Cornell University
• 1980-1987 Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, Cornell University
• 1974-1980 Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, Cornell University
• 1972-1973 Assistant Research Entomologist, University of California, Davis
• 1968-1972 Graduate Research Associate, Department of Entomology, University of Arizona
• 1966-1968 Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Zoology, Brigham Young University
• 1966 Range Research Technician, U.S. Forest Service (USDA)

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Professional Activities (1990-present)

A. Professional Societies

• Entomological Society of America
• Potato Association of America

B. Professional Assignments

• Co-Chairman, Ninth Biennial Plant Resistance to Insects Workshop Program Committee, College Park, MD, 1990
• Plant Resistance to Insects Workshop Steering Committee, 1990
• Manuscript Referee: Journal of Economic Entomology, Environmental Entomology, American Potato Journal, Science, American Midland Naturalist, Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, Hort Science, Canadian Entomologist, Journal of Agricultural Entomology, Phytoparasitica, Environmental & Experimental Botany, Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Journal of Chemical Ecology, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Journal of Entomological Science, Plant Science, Euphytica
• Competitive Grants Referee: USDA/ARS, NSF, CSRS, BARD, CALS(Cornell Univ.), Univ. Florida Agric. Exp. Sta., New Jersey Agric. Exp. Sta., USAID, Missouri Research Assistance Program

Invited Symposia:

• Alternative Management Strategies for Potato Pests: Host Plant Resistance. International Conference on Potato Pest Management, Jackson, WY., 1991 (with G. C. Yencho)
• Pesticide Resistance and Resistance Management, International Conference on Potato Pest Management, Jackson, WY., 1991 (with R. T. Roush)

C. University and College Committees

• Long Island Extension/Research Associate Search Committee, 1990
• Vegetable IPM Steering Committee, 1990-Present
• Upstate New York Potato Advisory Committee, 1990-Present

D. Department Committees

• Coordination of 1990 Cornell Vegetable Insect Management Recommendations
• Graduate Admissions Committee, 1990-92
• Griswold Fund Committee, 1990-93
• Insectary-Greenhouse Committee, 1990-Present
• Freeville Farm Committee, 1990-Present
• Acting Graduate Faculty Representative, Summer 1991
• Insect Morphology Search Committee, 1995
• Departmental Executive Advisory Committee, 1995

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Publications

Albers, C. W. & W. M. Tingey. 1994. A Sustainable Approach for Management of the Colorado Potato Beetle. Cornell Coop. Ext., Steuben Co., 19 min. videotape.

Franca, F. H., R. L. Plaisted, R. T. Roush, S. Via & W. M. Tingey. 1994. Selection response of the Colorado potato beetle for adaptation to the resistant potato, Solanum berthaultii Hawkes. Entomol. Exp. Appl. 73: 101-109.

Plaisted, R. L., W. M. Tingey & J. C. Steffens. 1992. The germplasm release of NYL 235-4, a clone with resistance to the Colorado potato beetle. Am. Potato J. 69:843-846.

Tingey, W. M. 1991. Potato glandular trichomes: defensive activity against insect attack. 126-135. In: Naturally Occurring Pest Bioregulators (ed. P. Hedin). ACS Symp. Series 449. ACS Books, Wash. D.C. 456 p.

Tingey, W. M. & G. C. Yencho. 1994. Insect resistance in potato: a decade of progress. pp. 405-425. In: Advances in Potato Pest Biology and Management. (ed. G. W. Zehnder, M. L. Powelson, R. K. Jansson, K. V. Raman). APS Press.. 655 p.

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