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Peucetia viridans, TN USA

Welcome, let’s explore the beauty of arthropods. 

                                                                            

Hello! I'm Alfred Daniel J

Pursuing the incredible beauty of arthropod biodiversity is where my passion lies. In unraveling their mystery, I see teaching, concurrently with arthropod identification role, as my future.


Click the icons below to travel to a world of wonder & beauty!
 

Insects
Spiders
Birds
come lets see more animals
predation in ants

A wise king once told: Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be

wise;  Insects and Spiders are small, yet they are wisest of the wise

Kindly visit my blog about insects and lets see what can we learn from them 

EXPERIENCE

EXPERIENCE

2023 June - till date

Post Doctoral Fellow 

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Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,

Otis L. Floyd Nursery Research Center,Tennessee State University

Project I: Ecology and Biological Management of Flat Headed Borers in Nursery trees 

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2020 October - 2023 May

Post Doctoral Fellow 

Department of Desert Ecology & National Natural History  Collection, Jerusalem

Ben Gurion University of the Negev & Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Project I : Foraging ecology of potter wasps 

Project II: Invasive Brown widow spider - Parasitoid interaction

Project III: Evaluation arthropod diversity from Avrona Nature Reserve

2020 January -October

Research Associate

Centre for Ecological Sciences,

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

Project: Nesting behavior of mud wasps. 

2017 December-2019 December

Senior Research Fellow

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India

Involves collection and identification of insects all over the country

Project: Establishment of Insect Museum

Atanycolus
Atanycolus

2024- Highlights

Papers Published

Presentations 

1- Authored a paper on first report of three parasitoids from Tennessee (Journal of Insect Science)

2- Published a fact sheet on the Putnam Scale (TSU Extension)

3- Published an extension article on Biocontrol in Nursery Systems (Tennessee Green Times)

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4- Published an extension fact sheet on Biological control of JMS in nursery systems (TSU Extension)

Atanycolus

1-Presented in ARD Conference 2024, Nashville, TN (Three Tiny Specks of Hope for Scale Management)

2-Presented in South-Eastern Branch Meeting, ESA (Irrigation-Cover Crop interactions on borer attacks)

3-Presented in AB-FB Conference 2024 (Parasitoids of Flat Headed Borers) 

Trainings

Atanycolus
Atanycolus
Atanycolus

Photo Recognition 

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4H Activities & other services

1- Participated in 5 different 4H activities to teach about insects to kids in Tennessee 

2- Other important activities and presentations

3- Served as judge in various student presentation 

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Grants and Awards 

3- Awaiting Results of  USDA grant on Museum Establishment 

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Organized Training Workshop

1- Organized an workshop on Macrophotography, TSU, Nashville, TN

1- Journal Cover Photo"Tennessee Turf Grass"  
 


1- Attended Workshop on the identification of Chyrsobothris spp.​

1- Montana State University Publication 

2- ESA- Professional Advancement Career Training (PACT) 

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An overview of the year -2023 (Jan - May) in Israel

        Papers Published

1- Co authored a paper on potter wasps (published in “Animal Behaviour”)


2- Authored a paper on Widow spiders- parasitoid interaction (published in "Biological Invasions")


3- Authored a paper on potter wasp's parasitoids (published in "Journal of Hymenoptera Research")

4- Co authored a paper on fauna in wheat plantations (published in “Current Science”)



       Project collaborations with my role of insect identification 
1- Role of wild flower patches in biological control in Judean foot hills (Michal Segoli+Lital Orzi+Yaron Ziv)

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2- Role of flower patches in biological control in date palm plantations (Michal Segoli+Jess Schackermann)

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3- Impact of solar panels in biodiversity disturbances if any? (Michal Segoli+Yaron Ziv+Shahar Goefer)

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4- Studying the role of detritivores across Israel (Efrat Gavish Regev+ Nevo Sagi+ Dror Hawlena)

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        Presentations

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1-Presented a paper in Israel Entomological Society Conference, HUJI, Rehovot

2- Presented a paper in Int. Soc. for Behavioral Ecology, 2022 Stockholm, Sweden

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1- Attended spider taxonomy training in Greece, DEST, CETAF- sponsored

 

               Grants

1- Received from Israeli Academy of Sciences from National Natural History Collections, HUJ

2- Received from Entomological Society of American for Collection Management. 

