Julio Bernal
Mentor since: 2023
Mentee's: Arturo Espana, Sarah Cavazos
Field of expertise: Herbivore defense evolution in plants, ecology of parasitoid insects
Short biography:
Julio Bernal, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station. His research and teaching interests are in the fields of biological control and plant-insect interactions. Specifically, his research interests focus on ecology and behavior of natural enemies, particularly parasitoid wasps, and evolution of herbivore defenses in crops, particularly maize. Broadly, his research seeks to identify and develop ways that pest management can be effective, environmentally friendly, and evolutionarily sustainable. Over the last five years his research has attracted $1.3M in grant support.
His teaching has focused on entomology (general entomology for undergraduates), pest management (integrated pest management for undergraduates, and host plant resistance and biological control for graduate students), and agricultural evolution (evolution and impacts of agriculture and pest management for undergraduates). Currently he advises or co-advises six Ph.D. students, and previously he advised five Ph.D. and eight M.S. students. Bernal is currently Biological Control Subject Editor for Journal of Economic Entomology, Editor for Insects, and Agroecology and Ecosystem Services Associate Editor for Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. He was Fulbright Scholar (2016-2017), and President Sociedad Mexicana de Control Biológico (2015-2017), and Global Faculty Advocate for Mexico, Texas A&M University (2018-2022).
Brief summary of research projects:
Maize (corn) is the most important crop in the USA and Mexico and is among the most important crops worldwide. Maize was domesticated in present-day Mexico where its ancestral to most modern forms are widespread, from its teosinte wild ancestors and relatives to maize landraces, and to maize modern commercial varieties. Bernal’s research seeks to improve our understanding of the evolution of insect defense and abiotic stress tolerance from those evident in teosintes to those evident in modern maize varieties. By identifying instances where insect defense and stress tolerance how such evolution occurred