Ruth Amrich
Lab Assistant II
Phone: 951-827-4360
ruth.amrich@ucr.edu
Ruth attained her degree in Biology from California State University, San Bernardino in 1996. There she worked with Dr. Alexander Sokoloff with genetically mutated Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) as a lab assistant maintaining colonies. She joined the Hoddle lab in 2001.
Through the years, Ruth has been involved in multiple projects with Dr. Hoddle: Avocado thrips Scirtothrips perseae (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) and its biocontrol agent Franklinothrips orizabensis Johansen (Thysanoptera: Aeolothripidae); the persea mite Oligonychus perseae Tuttle, Baker and Abatiello (Acari: Tetranychidae); Levuana iridescens Bethune-Baker (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae); interbreeding capabilities between different populations of the bean thrips Caliothrips fasciatus (Pergande) and the effects of cold storage on its survival and reproduction; the monitoring program for Rhychophorus ferrungineus (Olivier) (Coleopetera: Curculionidae) incursion of Southern California.
With Dr. Nic Irvin, she helped with research on: transgenic Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus); various Mymaridae parasitoids of Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar) ~ Gonatocerus triguttatus, G. fasciatus, and G. ashmeadi.
Ruth has assisted graduate students, post-docs, doctoral candidates, and collaborators with their research projects, too. These have included: the effects of Xylella fastidiosa on Australian native plants; day-degree and life table studies on G. ashmeadi and H. vitripennis; oviposition studies of Graphocephala atropunctata (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) on wild grapes; mulch studies in avocados for pest control; and pollination studies on Hass avocados. She has tackled micro-Lepidoptera preservation and mounting, DNA extraction and mounting of Thysanoptera spp.; assisted with Dr. Pandey’s quarantine safety trials on the Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri Kuwayama), Tamarixia radiate (Waterson) (Hymenoptera:Eulophidae), Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis (Shafee, Alam and Agarwal) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) against California native psyllids spp.; assisted Dr. Vanessa Lopez with the gold-spotted oak borer Agrilus auroguttatus (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) research and the resulting collaboration efforts with USDA-ALARC labs in Arizona to process GSOB samples under the ELISA technique; with Dr. Ricky Lara on binomial sampling of avocado mites and time series analysis; Dr. Erica Kistner on population dynamics and life table studies of D. citri, T. radiata and D. aligarhensis; Dr. Meghan Vankosky with release, establishment and effectiveness of D. aligarhensis within residential areas; assisted Allison Bistline-East with rearing quarantined colonies of T.radiata and their hyperparasitoids; assisted Dr. Vetter with colonies of Loxosceles reclusa (Sicariidae), Latrodectus spp. (Theridiidae), and Tenebrio molitor (Linnaeus 1758); collaborated with CDFA on D.citri, T.radiata, D. aligarhensis monitoring and release programs along with USDA on the emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera:Buprestidae) projects. From her involvement in varied projects,
Currently, Ruth's time is split between various projects. She is in charge of a team monitoring the life stages, establishment and spread of D.citri, T.radiata and D. aligarhensis onresidential citrus properties ranging from Tulare County to the Mexican border and from the Pacific Ocean to the Colorado River. Other projects includes monitoring the effects of ant activities on parasitism rates, sorting and identifying field collected samples for our graduate student thesis, Kelsey Schall; assisting Dr. Irvin’s and Dr. Milosavljevic’s ACP related host/parasitoid/plant interactions; assisting the flight mill studies of the South American Palm Weevil, Rhychophorus palmarum (Linnaeus 1758). Between juggling these projects, she finds the time to be: materials manager, procurer & producer of the common & unusual by utilizing seamstress, woodshop, construction and crafty resourcefulness; overwatcher of the sprawling greenhouse production; backup emergency contact with the Insectary and Quarantine facility; wearer of many hats like Chemical Hygiene Officer, Department of Entomology Laboratory Auditor, Ambassador to UCR Staff Assembly, Affirmative Action and Compliance Liaison to Human Resources, and is commonly known as the Lab Khaleesi.
Publications
Kistner, E.J., R. Amrich, M. Castillo, V. Strode, and M.S. Hoddle. 2016. Phenology of Asian citrus psyllid (Hemiptera: Liviidae), with special reference to biological control by Tamarixia radiata, in the residential landscape of southern California. Journal of Economic Entomology 109: 1047-1057.
Jesús R. Lara, Ruth Amrich, Naseem T. Saremi, Mark S. Hoddle; Spatial Dependence and Sampling of Phytoseiid Populations on Hass Avocados in Southern California. Environ Entomol 2016; 45 (3): 708-718. doi: 10.1093/ee/nvw030
Hoddle, C.D., M.S. Hoddle, S.V. Triapitsyn. 2013. Marietta leopardina (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) and Aprostocetus (Aprostocetus) sp. (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) are obligate hyperparasitoids of Tamarixia radiata (Eulophidae) and Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). Florida Entomologist 96: 643-646.