<p> Hybrid poplars are a short rotation woody crop grown for a variety of target markets including paper pulp, saw timber, and biofuels in the Pacific Northwest. Development of pest control strategies within hybrid poplar plantations over the last several decades has focused on controlling foliar feeding herbivores and wood boring pests, and has overlooked the epigeal arthropod community. Understanding this unstudied suite of organisms would allow pest managers to better evaluate the impact their management strategies have on the poplar agroecosystem. Qualitative surveys of the arthropod communities in hybrid poplar plantations and nearby native habitats demonstrated that a greater arthropod diversity persists in the surrounding native areas. Additionally, the poplar plantation's epigeal arthropod community was composed of species found within sampled native areas. </p><p> Historically poplar research focused on protecting trees in the years following establishment through harvest from emerging pests while discounting cutting mortality by replanting areas of failure. Describing unrooted cutting transplant morality and distribution within newly established planting block could provide a risk assessment tool that growers could utilize to evaluate their potential crop loss. It was determined through the examination of damaged cuttings that several pests were responsible for diminishing establishment success. Identification of these risks led to the development of a management strategy to reduce mortality in newly planted areas. Soaking cuttings in imidacloprid for 48 hrs provided superior herbivore protection for unrooted cuttings until root formation allowed for uptake from chemigation treatments. </p><p> An additional study was motivated by the increased concern in growing `clear wood' as poplar has migrated from pulp to saw timber. The accompanying renewed interest in reducing insect galleries in mature trees led to the exploration of deploying a mass trapping, or trap out, effort to reduce populations of <i> Prionoxystus robiniae</i> (Lepidoptera Cossidae) in specific areas of a hybrid poplar plantation. We show that a trap out effort of roughly 5 pheromone-baited traps/ha decimated <i>P. robiniae</i> populations in treated areas throughout the trap out effort and three years post application.</p>

<p> Male katydids produce mating calls through stridulation to attract potential mates. Calls were recorded in the field and analyzed to compare between two related species that occur in overlapping ranges in the northwestern United States. Distinct differences were found between the two species' calls in both dominant frequency and chirp rate. Also, one species interspersed trills amongst the chirps of the call, while the other species' call did not include trills. These distinct call differences can be used for species identification and can be easier to differentiate than physical characteristics. </p><p> The upper limits of sexual selection can be estimated using upper limits on Bateman gradients, which represent how fecundity increases with additional mates. Upper limits on Bateman gradients are expected to be constrained by various factors such as nutrition. These upper limits were estimated using controlled mating experiments with katydids on high and low protein diets (as adults) by measuring how maximum fecundity (fecundity with ideal mates) increased with each mating. Decreases in both maximum fecundity and the potential for sexual selection were expected in males and females due to protein limitation. This would result from decreased potential fecundity in low protein females and decreased value of nuptial gifts given by low protein males. The results did not support our predictions as strongly as hoped, but a decrease in the upper limits of sexual selection was nearly significant in low protein males, evidenced by reduced fecundity gains from remating. Also, spermatophores (the katydid nuptial gift) had a more complicated effect on fecundity than expected. Spermatophore size differed between males' first and second matings, however, larger spermatophores did not always confer more value to females, particularly in second matings. </p><p> Stable isotope analysis was used to examine the lack of significant effects from differences in dietary protein on the upper limits of sexual selection in the previous experiment. Stable isotope ratios were analyzed for three body tissues to infer diet at different life stages by comparison with isotopic values from the foods. Results showed that animals on the low protein diet may have eaten more food to make up for their protein deficit, which would have confounded nutritional effects in the previous study. Sex differences in nutrient processing were present as would be expected if males and females experience different nutritional requirements for reproduction. Nutrient processing in exoskeleton varied across food treatments in males but not in females. This suggests that males experienced greater protein limitation than females and adjusted their nutrient processing accordingly. Further work is underway to determine how much of each type of food was consumed by individuals in different experimental treatments and during different life stages. </p>