<p>The United States is ranked third for global pork production as well as first in pork exports according to the USDA Economic Research Service in 2019. The majority of the commercial pork production in the United States applies some form of confinement system with environmentally adapted facilities. However, with information and easy media access to the US consumers, news and reports on different farming practices and potential issues in the animal industry have come under the spotlight. Consumers are becoming more interested in knowing what goes on behind the scenes of the commercial animal industry and where and how their food is produced. Whether it is due to personal beliefs, ethical concerns, novelty-seeking, eating experience, or choice of lifestyle, consumers are demanding diversity in their meat purchasing options. Although the commercial pork industry has shifted to fewer and larger farms in the last 40 years, small specialty farms such as heritage breed pork are on the rise to form a niche market. Large Black pig is a pasture-raised heritage breed originating in England, and it remains one of the rarest British pig breeds. Due to differences in husbandry, pasture-raised Large Black pigs consume a relatively high forage diet compared to corn-based diet used in commercial swine production. Although heritage pork has been lauded to have unique and superior quality, enhanced eating experience, and is often sold at a premium price, there are very little data on pork quality of Large Black pig compared to Duroc-sired breeds which are commonly used in commercial pork production. The purpose of this study is to fill the dearth and investigate differences in pork processing characteristics between commercial Duroc-sired and Large Black genetic lines fed high forage or commercial diets.</p><p> The study contained a total of 50 pigs: 25 Duroc-sired (DS) and 25 Large Black sired (LB) pigs. After all the pigs were weighed, the pigs were randomly assigned with heavy and light weights as blocks to two dietary treatments: Fiber (FIB) and Control (CON); and the feeding trial lasted a total of 126 days. There were 14 Large Black pigs fed fiber diet (LB FIB); 11 Large Black pigs fed control diet (LB CON); 14 Duroc-sired pigs fed fiber diet (DS FIB) and 11 Duroc-sired pigs fed control diet (DS CON). Pigs were fed either a control Corn-Soybean Meal-DDGS based diet or a high fiber diet with wheat middlings and dehydrated alfalfa meal replacing corn and soybean meal in the control diet. Diets were fed over six 21 days phases with fibrous ingredient levels increasing from 8.5 to 30 percent of the diet with sequential dietary phase from 1 to 6. Pigs were harvested at a common age with some variations in body weight between genetics (DS 125 ± 2.23 kg, LB 99 ± 2.28 kg; <i>P</i> < 0.001). Individual batches of 80% lean : 20% fat sausage patties with seasoning (136g per patty) were made from the shoulder of each pork carcass. PVC packaging was applied to each batch of sausage patties. Fat smear was noted on day 0 with a fat smear scale of 1 (excessive far smearing) to 8 (clear fat particle definition). Color parameters that include lightness (L*), redness (a*), yellowness (b*), and lipid oxidation (2-Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, TBARS) due to retail display effect were measured at days 0, 3, and 7 by placing packaged sausage patties under the retail display lighting. Boneless bellies were removed and weighed (fresh weight) from each pig and measurements for belly thickness, length, and firmness were recorded. Fresh bellies were injected to 110% fresh weight, thermally processed (62°C), and cooled (1°C internal temperature). Cooked weight was obtained before slicing. Belly processing yield was calculated as a percentage using (cooked weight / fresh weight) x 100. Adobe Photoshop was used to perform visual image analysis for bacon slice length (SL; cm), slice area (SA; cm²), and slice lean area (LA; %), one 0.64 cm bacon slice was obtained from 25, 50, and 75% distance respectively from the blade end of each cooked bellies for the analysis. RStudio (1.2.1335) was used to analyze data with breed and diet as fixed effects and least square means separated at (<i>P</i> < 0.05).</p><p> Results showed that only diet was significant for patty fat smear (<i>P </i>= 0.0104), CON patties had better particle definition than FIB patties. Difference for patty color L* (<i>P </i>= 0.0051), a* (<i>P </i>< 0.0001) and b* (<i>P </i>< 0.0001) were found for days of retail display. Breed was significant in L* (<i>P </i>< 0.0001) and a* (<i>P </i>< 0.0001) with DS patties being lighter and less red than LB patties. Days under retail display (<i>P </i>< 0.0001) and breed x diet interaction (<i>P </i>= 0.0014) were found in lipid oxidation. DS CON had the least amount of lipid oxidation throughout retail display time. Breed and diet were significant for both belly thickness and length. LB (<i>P </i>= 0.0263) and CON (<i>P </i>< 0.0001) bellies were thicker than DS and FIB bellies respectively. DS (<i>P </i>< 0.0001) and CON (<i>P </i>= 0.0045) bellies were longer than LB and FIB bellies respectively. A breed x diet interaction (<i>P </i>= 0.0527) was observed in belly firmness and LB CON had the firmest bellies. Processing yield was found to be greater in DS bellies (<i>P </i>= 0.0014) than LB bellies. Breed effect had a tendency (<i>P </i>= 0.065) on SL, DS slices were longer. CON had greater SA (<i>P </i>< 0.0048) than FIB slices. DS slices had significantly higher LA (<i>P </i>< 0.0001) than LB slices.