         

 

         Photo Recognition

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1- Journal Cover Photo- Behavioral Ecology

2- Journal Cover Photo- Ethology

3- Entomological Society of America- World of Insects Calendar Photo

4- Two Photos in a spider book for kids

5- Journal Cover Photo- Trends in Ecology and Evolution

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Trainings

EDUCATION

EDUCATION

2014-2018

Doctoral Degree(Ph.D.In Entomology)

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

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Completed in 2018 securing an OGPA of 9.45/10

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Executed dissertation entitled, “DIVERSITY OF PARASITIC HYMENOPTERANS OF RICE”. I was awarded with National Fellowship for meritorious students from University Grants Commission to pursue my Doctoral Research. In my research, I collected 270 parasitoid species of which 43 were reported for the first time from Tamil Nadu state of India. As of date I have published more than 13 research articles in peer reviewed national journals from my doctoral research work. My dissertation earned me (2 gold medals) best Ph.D. thesis and Best Ph.D. research scholar. This research also earned me three best presentation awards in international conferences. 

2012-2014

Masters's Degree (M.Sc in Entomology)

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Completed in 2014 securing an OGPA of 9.40/10

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Dissertation entitled, “EVALUATION OF PROFENOFOS AND HEXYTHIAZOX AGAINST MAJOR PESTS OF TEA”. I have published 6 articles in peer reviewed journals  and have received two best presentation awards in international conference based on my dissertation. In addition to gaining the gold medal for highest mark in Insect Taxonomy, I was awarded with Junior Research Fellowship to pursue my M.Sc. Education

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2008-2012

Bachelor's Degree(B.Sc in Agriculture)

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

Completed by securing an OGPA of 8.90/10

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I am the top scorer in B.Sc. (Agri) and was awarded with a gold medal. 

I was also awarded with Periyar Endowment Fellowship to pursue my B.Sc. 

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AWARDS

SKILLS

EXPERTISE & RECOGNITION

EXPERTISE
CONTACT

Workshops & Conferences attended

1

Conferences-in 2022

Presented in the international conference on Animal Behaviour, Sweden and In 40th Entomological conference in Israel, 2022

2

IARD- Cornell University

An 8 month course on

International Agriculture and
Rural Developmental by Cornell University 

3

Hymenoptera Course- USDA

 15 days course on Hymenoptera by Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History,
Washington DC and USDA

4

International workshop on parasitoids

 5 days International Workshop on Parasitic Hymenoptera –

How and Where they are?

at Annamalai University 

5

Taxonomy of Insects- ICAR

 21 days workshop on  Capacity Building in Taxonomy of Insects and Mites at University of Agricultural Sciences

6

Workshop on Electron Microscopy

Two days training on High Resolution Electron
Microscopy and Scanning Probe
Microscopy at PSG college of technology 

7

International workshop on taxonomy of Ichneumonidae

8 days hands on training in biology, identification, and biological control potential of Parasitoid Ichneumonoid Wasps,
at University of Calicut 

8

Chemical Ecology Workshop

 15 days workshop by DST SERB 3rd School on Chemical
Ecology  at National Center for biological Sciences, India 

9

Butterfly Taxonomy Course

 5 days field taxonomic course on butterfly taxonomy at Pangae Wildlife Sanctuary &
Talley Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

10

International workshop on taxonomy of Moths

A field training on Taxonomy Skills for Lepidoptera Conservation at
Dalma Wild Life Sanctuary,
Jamshedpur led by international experts

11

National workshop on taxonomy of Termites

 Two days workshop held in Zoological Survey of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, to train us to identify termites to species levels  

12

National workshop on taxonomy of Diptera 

15 days workshop held in University of Calicut where I was trained to identify dipterans to family, subfamily and species levels  

13

Mass production of Parasitoids

A day training on mass
production of insect bio control (Parasitoids and Predators)
agents at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University 

14

Identification of gall inducing arthropods

 A training workshop on identification of gall inducing arthropods on forest trees at Institute of Forest Genetics and
Tree Breeding

15

Bee Keeping

A hands on training about bee keeping at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University 

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Other conferences 

All other conferences attended along with the abstracts published and presentations made can be viewed here 

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Books Published 

A book on dragonflies and damselflies- You can get that book by clicking here 

Field Guide to Some Odonates of Tamil Nadu

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