Elizabeth Bernays

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Elizabeth A. Bernays (1940[1] – 5 March 2024) was an Australian entomologist who was a Regents Professor at the University of Arizona (died ).[2] She was known for studies of physiological, behavioral, and ecological interactions between plants, herbivorous insects and their predators. Bernays worked on the feeding behavior of a variety of insects including aphids, grasshoppers, and hawkmoths.[3][4][5] She was known for championing the idea that predation drove many insects to specialize on a few species of hostplants, rather than specialization being solely the outcome of a chemical arms race between plant and insect herbivores.[6][7][8]

Early life[edit]

Educated at the University of Queensland, Australia, she moved to London to teach high school students; she subsequently studied for a PhD there.[9] Prior to moving to the University of Arizona, she was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.[8]

Career[edit]

Bernays published more than 100 book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, edited volumes and books on a variety of entomological subjects including insect learning, feeding, taste and water homeostasis.[10][11][12] Her research into the feeding behavior of insects helped guide interventions designed to minimize crop pest damage.[9] Along with Michael S. Singer, she published a paper in 2005 in Nature showing that parasitized tiger moth caterpillars have greater sensitivity to pyrrolizidine alkaloids than non parasitized caterpillars and that parasitized caterpillars seek out plants containing these chemicals to defend themselves from predation and parasitism.[13][14]

Academic honors[edit]

In 1986, she received the Vatican's highest scientific honor, the Pius XI Gold Medal of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.[15]

Late career activities[edit]

After retirement, Bernays studied for a master's degree in creative writing at the University of Arizona.[8] She wrote two memoirs. The first memoir, Six Legs Walking: Notes from an Entomological Live, described her childhood experiences with nature, her work with her husband as an applied entomologist in Africa, and her professional experiences as a woman in science moving from the science culture of the U.K. to a professorship at the University of California, Berkeley.[16] Her second memoir, Across the Divide: The Strangest Love Affair, describes her personal and creative relationship with her wife Linda Hitchcock which included collaborating on children's nature books and traveling the southwestern U.S.[17]

Personal life[edit]

She was married to the English entomologist Reginald Frederick Chapman until his death in 2003. She subsequently married the photographer Linda Hitchcock.

Selected books and edited volumes[edit]

  • Herbivores and Plant Tannins with Gillian A. Cooper-Driver and M. Bilgener, London: Academic Press, 1989.
  • Insect-Plant Interactions, Boca Raton: CRC Press, 1990.
  • Host-Plant Selection by Phytophagous Insects with R.F. Chapman, New York: Chapman & Hall, 1994.
  • Six Legs Walking: Notes from an Entomological Life, Florida: Raised Voices Press, 2019.
  • Across the Divide: The Strangest Love Affair, Arizona: Wheatmark, 2023.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "VIAF ID 93683213". VIAF. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  2. ^ Garvey, Kathy Keatley (25 March 2024). "In Remembrance: Entomologists Charles Mitter, Elizabeth Bernays and Kim Flottum". UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology website. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  3. ^ Bernays, Elizabeth A.; Funk, Daniel J. (1999). "Specialists make faster decisions than generalists: experiments with aphids". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. 266 (1415): 151–156. doi:10.1098/rspb.1999.0615. PMC 1689657.
  4. ^ Copenhaver, Larry (18 December 1990). "Pet project: Marvelous munching Menlanoplus excite, sadden students". Tucson Citizen. pp. C1. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  5. ^ Espelie, K.S.; Bernays, E.A. (1989). "Diet-related differences in the cuticular lipids of Manduca sexta larvar". Journal of Chemical Ecology. 15 (7): 2003–2017. doi:10.1007/BF01207433. PMID 24272291.
  6. ^ Mira, Alex; Bernays, Elizabeth A. (2002). "Tradeoffs in host use by Manduca sexta: plant characters versus natural enemies". Oikos. 97: 387–397. doi:10.1034/j.1600-0706.2002.970309.x.
  7. ^ Frederick, Donald J. (5 September 1993). "Potent ocean poisons could help fight diseases on land". Los Angeles Times. pp. A10. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Minard, Anne (19 January 2005). "The writing bug has captured scientist". Arizona Daily Star. pp. B1–B2. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  9. ^ a b Bernays, Elizabeth A. (2019). "An Unlikely Beginning: A Fortunate Life". Annual Review of Entomology. 64: 1–13. doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-011118-111820. PMID 30629895.
  10. ^ Reuven, Dukas; Bernays, Elizabeth A (2000). "Learning improves growth rate in grasshoppers". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 97: 2637–26. doi:10.1073/pnas.05046149 (inactive 2024-05-15).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of May 2024 (link)
  11. ^ Reisenman, Carolina E.; Riffell, Jeffrey A.; Bernays, Elizabeth A.; Hildebrand, John A. (2010). "Antagonistic effects of floral scent in an insect–plant interaction". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 277 (1692): 2371–2379. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.0163. PMC 2894902. PMID 20335210.
  12. ^ Woods, H. Arthur; Bernays, Elizabeth A. (2001). "Water homeostasis by wild larvae of Manduca sexta". Physiological Entomology. 25: 82–87. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3032.2000.00167.x.
  13. ^ Bernays, Elizabeth A.; Singer, Michael S. (2005). "Taste alteration and endoparasites". Nature. 436 (7050): 476. doi:10.1038/436476a. PMID 16049466.
  14. ^ Hathaway, William (1 August 2005). "Insect eats to fight what ails it". Los Angeles Times. pp. F6. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  15. ^ "Berkeley Professor Honored by Vatican". Los Angeles Times. 13 September 1986. p. 19.
  16. ^ "Local authors cover wide range of topics". Arizona Daily Star. 1 May 2022. pp. E2. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  17. ^ "Poems, memoirs, history and mysteries". Arizona Daily Star. 3 September 2023. pp. E7. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
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