WELCOME TO ENTOMOLOGY AND WILDLIFE ECOLOGY
Our department offers outstanding academic programs for undergraduate and graduate students preparing for research, teaching, and extension careers in entomology, ecology and wildlife conservation.
Our teaching, research, and extension efforts emphasize whole-organism biology, conservation biology, and the interactions between humans and other species.
Our undergraduate programs
Our graduate programs
Ecology Woods FUND
Ecology Woods is a 35-acre forest on the southern edge of UD’s Newark Farm, adjacent to Route 4 and the UD Athletics Complex. This location has been a unique site for ecological research, conservation, and student learning since the 1960s.
It was Dr. Roland Roth, a faculty member in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, who protected and nurtured this space for nearly 35 years.
Find out how you can help preserve Dr. Roth's work with a contribution to the Ecology Woods Fund.
What's new?
Featured video
Lauren Pollock explores what factors affect the survival of piping plovers: youtube.com/watch?v=oaRK9iEvFaY
UD wildlife major conducts research on piping plovers
Senior Lauren Pollock, a wildlife ecology and conservation major, is exploring what factors affect the survival of piping plovers Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Milton, Delaware. Read more and Lauren's research.
Latest news
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UD’s Jeff Buler and alumnus Matt Hardy team up on startup company to combat bird flu
February 10, 2025 | Written by Katie Peikes | Photo submitted by Matt HardyUniversity of Delaware’s Jeff Buler and UD alum are part of a startup company called AgriNerds that has been selected to pitch its technology at an upcoming startup pitch event in Austin. AgriNerds uses its technology, the Waterfowl Alert Network to track where waterfowl are stopping so they can alert poultry farms in the vicinity of a heightened risk to bird flu. -
Monarch butterflies in decline as experts weigh the impact of proposed federal protections
January 31, 2025 | Written by Delaware Public MediaMonarch butterflies migrate to warmer forested area, so they can survive the colder conditions. Over the past few decades, the number of monarchs overwintering in some areas has plummeted. To find out why, Delaware Public Media caught up this week with UD's Michael Crossley, agricultural entomologist and molecular ecologist. -
Lab collab
January 15, 2025 | Written by Nya WynnEntomologist Brian Kunkel and plant diagnostician Jill Pollok share a collaborative relationship that bridges insect and plant pathology in tackling the region’s agricultural and ornamental challenges through University of Delaware Cooperative Extension.
Upcoming events
Our Committment
We are committed to strengthening the inclusivity, accessibility, and community of our department to encourage and support representation of people from the full range of backgrounds, lived experiences, and perspectives. We expect these efforts to positively affect our department’s creative scholarship and community engagement.
We recognize that cultivating an environment in which individuals have the opportunity to pursue scholarship without barriers is an important responsibility of our department.
Strategic growth areas include:
- Expanding recruitment efforts toward broader representation of students, faculty, and staff, including recruiting from groups historically underrepresented in Entomology and Wildlife Ecology.
- Promoting cultural competency opportunities.
- Mitigating barriers to individual and group inclusion and success through identification and acknowledgement of historical cultural barriers and celebration of inclusion.
- Providing support through professional organizations and department events.
- Maintaining welcoming department spaces and activities.
- Ensuring course materials reflect diverse cultural perspectives and values toward solving natural resource conservation problems, including inclusive stakeholder engagement through Cultural Based Conservation and Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
- Supporting faculty, staff, and students in their efforts to engage in community outreach.