Robert F. Denno (1945–2008) was an influential insect ecologist. He published more than 130 research papers that helped advance the study of plant–insect interactions, interspecific competition, predator prey interactions and food web dynamics. He studied the ecology of sap-feeding insects, both in natural and cultivated settings. His study of wing polymorphism expanded into the fields of life history evolution (e.g., Denno and Dingle 1981), plant and herbivore interactions (e.g., Denno and McClure 1983),

community ecology In ecology, a community is a group or association of populations of two or more different species occupying the same geographical area at the same time, also known as a biocoenosis, biotic community, biological community, ecological communit ...

(e.g., Denno et al. 1996), and many aspects of predator ecology, reviewed recently in Denno et al. (2005). His personal worldwide collection of

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

numbered over 36,000 specimens. His butterfly collection was donated, at least in part, to the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity. Following a postdoctoral appointment at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

from 1974 to 1976, Denno moved to the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

in 1976. He advanced to associate professor in 1979 and professor in 1985 in the Entomology Department. While at College Park, one of his

doctoral student A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''Licentiate (degree), licentia docendi' ...

s was Lawrence Hanks.

Publications

* Denno R. F. 1975. "Wing polymorphism in salt marsh inhabiting Fulgoroidea". ''Journal of the New York Entomological Society''. 83: 253–254. * Denno R. F., Dingle H., editors 1981. ''Insect life history patterns: habitat and geographic variation''.

Springer-Verlag Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...

. New York City, US. * Denno R. F., Fagan W. F. 2003. "Might nitrogen limitation promote omnivory among carnivorous arthropods". ''Ecology''. 84: 2522–2531. * Denno R. F., McClure M. S., editors 1983. ''Variable plants and herbivores in natural and managed systems''.

Academic Press Academic Press (AP) is an academic book publisher founded in 1941. It launched a British division in the 1950s. Academic Press was acquired by Harcourt, Brace & World in 1969. Reed Elsevier said in 2000 it would buy Harcourt, a deal complete ...

. New York City, US. * Denno R. F., Perfect T. J., editors 1994. ''Planthoppers: their ecology and management''. Chapman and Hall. New York City, US. * Denno R. F., Roderick G. K. 1990. "Population biology of planthoppers". ''Annual Review of Entomology''. 35: 489–520
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* Denno R. F., Finke D. L., Langellotto G. A., 2005. "Direct and indirect effects of vegetation structure and habitat complexity on predator–prey and predator–predator interactions". Pages 211–239 in Barbosa P., Castellanos I., editors ''Ecology of predator–prey interactions''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. New York City, US. * Denno R. F., McClure M. S., Ott J. R. 1995. "Interspecific interactions in phytophagous insects: competition revisited and resurrected". ''Annual Review of Entomology''. 40: 297–331. * Huberty A. F., Denno R. F. 2004. "Plant water stress and its consequences for herbivorous insects: a new synthesis". ''Ecology''. 85: 1383–1398.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denno, Robert 1945 births 2008 deaths Rutgers University faculty American lepidopterists University of Maryland, College Park faculty 20th-century American zoologists University of California, Davis alumni