Research

Current research interests:

		Vegetation heterogeneity
		Ecotoxicology

		Population dynamics models
		Tropical insect ecology

Vegetation heterogeneity: herbivores and natural enemies Back to top

How do insects respond to differences in habitat vegetation structure, composition, and spatial scale? These questions are central to understanding both basic and applied aspects of many plant-animal interactions. Using field experiments and simple mathematical models, I have been exploring how vegetation diversity and spatial scale affect insect herbivores and natural enemies in agroecosystems.

Selected publications:

Banks, J.E., Sandvik, P., and L. Keesecker. 2007. Beetle (Coleoptera) and spider (Araneae) diversity in a mosaic of farmland, edge, and tropical forest habitats in western Costa Rica. The Pan-Pacific Entomologist 83(2): 152-160. [View/download article]

Banks, J.E. 2004. Divided culture: integrating agriculture and conservation biology. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2(10): 537-545. [View/download article]

Banks, J.E. and J.D. Stark. 2004. Aphid response to vegetation diversity and insecticide applications. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 103(3): 595-599. [DOI link to article]

Banks, J.E. and C.L. Yasenak. 2003. Effects of plot vegetation diversity and spatial scale on Coccinella septempunctata movement in the absence of prey. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 108:197-204. [DOI link to article]

Bommarco, R. and J.E. Banks. 2003. Scale as modifier in vegetation diversity experiments: effects on herbivores and predators. Oikos 102: 440-448. [DOI link to article]

Banks, J.E. 2003. Influence of plant diversity on herbivores and their natural enemies, In Koul, O. & G.S. Dhaliwal (eds.) Predators and Parasitoids (Advances in Biopesticide Research Series), Taylor & Francis, London. pp. 111-120. View Table of Contents

Rämert, B., Hellqvist, S., Ekbom, B., and J. E. Banks. 2001. Assessment of trap crops for Lygus spp. in lettuce. International Journal of Pest Management 47: 273-276.

Banks, J.E. 2000. Effects of weedy field margins on Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in a broccoli agroecosystem. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 76(2): 95-101. View/download article

Banks, J.E. 2000. Natural vegetation in agroecosystems: pattern and scale of heterogeneity. In Ekbom, B., M. Irwin & Y. Robert (eds.) Interchanges of insects between agricultural and surrounding landscapes. Kluwer Press, Dordrecht. pp. 215-229. View Table of Contents

Banks, J.E. 1999. Differential response of two agroecosystem predators, Pterostichus melanarius (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and Coccinella septempunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), to habitat composition and fragmentation scale manipulations. The Canadian Entomologist 131: 645-658. View/download article

Banks, J.E. and B. Ekbom. 1999. Modeling herbivore movement and colonization: pest management potential of intercropping and trap cropping. Agricultural and Forest Entomology 1:165-170. [DOI link to article]

Banks, J.E. 1998. The scale of landscape fragmentation influences herbivore response to vegetation heterogeneity. Oecologia 117(1/2): 239-246. [DOI link to article]

Ecotoxicology Back to top

The effects of toxicants such as pesticides and heavy metals on both target and non-target organisms were historically studied with little consideration of ecological factors such as population age-structure and sublethal effects. Together with Dr. John Stark, an environmental toxicologist from Washington State University (where I am also an Adjunct Faculty member in the Department of Entomology), I have been working on evaluating methodologies used in toxicological risk assessment. In particular, we have been examining the merits of considering population-level endpoints (as opposed to more traditional approaches such as use of the LC₅₀) in determining the effects of pesticides and other contaminants on biological populations and communities. In addition to conducting lab and field experiments, we have recently been collaborating with mathematicians from North Carolina State University, exploring the use of different mathematical models to describe population dynamics in risk assessment data.

Selected publications:

Banks, J.E., Dick, L.K., Banks, H.T., and J.D. Stark. 2008. Time-varying vital rates in ecotoxicology: selective pesticides and aphid population dynamics. Ecological Modelling. [DOI link to article]

Banks, H.T., Banks, J.E., Joyner, S.L., and J.D. Stark. 2007. Dynamics models for insect mortality due to exposure to pesticides. Center for Research in Scientific Computation Report, North Carolina State University. [View/download report]

Stark, J.D., Vargas, R., and J.E. Banks. 2007. Incorporating ecologically relevant measures of pesticide effect for estimating the compatibility of pesticides and biocontrol agents. Journal of Economic Entomology 100: 1027-1032. [DOI link to article]

Kramarz, P., Banks, J.E., and J.D. Stark. 2007. Density-dependent response of the pea aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) to imidacloprid. Journal of Entomological Science 42: 200-206. [View/download article]

