Dr. Ilka Vosteen

Research Interests

• Behavioural and chemical ecology of insects
• Odour-guided foraging of insects
• Herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs)
• Plant-insect interactions
• Biological pest control

Publications

Rusman Q, Cusumano A, Vosteen I (2024): En route to resources: Foraging strategies of plant-associated insects to identify resources in complex dynamic environments Functional Ecology, doi:10.1111/1365-2435.14606

Rahman S, Rostás M, Vosteen I (2024): Drought aggravates plant stress by favouring aphids and weakening indirect defense in a sugar beet tritrophic system Journal of Pest Science, doi:10.1007/s10340-024-01799-6

Slonka M, Vosteen I, Mendoza-Mendoza A, Rostás M (2024): Ecological functions of fungal sesquiterpenes in the food preference and fitness of soil Collembola. Royal Society Open Science 11(2), doi: 10.1098/rsos.231549

Vosteen I, Bianchi FJJA and Poelman EH (2020): Adverse weather conditions impede odor-guided foraging of parasitoids and reduce their host-finding success. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 301: 107066.
doi:10.1016/j.agee.2020.107066

Vosteen I, van den Meiracker N and Poelman EH (2020): Gone with the wind: low availability of volatile information limits foraging efficiency in downwind-flying parasitoids. Animal Behaviour 165, pp. 59-70.
doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.04.025

Vosteen I, van den Meiracker N and Poelman EH (2019): Getting confused: learning reduces parasitoid foraging efficiency in some environments with non-host infested plants. Oecologia 189: pp. 919-930.
doi:10.1007/s00442-019-04384-2

Aartsma Y, Cusumano A, Fernández de Bobadilla M, Rusman Q, Vosteen I and Poelman EH (2019): Understanding insect foraging in complex habitats by comparing trophic levels: insights from specialist host-parasitoid-hyperparasitoid systems. Invited Review in Current Opinion in Insect Science 32: pp. 54-60.
doi:10.1016/j.cois.2018.11.001

Vosteen I, Gershenzon J and Kunert G (2018): Dealing with food shortage: larval dispersal behaviour and survival on non-prey food of the hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus. Ecological Entomology 43: pp. 578-590.
doi:10.1111/een.12636

Vosteen I, Gershenzon J and Kunert G (2016a): Hoverfly preference for high honeydew amounts creates enemy-free space for aphids colonizing novel host. Journal of Animal Ecology 85: pp. 1286-1297.
doi:10.1111/1365-2656.12564

Vosteen I, Gershenzon J and Kunert G (2016b): Enemy-free space promotes maintenance of host races in an aphid species. Highlighted student saper in Oecologia 181: pp. 659-672.
doi:10.1007/s00442-015-3469-1

Vosteen I, Weisser WW and Kunert G (2016): Is there any evidence that aphid alarm pheromones work as prey and host finding kairomones for natural enemies? Invited Review in Ecological Entomology 41: pp. 1-12.
doi:10.1111/een.12271

Joachim C, Vosteen I and Weisser WW (2015): The aphid alarm pheromone (E)-beta-farnesene does not act as a cue for predators searching on a plant. Chemoecology 25: pp. 115-130.
doi:10.1007/s00049-014-0176-z

Curriculum Vitae

Since 2019 Research associate at the Section of Agricultural Entomology, Department for Crop Sciences, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany
2016 - 2019 Postdoc project at the Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University Parasitoid host location: using volatiles on different spatial scales and in context of distorting elements
2018 - 2019 Postdoc project at the Department of Chemical Ecology, Bielefeld University Odor-guided foraging of predatory insects and parasitoids
2015 - 2016 Postdoc project at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena Effect of previous feeding experience on aphid feeding behavior on different host plants
2011 - 2015 PhD thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena Searching behavior of aphid natural enemies and its implications for host-race maintenance in the pea aphid complex (supervisors: Grit Kunert & Jonathan Gershenzon)
2004 - 2010 Studies of Biology at the University of Bremen Diploma thesis at the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland Induced feeding defenses of macroalgae: Interspecific communication and seasonality (supervisor: Markus Molis)