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Extension Resources

• 3-D Insects → website
  See three dimensional virtual insects over the web. Developed by Alexi Sharov, these insects are fun to manipulate and very realistic.
  
  
• American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators Web Site → website
  The official web site of the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators (AAPSE). AAPSE is an international association of pesticide safety educators who work in government, educational institutions, and industry.
  
  
• Beekeeping at Virginia Tech → website
  Information on apiculture and social insect programs at Virginia Tech.
  
  
• Biological Control → website
  Biological control website created for the public
  
  
• Computer Workstations
  Several Apple and Intel-based computer work-stations, printers, scanners, and a copier are available for instruction and research in Room 300B. These facilities are available on a first come-first serve basis. Paper for the printers is not provided.
  
  
• Cotton Production Guide
  
  
  
• Department Shop
  This production shop includes many hand and power tools for creating and modifying equipment needed for teaching and research. Because of the hazards involved, the facility is restricted for use only by its manager, a highly skilled technician. Requests for services of the shop should be made through the Department Head or, for graduate students, through the student's Major Professor.
  
  
• Dodson Urban Pest Management Laboratory → website
  The Dodson Urban Pest Management Laboratory (DUPML) is an educational center that facilitates urban pest extension, research, and teaching. Currently, the DUPML is home to thousands of cockroaches, termites, ants, and bed bugs. These insects are the focus of a number of applied research projects that are intended to improve our ability to manage pests using the most effective, yet least toxic, methods available.
  
  
• Eastern Europe IPM CRSP → website
  The IPM CRSP is an international IPM effort supported by USAID, including several regional projects around the world. The Eastern European regional project deals with several high-value horticultural crops in Albania, Moldova and Ukraine. Doug Pfeiffer is the site chair. Site coordinators are Josef Tedeschini (Albania), Vladimir Todirash (Moldova), Olena Cholovska (Lviv Ukraine), Sasha Pleshko (Odesa Ukraine) and Kateryna Maslikova (Dnipropetrovsk Ukraine).
  
  
• Guide to Trees & Shrubs of Virginia → website
  This guide is intended to assist homeowners in the easy identification of trees and shrubs found throughout Virginia. It also provides characteristic information about the tree or shrub as well as information about the habitat.
  
  
• HRAREC Entomology lab → website
  
  
  
• Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Online Bibliography
  Warren Mays located and input all the content into this online site in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service
  
  
• Insect Identification Laboratory → website
  Easy to use keys and picture guides covering major groups of insect and mite pests in Virginia, including major pests of vegetables, ornamentals, Christmas trees, stored food, and households. Includes lists of fact sheets of common insect pests, and a printable form that can be used when submitting insect samples to your local county extension office. Also includes many images, illustrations, and links to related information.
  
  
• Journal of Pesticide Safety Education (electronic journal web site) → website
  The official scholarly peer reviewed journal of the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators (AAPSE).
  
  
• Online Database of Sampling Methodologies of Insect Pests for Forest and Shade Trees in North America
  A bibliography of all publications that provide a description of a sampling procedure for a specific forest or shade tree pest. A re-written summary of each article is included to help professionals more easily extract and use the sampling procedure developed and reported.
  
  
• Photographic Darkroom
  The Darkroom is available for use in preparing materials for research, teaching and extension activities. Because it is a shared facility, certain rules are necessary to protect the rights of persons using the darkroom. The set of rules posted in the darkroom are meant to form minimal guidelines for use of the darkroom.
  
  
• Price Hall
  Price Hall is one of the oldest buildings on campus. Completed nearly 100 years ago, it was originally the Agriculture Building. Later, it was dedicated to Harvey Price, and today, it houses the Department's main office, classrooms, research labs, and faculty offices. We share the building with the Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Sciences Department.
  
  
• Quarantine Laboratory
  A Beneficial Insect Quarantine Laboratory with an adjacent greenhouse is located at Prices Fork. It is used to screen insects with potential as biological control agents. This is a federally approved facility consisting of a single-story building with unique features which meet the specifications of USDA, APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services). It is currently being used for the evaluation of the host specificity of potential biological control agents of weeds. Access to this building is restricted to personnel directly involved in the on-going research and other authorized personnel.
  
  
• Southern Pine Beetle Internet Control Center → website
  A comprehensive dynamic website for the southern pine beetle that provides information, library, tools, access to experts, and calendar of events.
  
  
• State-Owned Vehicles
  Several trucks are assigned to faculty members of the department; other vehicles may be rented from the motor pool by the faculty. The following are guidelines for vehicle use:
  1. You must have a valid driver's license and be an employee of or be specifically authorized by the Department Head to drive a State-owned vehicle;
  2. Always observe speed limits and traffic laws. The driver is liable for any penalties resulting from traffic violations. The driver is also responsible for damage to vehicles resulting from negligence, misuse or abuse;
  3. If you have an accident, report it immediately to the Virginia State Police. An accident report must also be filed with;
  4. State-owned vehicles may not be used for personal transportation or hauling;
  5. Keep vehicles clean and lock them after use.
  6. Do not leave equipment in vehicles;
  7. Report mechanical malfunctions to the person in charge of the vehicle;
  8. Try to share rides and avoid unnecessary trips to maximize efficiency of vehicle use;
  9. The research program for which the vehicle was purchased has priority, but vehicles may be borrowed for other appropriate uses.
  
