A
subsidiary page of The Radar Entomology
Web
Site.
The first part of this page provides background information about research groups and individual researchers currently active in radar entomology. Contact information for individual members of these groups is provided through links to The Radar Entomology On-line Addressbook, while postal addresses and fax numbers are given here.
The second part gives brief accounts of organisations that have contributed to the development of radar entomology but are no longer active in the field. The third part lists some of the most important collaborating organisations.
Use your browser's search facility (e.g. Edit/Find in Page... [<ALT>-E, F] in Netscape Communicator) to search for particular names.
Missing information is denoted by "xx". If you can supply the required details, please advise Alistair Drake at a.drake@adfa.edu.au .
ASoP. The School of Physical,
Environmental and Mathematical Sciences at UNSW@ADFA (The University of New South Wales
at the Australian Defence Force
Academy) in Canberra, Australia has a group concentrating on
development and application of Insect
Monitoring Radars. Principal radar-entomology scientist: Alistair Drake. PhD student: Haikou Wang. Collaboration is principally with the Australian Plague Locust Commission, the University of
New England Insect Pest Management Group, and the Department of Plant Protection of Nanjing
Agricultural University. This group developed from the CSIRO radar program when the latter
closed in the early 1990s.
School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, A.C.T. 2600, Australia.
(61)-2-62688020 (AD), (61)-2-62688785 (School Secretary)
(61)-2-62688786
CAAS. The Institute of Plant Protection of the
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, based in Beijing, commenced
observations with a scanning entomological radar in summer 1999. This
new entomological radar is being used in a research program on the
migration of the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera in North
China. Principal scientists: Kongming Wu
(head of program), Dengfa Cheng. Hongqiang Feng completed a
radar-entomology PhD with this group, and continues to collaborate from
his new position at the Henan Academy of
Agricultural Sciences in Zhengzhou.
wukm@mail.east.net.cn (KMW).
Cranfield
University (formerly Cranfield Institute of Technology, CIT) at Cranfield, Bedfordshire, U.K. was the
home of the highly innovative group led by the late G.W. (Glen)
Schaefer, radar entomology's pioneer, until his death in 1986 (Rainey 1986). Cranfield retains an
interest in the field, especially for airborne entomological radars and
signal processing methods. Principal radar-entomology staff working at
Cranfield: Stephen Hobbs and Keith
Allsopp.
UNBECE. The
Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton,
Canada has developed a portable harmonic radar and diode tags for
tracking
pest and beneficial insects. The research is being undertaken in
collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Scientists
involved: Bruce
Colpitts (DECE), Gilles
Boiteau (AA-FC).
JAAS. The Jilin Academy of Agricultural
Sciences, based in Gongzhuling, Jilin Province, China, operated a
scanning entomological radar between 1984
and 2000 (though with a break in the mid-1990s), using it mainly to
study migration of oriental armyworm moths into northeastern China and
also for studies of flight in two other moth species, the meadow moth
and the Chinese pine moth. Principal radar-entomology scientists: Chen
Rui-lu (program founder, died 1995), Bao Xiang-zhe (retired), Sun Ya-jie (current laboratory director), Zhai Bao-ping (now at Nanjing Agricultural
University).
Britain's Rothamsted Research
(formerly the Institute of Arable Crops Research, IACR), at Harpenden, Hertfordshire is now home
to the Rothamsted Radar Entomology Unit (RREU),
which is continuing the work of the former NRIRU
programme. IACR collaborated closely with NRIRU from 1995, and in 2001
incorporated the radar programme itself when NRI's support for it
ceased. IACR's interest initially focussed on studies
of foraging flights of honeybees and bumble bees, using harmonic radar.
In May 1999 a Vertical-Looking Radar was installed at Harpenden as part
of a long-term study of insect migration over southern England.
Rothamsted Research is currently engaged in two radar entomology
studies funded by BBSRC.
Vertical-Looking Radar is being used to study high-altitude migration
of aphid predators. The harmonic-radar work continues in a
collaborative investigation (with the Freie Universität, Berlin) of
the navigational performance of honey bees. Staff involved with
radar-entomology: Jason Chapman, Juliet Osborne, Joe Riley, Alan Smith,
Shane Hatty, Ian Woiwod. Don Reynolds of NRI
collaborates closely.