</p> The study provided novel insights into the differences in processing characteristics between the DS and LB genetic lines as well as the effect of diet on each breed. Results such as thicker and firmer belly, lower LA in LB were expected since LB is a minor swine breed that has not undergone intense genetic selection for percent lean meat. Overall, each breed had a better product when fed their accustomed diet (FIB for LB, CON for DS) such as less lipid oxidation in sausage patties for DS CON compared to LB CON. Although LB fits into the niche market of heritage breed pork, future studies in management systems, processing methods, and genetic improvement should be considered to improve product quality to better meet modern consumer demands.

<p>Silver carp (<i>Hypophthalmichthys molitrix</i>)<b> </b>are an underutilized, invasive fish threatening native species throughout major water systems in the United States. The goal of this research was to use silver carp meat to create a value-added product, to analyze the changes in physicochemical structure and consumer liking over time, and to evaluate the benefits of adding soy, pea, and a combination of soy and pea protein isolates to the formulations. Fish nuggets were prepared from minced meat in four treatments consisting of 3% soy protein isolate (SPI), 3% pea protein isolate (PPI), a combination of 1.5% SPI and 1.5% PPI, and a control without plant protein isolate. Nuggets from each treatment were stored frozen for 1.5, 8.5, and 13.5 weeks. Proximate composition, pH, cook loss, textural hardness, expressible moisture, color, microbial counts and lipid oxidation were evaluated. Sensory acceptability was also evaluated for each frozen storage time period and treatment. A descriptive (QDA^™) trained sensory panel was also conducted on all treatments independent of the storage testing. Results showed that lipid oxidation and textural hardness significantly (P < 0.05) increased with frozen storage time. PPI had significantly lower expressible moisture compared to the control at week 1.5, but there were no statistically significant differences between treatments at weeks 8.5 and 13.5. Similarly, formulations with PPI improved (p<0.05) cook loss for week 1.5, but not week 8.5 or 13.5. Overall, sensory acceptability did not change (P > 0.05), with the exception of decreased degree of liking scores for SPI aroma (p=0.03) and flavor (p=0.03)) during the frozen storage period; all degree of liking scores remained above 6.5 throughout analysis, indicating that consumers’ acceptability of the sample treatments over time despite the changes in physicochemical structure. The descriptive panel created an attribute lexicon for the aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel of the fish nuggets and did not find significant differences in intensities for those attributes between the treatments. Although there were measurable changes in oxidation, texture, expressible moisture, and cook loss over 13.5 weeks, these changes did not impact sensory acceptance. The addition of protein isolates improved water holding capacity initially but did not maintain those benefits over extended shelf life and had little impact on consumer liking during any time period. Overall, this study demonstrated that value-added products such as silver carp nuggets can be created using an otherwise under-utilized fish. The fish nuggets had high sensory acceptability, and the addition of protein isolates did not significantly improve their sensory characteristics; therefore, silver carp nuggets can be formulated without the need of additional protein additives .</p>

<p>Fruits play a necessary role in the human diet, and their cultivation is important to the prosperity of any country worldwide. However, fruit waste generated in large quantities in agricultural value chain is normally used to feed animals or directly disposed to landfill, ending up with low economic value and a heavy environmental burden. Agricultural waste that contains significant amounts of bioactive compounds can be utilized as byproducts and valorized through bioactives recovery. Conventional bioactive compounds extraction includes intensive uses of organic solvents and also has relatively low efficiency. Therefore, an environment-friendly alternative with higher extraction efficiency is needed. Cold plasma can convert gaseous medium to a highly reacting state with low energy cost, generating reactive species that are able to disrupt cell structures as well as modify material surfaces. This study has developed an innovative cold plasma-assisted extraction technology to enhance the recovery of bioactive compounds from fruit processing byproducts. The objectives of this study are to examine the effects of dielectric barrier discharge plasma on fruit pomaces, in terms of (i) surface microstructure and properties, (ii) extraction efficiency of their bioactive compounds, and (iii) bioactives composition and nutritional value of their extracts.