  
  
• Subterranean Termites: Biology and Management → website
  Subterranean termite treatment has changed dramatically over the last decade. The number of systems, application techniques and products available for termite control has tripled in just the last few years. Today, if a homeowner experiences a subterranean termite swarm, he or she may call four different pest control companies and receive four completely different treatment recommendations that range in price from $500-$2,500. The homeowner is in no position to compare the different treatments and in most cases the pest managment professional is only familiar with the treatment used by his or her company. So how can we help the homeowner make an informed decision? This webpage is intended to provide current termite treatment information about subterranean termite control. The two most widely used techniques of subterranean termite control (liquid termiticide application and baiting) are discussed, including application methods, mode of action and control attributes.
  
  
• The Genetic Stock Center for the German Cockroach
  

  The Virginia Tech Department of Entomology established this Genetic Stock Center to organize and maintain the results of years of research on the genetics of the German cockroach, its biology, cytogenetics, behavior and insecticide resistance.

  The center houses mutant stocks of the German cockroach and approximately 30 other cockroach species. It also contains equipment necessary to perform routine procedures such as sexing and phenotyping. A phase contrast photomicroscope and materials requisite to chromosome studies are also available.

  The stocks are a resource unique to Virginia Tech. They constitute the only formal genetics for a hemimetabolous insect. Also, they are needed to detect, understand, and utilize genetic variation in order to devise optimum control strategies, as well as in research on the genetics of insecticide resistance and other traits important to cockroach pest management.

  
  
  
• The Gypsy Moth STS Project Server → website
  The Gypsy Moth STS Project Information Server is the primary gateway to the information processing and distribution of population data collected from the ten states involved in the Slow the Spread Project.
  
  
• The Gypsy Moth Server → website
  Information on identification, biology, and control of gypsy moth, as well as summaries of research on the pest.
  
  
• Verbenone Suppression Tactic for the Southern Pine Beetle → website
  This website describes a new inhibitor-based suppression tactic (registered with EPA in 1999) for small- to moderate-sized southern pine beetle infestations. Its goal is to provide online training to resource managers to aid them in the operational application of the tactic. The workshop should be supplemented with field training.
  
  
• Virginia Fruit Web Site → website
  The Virginia Fruit Web Site contains timely information supporting the fruit industries in the mid-Atlantic area, emphasizing Virginia.
  
  
• Virginia IR-4 Program → website
  Virginia Tech Pesticide Programs is actively involved in providing information on minor use crops in the state to interested parties, such as the national IR-4 program. The IR-4 Minor Use Pest Control Clearance Program was established in 1963 by the state land-grant university agricultural experiment stations. IR-4 is a partnership between agricultural producers, land-grant universities, government, and chemical manufacturers. Today, IR-4 conducts research on chemical and biological pest controls. The purpose of IR-4 is to establish pest controls for minor use crops (commodities with low acreages nationally, i.e., fruits, vegetables, and other specialty uses). Minor crops represent about 40% of the total sales of U.S. agricultural producers. Because an investment in minor use pest control products presents little benefit to chemical manufacturers, IR-4 conducts the research necessary to register minor use labels. IR-4 has provided data to clear over 50% of the minor use registrations since 1970. Virginia IR-4 has historically been a very active program with five experiment stations around the state. IR-4 is important to Virginia's agricultural industry because ours is one of the more diverse industries in the United States.
  
  
• Virginia Tech Pesticide Programs → website
  As a clearinghouse for technical information on pesticides and other toxic chemicals, Virginia Tech Pesticide Programs serves the citizens of the Commonwealth through Virginia Cooperative Extension. We are located in Blacksburg, Virginia at Virginia Tech in the Department of Entomology. Our department is part of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. We provide educational opportunities and information to people who use pesticides as part of their livelihood, to consumers with questions about the use and impact of pesticides in their everyday lives, to students at Virginia Tech and at other institutions, and to decision-makers such as local, state and federal government regulators and legislators.
  
  
• West Africa Pesticide Programs → website
  This website allows pesticide residue chemists and pesticide safety educators who support agricultural activities in the West Africa region to network/communicate and share resources, including training materials.
  
  
• WhizID → website
  WhizID is web-based utility for creating interactive Diagnostic Systems on the WWW. It is probably best suited to identification problems, but can be used for almost any problem in which you want to lead a client to a particular piece of information through a question and answer session.
  
  

Department of Entomology Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231-6341 FAX: (540) 231-9131 Send Email Login