This laboratory (then Rothamsted Experiment Station, RES) had been involved in radar entomology much earlier, when it mounted an intensive project to develop an aphid monitoring radar in the early 1980s. Although an operational unit proved unachievable, this ambitious project laid much of the groundwork for the later development of Vertical-Looking Radars. Principal scientists in this project: Graham Bent, Ricardo Cuminetti.
Individuals. A number of researchers have made
significant contributions to radar entomology, and retain an interest
in the field, but are not currently associated with any of the above
radar entomology groups. Don Reynolds,
formerly with NRIRU and now a Visiting Fellow
there, continues his association with what is now the RREU
group, G.L.
(Gary) Achtemeier, now with the U.S.D.A. Forest Service at Athens,
Georgia, has observed insects, especially grasshoppers, with Doppler
meteorological radars. Zhai Bao-ping,
formerly with JAAS and now with NAU, has worked on radar observations of
the migrations of oriental armyworm in northeastern China and of brown
planthoppers in central China. Wayne Rochester worked
with the CSIRO and (through a collaboration) ASoP radar programs between 1990 and 1992 before
moving on to computer
modelling and forcasting of Helicoverpa migrations and outbreaks.
R.W. Russell, working with
J.W. Wilson of NCAR (see next para.) has studied insect 'aerial
plankton' with meteorological research radars.
Radar meteorology laboratories. Modern Doppler
meteorological radars routinely use "clear-air echo" to determine
winds. This has revitalised interest amongst radar meteorologists in
the source of clear-air reflectivity, which is often insects. Radar
meteorology groups or individuals active in this area in recent years
include the National Center for
Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the Cooperative
Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), both in the USA. The Department of
Meteorology of the University of Helsinki (especially Matti
Leskinen) regularly sees clear-air
echo attributable to insects with its meteorological radar, and has
used the
radar to study insect migration.
APMRU. The Areawide
Pest Management Research Unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service
(ARS) hosted one of the most active radar-entomology research programs
in the world during the 1990s, but current "radar" activity is confined
to a single project: studying local dispersal of bollworm moths with a
harmonic direction-finder. APMRU is based in College Station, Texas.
Principal radar-entomology staff have been Ken
Beerwinkle, Paul Schleider,
and Wayne Wolf. John Westbrook and Ritchie Eyster have
observed insects with "NEXRAD" (WSR-88) weather radars. Contact for
radar entomology: John Westbrook.
Predecessor organisations of APMRU include the Crop Insect Pest Management Research Unit (CIPMRU, 1990-1994) and the Pest Control Engineering Research Unit (PCERU). Radar entomology in USDA-ARS actually started at Western Cotton Research Laboratory (WCRL) in Phoenix, Arizona around 1978. This program was moved to the Insect Biology and Population Management Research Laboratory (IBPMRL) in Tifton, Georgia in 1980. A second radar program started at PCERU in 1985. The two programs were combined and located at CIPMRU in College Station in 1991.
ARS and Wayne Wolf were also involved in radar entomology as early as 1972 and 1973, in a collaboration with the US Navy's Naval Electronics Laboratory Center in San Diego, California.
CSIRO. The Division of Entomology (now CSIRO Entomology) of
Australia's Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research Organisation had an active radar
program for ~20 y from 1971, and
through it contributed significantly to the development of knowledge
about insect migration and its biometeorology. The program, which was
based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, was wound down in the
early 1990s and the remaining capacity transferred to ASoP (see above). Principal scientists
involved: Doug Clark (died 197x), Jerry Roffey (COPR, retired), Derek Reid (CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research,
retired), Alistair Drake, Wayne Rochester, Roger
Farrow (retired).
INHS/ISWS. The Illinois Natural History Survey
and the Illinois State Water Survey mounted an intensive
insect-migration research program during the mid-1980s, employing
(among a variety of techniques) the CHILL
S-band radar and a tracking X-band radar maintained principally for
ornithological observations. Principal scientists involved: Gary Achtemeier, Keith Hendrie, Mike
Irwin, Ronald
Larkin, Eugene Mueller.
