Irma Tandingan De Ley Postgraduate Researcher University Laboratory Building 2691 909-787-2691 (x82691) email: itdeley@citrus.ucr.edu

Research Interests

My past research has been in biological control of plant nematodes, yield loss due to and relationship of root-knot nematode (M. graminicola) with rice. This led me to study the morphological diversity of other Meloidogyne species besides those important to agriculture, and also to investigate their molecular differences, phylogeny and evolution. In particular, I have used sequences of small subunit (SSU or 18S), internal transcribed spacer region and D2/D3 domains of the large subunit (LSU) rDNA to reconstruct the phylogeny of this genus.

Being located in and transplanted to Southern California allowed me to expand my interests to desert nematodes and their taxonomy (Cephalobina PEET project); nematodes in mulch and their possible role in thrips decline; nematode diversity and succession in vernal pools; Mesocriconema xenoplax diversity in grape orchards in California; and even nematodes in marine sediments. This includes documenting morphology and movements of nematodes with a video-microscope assembly before processing them for DNA extraction.