Wyatt Hoback

Dr. Wyatt Hoback focusses on conservation of rare invertebrate species and threats, including pesticides, to beneficial insects

Discovering Distribution and Ecology of Rare Insects: Oklahoma has among the most-diverse ecoregions of any state. Oklahoma’s ecoregions function as a natural laboratory for studying invertebrate biodiversity. Changes in climate, land use, fire, agricultural practices, invasive species, water quality, and habitat fragmentation can affect each region differently, potentially altering species distributions and interactions. 

Characterizing and Enhancing the Activities of Beneficial Insects in Range Ecosystems.   Cattle contribute more than $5.40 billion to Oklahoma’s economy with herd health and weight gain being influenced by pasture conditions and arthropod pests.  My research seeks to characterize the biology of beneficial insects as part of developing integrated pest management strategies.  Statewide grasshopper sampling has updated species distribution and potential for outbreaks while surveys of dung beetles have characterized the community and its role in manure degradation.  The influence of prescribed  fire on insect faunas are now being investigated. 

Advancing Pest Managemetn by Improving Economic injury levels (EILs). EILs provide a critical foundation for protecting grower profitability while reducing unnecessary pesticide use and conserving Oklahoma’s diverse insect communities. By identifying the pest density at which the economic value of expected crop loss exceeds the cost of control, EIL-based management helps growers apply pesticides only when treatment is economically justified, thereby preserving pesticide efficacy and reducing selection pressure for resistance. This approach is particularly important in Oklahoma, where agricultural landscapes occur across highly diverse ecoregions and support abundant communities of pollinators, predators, decomposers, and other beneficial insects. Non-target effects of pesticides represent one of the greatest direct and potentially manageable threats to insect biodiversity, particularly when broad-spectrum insecticides are applied unnecessarily or when treatments occur below economically damaging pest densities. My work in sorghum emphasizes discovering host plant resistance to pests and increasing presence of biological control insects that reduce pest populations.