Every paper below comes with a plain-language summary — read the gist in seconds, then dig into the full abstract or the original article.
Soil is full of tiny organisms we usually can't study without slow, destructive lab work. We built an instrument and machine-learning pipeline that images, sorts, and identifies soil organisms automatically — telling apart live nematodes, dead nematodes, sub-species, and soil micro-arthropods with high accuracy.
Camila Filgueiras
Entomopathogenic nematodes are usually thought of as lethal parasites used to kill pest insects. We show that even when they don't kill, exposure can change how insects develop and their later risk of death — and that these effects depend strongly on the nematode strain.
Camila Filgueiras
As the environment changes, plant diseases emerge and spread in new ways. This primer shows how combining several 'omics' technologies — from genomics to volatile chemistry — can give a fuller picture of plant–microbe interactions and help predict and manage disease.
Camila Filgueiras
The lesser chestnut weevil is a growing threat to chestnut harvests with few control options. We documented the damage it causes and found that specific strains of beneficial nematodes — and fungi — can increase weevil-larva mortality, offering complementary biological-control approaches.
Camila Filgueiras
Cassius Guthrie
Harley Middleton
Evan Hausler
Plants use the salicylic acid pathway to defend themselves. We trace how switching on this single pathway ripples outward — changing the plant, the pests and pathogens attacking it, and even the predators that hunt those pests — and how that cascade could be harnessed for sustainable agriculture.
Camila Filgueiras
Treating a plant's leaves with a defense signal can summon beneficial nematodes to its roots. We show that spraying citrus leaves causes roots to release a specific scent (d-limonene) that attracts pest-killing nematodes belowground — even without any pest present.
Camila Filgueiras
To manage the lesser chestnut weevil, growers need to know when it appears. Using traps and soil microcosms, we found pyramid traps work best for monitoring, that populations peak late in the season, and that some weevils delay leaving the soil for more than a year.
Camila FilgueirasCassius Guthrie
Restoring blight-resistant hybrid chestnuts could bring this keystone tree back to Appalachia — but it also changes the insect life around it. We found hybridization altered insect communities above- and belowground, including striking differences in gall-wasp infestation that point to a genetic cause.
Camila Filgueiras
Abigail Levinson
Jaq ReedEvan Hausler
Beneficial nematodes find their insect prey by following scent cues through the soil — but soil isn't always the same. We tested how wet and dry conditions change how these nematodes respond to plant-released scents, with implications for using them as biocontrol in a changing climate.
Camila Filgueiras
Dana Frankenstein
Mac Luu
An everyday kitchen staple can do double duty in the garden. We found that spraying kale with diluted cow's milk reduced both powdery mildew and aphids — surprisingly by encouraging a beneficial fungus that parasitized the aphids.
Camila Filgueiras
Triggering a corn plant's defenses on its leaves can call in help underground. We show that aboveground treatment recruits beneficial nematodes to roots fed on by a major corn pest — a route to enhancing biological control by working with the plant's own signaling.
Camila Filgueiras