</p><p>High voltage atmospheric cold plasmas (HVACP) generated with different working gases (air, argon, helium and nitrogen) were applied on tomato pomace (TP). In addition to creating ruptures on TP epidermal cells, HVACP treatments were found to decrease the water contact angles of tomato peels and accelerate the drying of tomato fruits, indicating the formation of more hydrophilic surfaces. Helium and nitrogen plasmas-treated TP showed increased PC extraction yields by 10%, and all HVACP-treated samples exhibited higher AA and changes in their phenolic compositions.</p><p>Grape pomace (GP) from red wine production was treated by helium-HVACP for different time periods (5, 10 and 15 min). Similar cell structure disruption and surface hydrophilicity enhancement were observed, and the effects became more significant as treatment extended. HVACP treatment also increased the total phenolic content in GP extracts, by 10.9−22.8%, which contained a higher anthocyanin concentration and showed an improved AA (16.7−34.7%). Furthermore, competitive effects of HVACP treatment on PC extractability enhancement and their degradation were observed.</p><p>The results of this study have proved that HVACP-assisted extraction successfully improved the extraction efficiency of bioactive compounds from fruit pomace and enhanced the nutritional quality of their extracts. This novel technology is a promising method for valorizing different agriculture byproducts into functional food ingredients and nutraceuticals with high nutritional values, which thus can bring significant economic benefits to the agricultural, food and nutraceutical industries.</p>

<p>The most common food and supplement prebiotic fiber is inulin – most commonly extracted from chicory root. Fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) is a smaller version of inulin, both containing mainly fructose units with β-1,2 linkages. FOS/inulin has been used, and studied, as a prebiotic for decades. The potential of alternative prebiotics intrinsic in whole foods, such as in tubers, grains, vegetables, and pulses – the world’s most common staple crops – are not as commonly recognized as prebiotics, though have this potential if fermentable in the gut. If such alternative sources of prebiotic ingredients could be established it would allow for cheaper, possibly more effective, and more diverse food product development options beyond FOS/inulin. </p> <p>This study demonstrates the potential of tubers, grains, and pulses as prebiotics in relation to their <i>in vitro</i> human fecal fermentation rate, short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production, and microbiota indicators of alpha diversity and impact on key bacterial genera. Fecal samples were obtained from three diverse healthy human donors and used as the initial bacterial inoculum to simulate conditions in the human gut (colon). Substrates (n=35), after undergoing an upper gastrointestinal tract simulated digestion, were fermented by each individual donors’ inoculum separately, and measurements after 6, 12, and 24 h of fermentation were made on gas production, SCFA metabolite production, and microbiome composition. </p> <p>The results of this study establish high fermentability and potential prebiotic effects of dietary fibers from tubers, grains, and pulses. Whole foods, ground and cooked the same way, produced dietary fibers that were largely insoluble, but surprisingly fermentable with high SCFA levels, mostly slow fermentation profiles indicating high tolerability, and mostly promoting diverse microbiota responses compared to FOS. Generally, whole food fibers had higher fermentability than similar isolated fibers. Overall, the processing steps, such as atmospheric or pressure cooking, tested in some pulses did not detract, or add to, the prebiotic abilities of the substrates. Each food fiber substrate had unique effects on the gut microbiota parameters tested. Gut microbiome compositional responses to the same substrate varied significantly among the three donors, but notably SCFA metabolite responses were similar among donors. </p>

<p>Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have been an essential tool for field scouting, nutrient applications, and farm management. However, assessing the aerial images captured by UAS is labor-intensive, and human assessment can be misleading, introducing bias. Deep learning based image segmentation has been proposed to assist in segmenting different areas of interest in the field, but it usually requires significant pixel-level annotated data. To address this, we propose a semi-supervised learning algorithm, AgSemSeg, to train a robust image segmentation</p> <p>model with less annotated data. Semi-supervised semantic segmentation aims to predict accurate pixel-level segmentation results via incorporating unlabeled images. Existing methods rely on computing the consistency loss on the output predictions between pseudo-labels and unlabeled images. In AgSemSeg, we exploit the intermediate feature representations rather than only using the output predictions to improve the overall performance of the</p> <p>model. Specifically, we add a projection layer on the output of the backbone encoder, and inject consistency loss between intermediate feature representations with Sliced-Wasserstein distance. We evaluate AgSemSeg using Agriculture-Vision dataset and outperform the supervised baseline by up to 9.71%. We also evaluate AgSemSeg on benchmark datasets such as PASCAL VOC 2012 and Cityscapes datasets, and it outperforms supervised baselines by up to 24.6% and 7.5% mIoU, respectively. We also perform extensive ablation studies to show that our proposed components are key to the performance improvements of our method. </p>