Banks, H.T., Banks, J.E., Dick, L.K., and J.D. Stark. 2005. Estimation of dynamic rate parameters in insect parameters in insect populations undergoing sublethal exposure to pesticides. Center for Research in Scientific Computation Report, North Carolina State University. [View article/download report]

Adams, B.M., Banks, H.T., Banks, J. E. and J.D. Stark. 2005. Population dynamics models in plant-insect herbivore-pesticide interactions. Mathematical Biosciences 196: 39-64. [DOI link to article]

Banks, J.E. and J.D. Stark. 2004. Aphid response to vegetation diversity and insecticide applications. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 103(3): 595-599. [DOI link to article]

Stark, J.D., Banks, J.E.,and R. Vargas. 2004. How risky is risk assessment? The role that life history strategies play in susceptibility of species to pesticides and other toxicants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101(3):732-736. [View/download article]

Stark, J.D., Banks, J.E. and S. Acheampong. 2004. Estimating susceptibility of biological control agents to pesticides: influence of life history strategies and population structure. Biological Control 29: 392-398. [DOI link to article]

Stark, J.D. and J.E. Banks. 2003. Population-Level Effects of Pesticides and Other Toxicants on Arthropods. Annual Review of Entomology. 48: 505-519. [DOI link to article]

Stark, J.D. and J.E. Banks. 2001. “Selective pesticides”: are they less hazardous to the environment? BioScience 51: 980-982. [DOI link to article]

Stark, J.D. and J.E. Banks. 2001. The toxicologists’s and ecologists’ point of view – unification through a demographic approach. In Kammenga R. & R. Laskowski (eds.) Demography in Ecotoxicology. Wiley & Sons. [View Table Of Contents]

Banks, J.E. and J.D. Stark. 2000. The interplay of pesticides and agroecosystem diversity. Pesticide Outlook 11(2): 48-50. [View/download article]

Banks, J.E. and J.D. Stark. 1998. What is ecotoxicology? An ad-hoc grab bag or an interdisciplinary science? Integrative Biology 5:1-9. [DOI link to article]

Mathematical models of population dynamics Back to top

I am interested in how factors such as competition and disturbance interact with life history traits to affect population dynamics for a variety of organisms, with a focus on applications to agriculture and conservation. I am currently working on a few collaborative projects that incorporate mathematical models and experimental field data.

Selected publications:

Banks, H.T, Banks, J.E., Joyner, S.L., and J.D. Stark. 2008. Dynamic models for insect mortality due to exposure to insecticides. Mathematical and Computer Modelling 48: 316-332. . [DOI link to article]

Banks, H.T., Banks, J.E., Dick, L.K., and J.D. Stark. 2007. Estimation of dynamic rate parameters in insect parameters in insect populations undergoing sublethal exposure to pesticides. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 69: 2139-2180. [DOI link to article]

Banks, J.E. 1997. Do imperfect tradeoffs affect the extinction-debt phenomenon? Ecology 78(5): 1597-1601. [DOI link to article]

Holmes, E.E., Lewis, M.A., Banks, J.E., and D. Veit. 1994. Partial differential equations in ecology: spatial interactions and population dynamics. Ecology 75(1): 17-29.[DOI link to article]

Tropical insect ecology Back to top

How much do less-than-pristine agricultural areas contribute to biodiversity conservation in the tropics? Together with UW students from the Seattle and Tacoma campuses, I have been sampling arthropod diversity on farmland and adjacent tropical forest fragments in a rural farming village in Puriscal county, Costa Rica, a few hours west and south of San Jose. I'm particularly interested in how farm and near-farm habitats may affect insect diversity in ways that may benefit both farms and conservation. Furthermore, we have also conducted some samples in nearby La Cangreja National Park, Costa Rica's newest national park (established in 2002). By comparing arthropod diversity among these different habitats, we hope to better understand the role different habitats in landscapes traditionally regarded as "marginal" (such as agroecosystems) may play in terms of both production and conservation.

I have recently begun a collaboration with scientists from Earthwatch Institute and coffee growers in the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica in order to better understand the importance of sustainable growing practices on both the environment and human communities involved in the cultivation process. My focus in this project is on comparing arthropod biodiversity across a wide range of coffee grower practices and landscape characteristics.

Further north, I have also recently started a new project in a seasonal semi-evergreen tropical forest at Kaxil Kiuic, a biocultural reserve in the Puuc region of Yucatan. Along with UWT undergraduate Levi Keesecker, I am collaborating with Dr. Juan Manuel Dupuy, of the Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán (CICY), trying to determine how arthropod diversity changes and interacts with different stages of forest succession.

Selected Publications:

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