Ed Zaborski--Illinois Natural History Survey

Ed Zaborski
		1816 S. Oak Street Champaign, IL 61820 MC–652 Phone: 217-265-0330 Fax: 217-333-8076 Email: zaborski@inhs.illinois.edu Title: Soil Invertebrate Ecologist Office Location: Rm. 241, NRSA
Activities		Soil invertebrate ecology; influence of environment and management on soil invertebrate community structure; response of soil invertebrates to organic matter inputs to the soil; potential use of soil invertebrates in ecological monitoring; natural enemies of soil inhabiting pests.

Research		Research: The soil environment is dominated by the decomposer food web, a community of organisms that ultimately derives most of its food and energy from dead plant residues. The quality, quantity and timing of crop and other organic residue inputs is thus likely to have an influence on the soil invertebrate community and its participation in important soil processes like decomposition and nutrient cycling in agricultural systems. I recently completed a collaborative project with Raymond Cloyd on the ecology and interactions of fungus gnats, Bradysia spp., and their natural enemies - especially the commercially available predatory soil mite Stratiolaelaps scimitus (widely distributed as Hypoaspis miles) and the entomophilic nematode Steinernema feltiae - in greenhouse floriculture production systems. Fungus gnats are a significant pest in these systems, and natural enemies offer an alternative to pesticides for their management. However, Illinois growers have not widely adopted their use, in part because of uncertainty about their efficacy and about how to integrate their use with other management practices in the greenhouse. As part of this project, Ana Cabrera (MS, NRES, 2003) investigated the lethal and sub-lethal effects of other greenhouse pesticides on these natural enemies. Another subject that I am very interested in the potential use of soil invertebrates, especially soil mites, in environmental assessment. Soil mites exhibit a wide variety of life histories, feeding habits, morphologies and physiologies; furthermore, they are frequently the most abundant arthropods in soils. Consequently, their community structure may be very sensitive to environmental disturbances, offering a potential monitoring tool for managing and improving soil quality. As part of this project, Carmen Ugarte (MS, NRES, 2003) compared different approaches to using predatory mesostigmatid mites for biological monitoring. I am working with a group of researchers and Extension educators at the Illinois Natural History Survey and the University of Illinois to initiate a program of cooperative research and education on organic production systems in Illinois. Our goal is to develop, in collaboration with organic producers and other stakeholders in Illinois, a broad research program to address technical, social, and marketing problems faced by the rapidly growing organic food sector of the agriculture industry, and to provide an education opportunity for interested students. Additional projects include: surveys of earthworm and soil mite communities in Illinois; studies of an exotic flatworm predator of earthworms, Bipalium adventitium, and of a phasmarhabditid nematode parasitizing the nightcrawler, Lumbricus terrestris; and the development of a safer chemical expellant method for sampling earthworm populations using a compound found in many foods. Outreach: At present, my outreach activities primarily involve popular articles and presentations to lay audiences about soil ecology. Teaching: Although I do not teach any courses, I do give occasional guest lectures in Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES) courses.


Professional affiliations		Acarological Society of America Entomological Society of America Soil Ecology Society Systematic and Applied Acarology Society

Selected publications		Cabrera, A. R., R. A. Cloyd, and E. R. Zaborski. 2005. Development and reproduction of Stratiolaelaps scimitus (Womersley) (Acari: Laelapidae) with fungus gnat larvae (Diptera: Sciaridae), potworms (Oligochaeta: Enchytraeidae) or Sancassania sp. (Acari: Acaridae) as the sole food source. Experimental and Applied Acarology 36: 71�81. Zaborski, E. R., and R. A. Cloyd. 2004. Method for quantitative sampling of fungus gnat larvae in soilless growing media. Journal of Economic Entomology 97: 678-686. Zaborski, E. R. 2002. Allyl isothiocyanate: an alternative chemical expellant for sampling earthworms. Applied Soil Ecology 22: 87-95. Zaborski, E. R. 2002. Observations on feeding behavior by the terrestrial flatworm Bipalium adventitium (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Terricola) from Illinois. American Midland Naturalist 148: 401-408. Zaborski, E. R., L. A. Soeken Gittenger, and S. J. Roberts. 2001. A possible Phasmarhabditis sp. (Nematoda: Rhabditidae) isolated from Lumbricus terrestris (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae). Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 77(4): 284-287.

Program Affiliates		Catherine Eastman, Associate Professional Scientist


Education		PhD, Entomology, McGill University, 1995 BSc, Entomology, University of Guelph, 1985

Illinois Natural History Survey - University of Illinois

INRS State Scientific Surveys

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