<p>  </p> <p>The Eastern Hellbender (<em>Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis</em>) is a fully aquatic salamander found throughout the eastern United States. Hellbenders require cool, fast-moving rivers and streams with flat rock substrates for shelter. Due to habitat degradation and anthropogenic changes across landscapes, Hellbenders have required intervention programs to reduce extirpation and extinction risks. Over 5000 Hellbenders are found in captive-rearing and breeding programs throughout 15 different states. However, captive-rearing standards vary from facility to facility. </p> <p>Currently, Hellbender captive-rearing programs are based on established zoo guidelines that recommend rearing in traditional glass aquaria until they reach releasable mass (~60 g) at approximately three years of age. To achieve releasable size, the guidelines provide density and food availability requirements based on the amount of available floor space of the enclosure. Unfortunately, because these guidelines lack empirical data, it is unclear whether these recommendations are optimizing captive-rearing efforts for Hellbenders and, therefore, optimizing conservation potential. </p> <p>There is an overall lack of available information on housing conditions and requirements for Hellbenders outside of intraspecies aggression or cannibalism. Because many facilities use different types of housing conditions, there is substantial variation in the time needed to achieve the release size threshold. Our objectives were to: 1) understand how different raceway sizes impact growth rates of juvenile Hellbenders and 2) understand the effects of density and food availability on larval Hellbender growth. Both of these goals will allow us to develop optimal housing and husbandry standards and optimizing conservation potential within rearing facilities. Our study will build on our current knowledge of Hellbender captive-rearing techniques and provide empirical data to create optimal rearing standards nationwide. </p>

<p>  </p> <p>Fouling is a severe problem for food processing equipment, including heat exchanger, filtration system, etc., which can decrease heat transfer efficiency, increase pressure drop, and affect food quality and safety. To ensure process efficiency and product quality, regular cleaning is necessary. On manufacturing lines in the food industry, cleaning is usually performed by cleaning-in-place (CIP) operations, which mainly comprise water rinse, alkaline wash and acid wash steps. Although CIP can ensure uniform cleaning of equipment, lower costs associated with labor and plant downtime, and improve personnel safety, it consumes large amounts of energy, chemicals and water and thus affects the environmental sustainability.</p> <p>Microbubbles (MBs) are fine gas bubbles with very different physicochemical properties from millimeter-sized bubbles, including longer residence time in liquid, higher mass transfer rate, larger surface-area-to-volume ratio, and generation of free radical when bubbles collapse. In addition, MBs feature hydrophobic liquid-gas interface, allowing hydrophobic and amphipathic substances to attach to and spread on bubble surfaces. MBs have been used in cleaning processes, such as oil flotation and fresh produce washing; however, their applications in CIP operations in food processing have not been explored.</p> <p>The objective of this dissertation is to develop a novel CIP operation with the incorporation of MBs for cleaning of food processing equipment. MBs were incorporated into rinsing water to clean milk deposit fouled on heat transfer surface. A computational fluid dynamics model was built to predict the contact frequency of MBs with deposit and further identify the flow conditions that provided maximum MB-deposit contact. Moreover, MBs were confirmed to be able to attach to milk deposit by microscopic imaging. Rinsing with MB-incorporated water noticeably enhanced the deposit removal at Re of 4392 and 5403, by 27−31%. For cleaning of microfiltration membrane reversibly fouled by palm oil-in-water emulsions as model wastewater, although adding MBs into alkaline wash increased the membrane flux recovery by 235%, increasing the crossflow velocity of MB-incorporated liquid did not guarantee the enhancement in cleaning performance. Lastly, a MB-assisted full CIP process was tested on an ultrafiltration system used for milk concentration. MB-assisted CIP showed an increased cleaning efficiency with up to 72% higher flux recovery than conventional CIP, and alkaline wash with MBs added was the major step accounting for enhanced protein removal.</p> <p>Overall, this dissertation proves the effectiveness of MBs in cleaning of different types of food deposits, and provides groundwork knowledge of MB incorporation into CIP operations for different food processing equipment. The results are expected to guide the scale-up of MB-assisted CIP processes that can reduce the water and chemical usage in food manufacturing sectors, ultimately improving both economic and environmental sustainability of the food industry.