LUT. The Department of
Physics at Loughborough University (formerly Loughborough
University of Technology) in Leicestershire, U.K., is where it all
started. G.W. (Glen) Schaefer's pioneering 1968
radar expedition to Niger started here, as did subsequent trips to
Sudan, Australia, and Canada. All involvement in the field ceased in
1975 with Schaefer's transfer to CIT
(see above). Principal scientist involved: the late G.W. Schaefer.
NASA. The Wallops Island, Virginia,
laboratories of NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center took an interest in the field in the late 1970s
and early 1980s. Principal scientist involved: C.R. (Charles)
Vaughn. Wallops Island radars earlier (1965a)
played a key role in establishing that insects were a prime source of
"clear air echo".
NRIRU. The Radar Entomology Unit of Britain's Natural Resources Institute was
established around 1970 and was the
leader in this field, with a fine record of technical innovation,
productive fieldwork, and publication. NRIRU was based in Malvern,
Worcestershire (separate from NRI's main sites in London and, later, at
Chatham Maritime, Kent). Principal radar-entomology staff: Don Reynolds, Joe
Riley, Alan Smith, Ann Edwards.
Radar entomology work at NRI originated in a predecessor U.K.-government organisation, the Anti-Locust Research Centre (ALRC), which was based in London. ALRC was incorporated into the Centre for Overseas Pest Research (COPR) in 1971, and COPR was in turn incorporated into the Tropical Development Research Institute (TDRI) in 1983. TDRI then became first the Overseas Development Natural Resources Institute (ODNRI) in 1987 and finally simply NRI in 1990. It was sold to the University of Greenwich in 1996. NRI closed its radar entomology programme in 2001, when it was taken over by IACR. Don Reynolds remains with NRI as a Visiting Fellow.
USAElC. The Fort Monmouth, New Jersey,
laboratories of the US Army Electronics Command (now CECOM) made
observations of mosquitoes and other insects with US Army
mortar-locating radars between 1969
and 1972. Principal scientist involved: E.L. (Emerson) Frost.
USARL. The US
Army Research Laboratories at the White Sands Missile Range, New
Mexico, observed insects with its FM/CW
atmospheric boundary layer profiler during the early 1990s. Principal scientist
involved: Scott A. McLaughlin
(now with Applied Technologies, Inc.,
Longmont, Colorado).
SUAS. The Department of Radioecology of the
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences developed a harmonic radar
for studying the walking movement of diode-tagged beetles during the
mid-1980s. Principal scientists involved: Daniel Mascanzoni, Henrik
Wallin (Department of Plant and Forest Protection).
Australian
Plague Locust Commission (APLC), Canberra, Australia. An occasional collaborator
with CSIRO, and a current
collaborator with ASoP, on locust
migration in Australia.
Department of Entomology, Nanjing Agricultural
University (NAU),
Nanjing, China. NAU has conducted extensive research on brown
planthoppers and several other migratory pests of Chinese agriculture.
A collaboration with NRIRU used NRIRU's
centimetric and millimetric scanning entomological radars to observe
brown planthopper migration in 1988, 1990, and 1991.
A new program of radar observations is planned, using a
ZLC-configuration monitoring radar to be developed with technical
support from ASoP. Principal
scientists involved: Xia-nian Cheng (retired), Bao-ping Zhai, Xiao-xi Zhang. (These
scientists and programs were formerly located in NAU's Department of Plant Protection.)
Agricultural Aviation Research Unit (AARU). A research
laboratory of CIBA-Geigy (a major agrochemical company at that
time), based at Cranfield, U.K. Under then director R.J.V. (Vernon)
Joyce (died 1997), AARU supported the LUT
(G.W. Schaefer-led) radar entomology program in its early days through
its own observation program in the Sudan Gezira and by acting as
principal contractor to CFS for
observations of spruce budworm migration in New Brunswick (Canada).
Carl
Hayden Bee Research Center (CHBRC), Tucson, Arizona. A collaborator with APMRU (and its predecessors) on bee
flight.
Canadian Forest Service
(CFS). A
major collaborator, host, and client for LUT
and AARU during the program of radar
observations of spruce budworm migration between 1973 and 1976.
Desert Locust Control Organisation of East
Africa (DLCOEA), Nairobi, Kenya. DLCOEA supported some very early
initiatives in radar entomology, including the first attempt (1965) to construct a radar specifically
for entomological observations.
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Last revised 2008Feb11, by Alistair Drake (a.drake@adfa.edu.au).