CLEAR's Project 1 Team presents at national entomology conference

Dr. Glen Hood and Sarah Black, a Biology and Urban Sustainability PhD student with the CLEAR program, recently presented research about using plants and insects to detect VOCs in Detroit at the Entomological Society of American’s Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Hood presented a talk titled “Developing novel tools to screen for belowground chemical contaminants: insect-induced plant galls and their application in phytoscreening organic and inorganic pollutants with authors Glen Ray Hood, Kyotaek Hwang, Sarah Black, Connor Socrates, Shirley A. Papuga.

Sarah Black presented on "Ento-phyto-screening for organic contaminants: the use of insect-induced plant galls as a novel tool for tracking belowground belowground chemical contaminants with authors Sarah Black, Connor Socrates, Mike Sergeant, Shirley Papuga, Glen Ray Hood.

According to research done by the Project 1 team, insect-induced galls can be helpful in detecting pollution, including contaminants central to the CLEAR program like VOCs. Insects that can produce galls use their ability to create atypical growths on plants to feed themselves and their offspring, as well as creating shelter. According to Hood’s research, these growths also contain detectable levels of contamination from nearby soils. Aphids are a common example of insects that can produce plant galls.

You can read more about Dr. Hood & team's research here.