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Dietary fibers have been observed to modulate the gut microbiome in ways that prevent and moderate human diseases and confer health benefits onto their human host. How dietary fibers do this is through their structure; gut microbes are equipped with a variety of differ- ent carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) that allow some to hydrolyze glycosidic bonds, thereby utilizing the dietary fiber. The more complex the dietary fiber, the more diverse the maintained gut microbiota may be, as specialist species may be required for complete hydrol- ysis. Therefore, increasing structural complexity of dietary fibers may increase gut microbial diversity and help prevent diseases. To understand if structural features impact the gut mi- crobiome, a set of resistant glucans varying in structures, including mixed-linkage -glucans, resistant maltodextrins (similar to type IV resistant starch) and polydextroses, which are comprised entirely of glucose, were used as substrates in an in vitro sequential batch fermen- tation using fecal microbiota form three healthy donors as inocula. I measured metabolic outputs, growth curves, and community structures by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, which I analyzed for through alpha and beta diversity differences and taxa that overrepresented and increased in each treatment. My results show that, depending on the donor and the resistant glucan, structure does significantly impact the concentrations of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and other metabolites that are produced. Resistant glucan structure also impacts alpha and beta diversity to a degree and linear discriminant analysis (by LEfSe) results also support that specific species have preference towards substrates as well. Next, resistant glucans were supplemented into a high-fat diet, and compared these diets to a low- fat diet (LFD), high-fat diet with cellulose (HFD), and high-fat without cellulose (HWC) in a mouse study using C57BL/6J mice over 4 weeks. Increasing microbial diversity will not only increase diversity in the gut microbiome, but it will also provide protective effects in behavior such as helping to prevent anxiety. I measured weight, metabolic outputs, 16S community structure, changes in alpha and beta diversity, and differential abundances of OTUs and taxa by discriminant analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) and Metastats, and anxiety behaviors using open field and light/dark box tests. Microbial community structure was significantly different in treatment groups from controls. Anxiety for mice in tapioca dextrin 01 (TD01), tapioca dextrin 03 (TD03), and resistant maltodextrin (RMF) treatment groups were gen- erally increased, suggesting that the chemical structure of these resistant dextrins may alter the gut microbiome in ways that may influence behavior.</p><p dir="ltr">My overall results support the hypothesis that the fine structural features of dietary fibers do significantly impact the gut microbiome by selecting for specific microbiota, and may even impact cognition and behavior.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Understanding the nonlinear rheological properties of food is essential for improving processes involving large-amplitude deformation such as pumping, extrusion, and consumer consumption. The development of mathematical analyses for analyzing these nonlinear responses has witnessed a notable upswing in the past decades. A novel mathematical analysis called "Sequence of Physical Processes" (SPP) was developed by Rogers et al. in 2011. Ever since, SPP has shown tremendous potential in characterizing and predicting the nonlinear rheological behavior of soft materials and polymers, yet more investigations are required to validate the efficacy of the SPP approach in the realm of food materials. Therefore, this thesis focuses on applying SPP method onto a range of food materials. Most importantly, we compared the analysis with the results obtained from the well-established Ewoldt-McKinley method of coupling “Fourier Transform with Chebyshev Decomposition” (FTC). As a result, it is found that SPP can provide a detailed picture of the material’s deformation history within an oscillation cycle. The time-dependent nature of SPP data allows a more accurate capture of important rheological transitions, which leads to a higher correlation with compositional and microstructural changes in comparison to the FTC method. Recognizing the potential of SPP analysis in studying food materials, this research emphasizes the necessity for further exploration across a diverse array of food types. The thesis contributes valuable insights to the evolving landscape of nonlinear rheological understanding, with the potential to improving methodologies in food processing.