NEMA Lab

Natural Enemy Management and Applications

NEMA Lab Goals

The goal of NEMA Lab is to give the opportunity for students to develop experience with research and community engagement. NEMA Lab research focuses on understanding how insects interact with their environment and how to use that information to sustainably manage natural and agricultural systems. Our lab addresses these research questions through a combination of applied and basic research in the field and the lab. We also share our knowledge with the community through engagement and outreach activities.

Soil Ecology and Biodiversity

Soil is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth and is teeming with life. The NEMA lab develops new technologies to study this diversity and link soil diversity to ecosystem health.

Invertebrate Management

Insects and other invertebrates can be devastating pests of agricultural crops and forests. The NEMA Lab develops environmentally friendly biological control strategies to manage these pests.

Community Engagment

The NEMA Lab uses insects to connect K-12 students to STEM concepts through hands-on workshops, summer camps, and in-school visits.

In Partnership with Innovative Organizations

Invertebrate Management | Soil Biodiversity and Conservation

Smart SOD

The NEMA Lab is working with the California Institute for Biodiversity and collaborators in Europe on developing new capabilities for detecting, isolating, and quantifying organisms is the soil and in marine benthic communities. We use the Smart Soil Organism Detector to extract organisms directly from their substrate, separate them using flow cytometry, then identify and sort them for further study.

Organism Extraction and Sorting: The Smart SOD can extract organisms directly from substrate efficiently then sort them into well plates.
Machine Learning: Artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms are used to identify organisms processed by Smart SOD.
Collaboration: NEMA is working with collaborators in California to quantify soil biodiversity and collaborators in Europe to understand diversity in benthic communities and the influence of microplastics.

Community Engagement

Insects Everywhere

Insects Everywhere is a Burroughs Wellcome Funded program working to close the STEM achievement gap for Migrant Children in western North Carolina through an annual summer camp program, school-year field trips, and roundtable discussions that engage students in STEM concepts through the lens of insects, expose students to academic and career opportunities in STEM, and prepare students to meet the challenges facing them as they pursue higher education and STEM careers.

STEM Inquiry & Problem Solving: Insects Everywhere develops students’ scientific inquiry, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills through individual and team-based, experiential STEM activities.
Training in Technology: Insects Everywhere introduces students to cutting edge technology, scientific equipment, and instrumentation.
Preparing Students for the Future: Facilitate college and STEM career readiness events in which students and their families are provided with key information to enable student success
Preparing Students for the Future: Facilitate college and STEM career readiness events in which students and their families are provided with key information to enable student success

Invertebrate Management | Soil Biodiversity and Conservation

The Lesser of Two Weevils

Through recent hybridization efforts, blight resistant chestnuts are being planted across the eastern US. Accompanying this rise in chestnut trees is a resurgence in rapidly spreading pest: The Lesser Chestnut Weevil ( Curculio sayi ). NEMA Lab is working with The American Chestnut Foundation to understand the presence of this weevil on chestnut hybrids and understand how the new chestnut hybrids influence other insect communities as well.

Populations are Increasing: Populations of the Lesser Chestnut weevil can incease incredibly rapidly reaching 100% infestation in as little as two years potentially ruining harvests.
NEMA Lab is Developing Management for the Lesser Chestnut Weevil: At NEMA lab we are developing monitoring and biological control based techniques to control the Lesser Chestnut Weevil.
Interested? Read More...: See our recent publications on Monitoring and Biological Control of the Lesser Chestnut Weevil.

Community Engagement

All About Bugs

The NEMA Lab works with local schools and community organizations to bring STEM Education to K-12 students through the lens of insects. Using a variety of hands-on activities that engage all the senses, K-12 students engage with the fascinating world of insects while learning about ecology and evolution.

STEM Education Using Insects: K-12 students learn about concepts like ecology and evolution through hands-on activites with insects.
Student Led: All About Bugs is led and developed by UNC Asheville Undergraduates who are passionate about bugs and interested in pursuing careers in education.
Engaging Students across Western North Carolina: Working with community partners, we have engaged hundreds of students in All About Bugs events.

Invertebrate Management

Pollinators

The Bee Hotel, Pollinator Garden, and the Butterfly Garden at University of North Carolina at Asheville serve as a unique resource for both the university and the community to learn about the importance of insects and the interactions between them and the environment. Pollinating insects promote plant diversity, increase resilience and stability of ecosystems, and maintain reproductive success of a majority of flowering plants. The NEMA Lab works with native pollinators to improve their management.

Plant Pollinator Interactions: The NEMA lab is working to understand how pollinators interact with native plants in order to improve conservation efforts.
Native Pollinator Management: The NEMA lab is working with Bee Hotels to understand how different management practices can improve pollinator health.