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Specialty crop growers in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada have been struggling for decades to manage the carrot weevil (<i>Listronotus oregonensis</i>). In carrot, parsley, and celery production, growers may experience 40-100% yield loss, despite the intensive use of insecticides (Boivin, 1999; Jasinski, 2008; Telfer et al., 2019). To improve sustainable management of this native pest in commercial vegetable production, we must address existing knowledge gaps in carrot weevil mate-finding behavior, population genetic diversity and gene flow, and grower adoption and efficacy of integrated pest management (IPM) strategies, like cultivar selection, to combat this pest. To date, these factors have not been evaluated in the carrot weevil system, yet together they have significant implications for developing novel monitoring tools, grower decision making, and the potential evolution of insecticide resistance in this damaging pest.</p><p dir="ltr">To address knowledge gaps in grower adoption and the efficacy of IPM strategies, such as cultivar selection, I investigated the influence of carrot cultivar on the oviposition preference of carrot weevil in the laboratory and quantified the diversity of insect assemblages on carrots in Ohio and Indiana. In tandem, I delivered an online survey to specialty crop growers in Indiana and Ohio to measure their knowledge and use of insect-resistant cultivars as a part of an IPM strategy. I found that carrot cultivar did not impact carrot weevil oviposition preference, but rather the number of petiole trichomes was positively correlated with the cumulative number of egg scars found on a given carrot cultivar. Similarly, cultivar did not influence the diversity of insect assemblages associated with carrot foliage, but hemipterans were the dominant group found across cultivars. Moreover, insect diversity across all carrot cultivars was high, with Shannon-Weiner diversity indices ranging from 2.14 to 2.45.</p><p dir="ltr">I analyzed survey responses from vegetable growers regarding their knowledge, current use, and future use of insect-resistant cultivars and found no significant differences between conventional or organic growers, in either Indiana or Ohio, or across experience levels regarding their knowledge and current or future use of insect-resistant cultivars. Although a greater number of organic growers were aware of insect-resistant cultivars, they were not incorporated into their IPM plans. In contrast, half of responding conventional growers indicated implementing insect-resistant cultivars in current IPM plans. Growers indicated that more information about the efficacy, costs, and benefits of insect-resistant vegetable cultivars would be most helpful in informing their decision to incorporate this IPM tactic on their farms.</p><p dir="ltr">To address knowledge gaps regarding carrot weevil mate-finding behavior, I investigated behavioral response to conspecific frass using Y-tube bioassays and the volatiles of frass samples were analyzed using gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) as starting points to assess the presence of volatile chemical cues that might function as sex or aggregation pheromones. I found that male and female weevils oriented strongly towards volatiles from male frass. However, conspecifics were not attracted to mixed or female frass, suggesting male frass contains behaviorally relevant chemical cues that are unique or present in greater abundance than in female frass. When I analyzed the chemical abundance and composition of the male frass volatiles, I found 16 common compounds across all samples and no compounds were unique to the male volatile blend. Specifically, (1S)-6,6-dimethyl-2-methylene-Bicyclo[3.1.1]heptane and (1R)-2,6,6-Trimethylbicyclo[3.1.1]hept-2-ene were present in significantly higher abundance in extracts of males frass compared to those of female frass.</p><p dir="ltr">Finally, to address knowledge gaps in the genetic diversity and gene flow of carrot weevil populations in the Great Lakes Region of the U. S., I used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to compare genetic diversity and structure of agricultural populations of carrot weevil in Michigan and Ohio. I found limited genetic differentiation between three carrot weevil populations collected from celery and parsley fields located in Michigan and Ohio. I also found high inbreeding coefficients and heterozygote deficiency in all populations, suggesting that all carrot weevil populations are locally confined. These results suggest significant gene flow between populations, which has implications for management, specifically the mitigation and management of insecticide resistance.</p><p dir="ltr">Together, the results from my dissertation can be applied to the improvement of carrot weevil IPM across the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. Further investigations into the impact of physical characteristics, specifically petiole trichomes, on carrot weevil oviposition behavior can inform the breeding and development of resistant carrot cultivars. Results from my behavioral bioassay studies represent a critical first step towards the identification of an aggregation or sex pheromone, which would greatly improve detection of resident carrot weevil populations when used in conjunction with current monitoring traps. My results also suggest that monitoring and mitigation of insecticide resistance in carrot weevil populations should be considered at the regional scale, at minimum, with significant gene flow between carrot weevil populations within the Great Lakes Region.</p>