A Bug's Life

A chance encounter with a little bug became a big deal for entomologist Tracy Leskey ’90

By Cathy Mentzer

Tracy Leskey’s association with stink bugs seems destined. In 2003, she documented the first brown marmorated stink bug in Maryland. The entomologist was returning to West Virginia from a meeting in Hartford, Conn., and stopped in Hagerstown for gas. “I saw this stink bug sitting on the gas pump,” said Leskey ’90. She collected the insect in a Q-tip container, took it to her lab, photographed it and sent pictures to the Smithsonian Institution for confirmation. It was just the second, official stink bug sighting in the U.S.

A research entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 2000, Leskey is a leading international authority on the brown marmorated stink bug. She leads a team of about a dozen researchers at the USDA’s Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, W.Va., as they try to find a solution to the stink bug problem.

The agricultural stakes are high. Since stink bugs—Asian pests that ruin fruit by piercing the skin and sucking moisture from the flesh—first arrived in the eastern United States in the late 1990s, they have spread to 41 states, producing an incredible amount of destruction. In 2010, apple growers in the mid-Atlantic suffered an estimated $37 million in losses due to stink bug damage, according to the U.S. Apple Association. More than $20 billion in U.S. crops overall are threatened, National Geographic recently reported.

“Stink bugs live a mere nine months, but in that time they can devastate crops like apples and peaches—even corn,” said Leskey, a Wilson trustee since 2009.

In addition to the damage they cause to crops, stink bugs—so named because of the unpleasant odor they emit (which Leskey describes as “cilantro on crack”)—are a nuisance to homeowners, flocking to warm, dry spaces such as attics in autumn to hunker down for winter.

The tale of Leskey’s quest for a solution to the stink bug threat reads like an ecological thriller. When the bugs began devouring local fruit crops in 2010, some of the growers she worked with were losing so much of their crop, they were on the verge of going out of business. The extent of the crisis was unprecedented.

“I completely changed the focus of my research program based on a single day in a single orchard, where we had walked in and I was talking to the grower and he was looking at the stink bug damage,” Leskey recalled. “We were looking at his peach trees … and basically every peach on every tree on his farm had this damage. I’d just never seen anything on this scale. My support scientist at the time and I came back to my office and I said, ‘OK, everything changes this day. We are changing our focus.’”

She put all other projects on hold, devoting virtually all available resources to the stink bug. “It’s not often that there’s an agricultural crisis on your doorstep,” Leskey said. “We just had to move and move quickly. That was 2010. Before that I said I was going to devote 10 percent of my time to the stink bug.”

Leskey’s instinct to drop everything and focus on stink bugs was on target, according to Michael Glenn, research leader and director at the Appalachian Fruit Research Station. “No one else was doing anything so she stepped up,” Glenn said.

Spreading the Word

As a result of her research and the insect’s spread, Leskey has become something of a media darling when it comes to all things related to the brown marmorated stink bug. She’s been interviewed by such venerable print media outlets as the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Then there are the radio and television programs, including the BBC and national public broadcasting stalwarts like “All Things Considered” and “The Diane Rehm Show.”

Google Leskey’s name and you will get 10,900 hits and counting—many of them related to news articles in which she’s been quoted or mentioned.

“As far as I’m concerned, if I’m writing on that subject, she is the person that I want to talk to, period,” said Washington Post reporter Darryl Fears, who has interviewed Leskey at least four times. “She’s accessible and she is open with information. She’s always accurate. Also, everybody else refers you to Tracy. You’re talking to someone at the National Wildlife Federation and they’ll say, ‘You know what, I can talk to you about this but who you really need to talk to is Tracy Leskey.’”

For reporters, Leskey is the ideal combination of expert knowledge and accessibility, with a knack for making science understandable for the layman. “When you’re not a scientist, she explains it in a way that you get it,” said Cecelia Mason, a former West Virginia Public Broadcasting reporter who now works in the Shepherd University communications department. And Leskey understands the immediacy of news media requests. “She calls back and it’s the same day. Even I don’t do that,” said Fears. “And I know I’m not the only one calling.”

Leskey sees the interviews as an important part of her job, and after some early stage fright, she has actually come to enjoy it. “I can remember my first big interview. I was petrified,” she said, recalling the live interview on NPR’s “Science Friday.” “But then it just sort of evolved. It’s kind of fun. I have to think quickly and I enjoy that.”

Leskey maintains a sense of humor about the inevitable stink bug jokes or puns that reporters and headline writers seem to find irresistible. The Wall Street Journal once dubbed her the “stink bug czar.” A USA Today article headline read: ‘For gardeners, stink bugs are nothing to sniff at.’ Does she ever wish the insect with which her name has become virtually synonymous was called something a bit more dignified? “It doesn’t matter to me,” she said, grinning. “I own my geekiness."

Searching for a Solution

Leskey’s relentless pursuit of a solution to stink bugs includes, to use her term, annihilating as many of them as possible—strong words for a kind-hearted animal lover who feeds stray cats in her tree-lined Victorian neighborhood in Shepherdstown, W.Va.

“I’ve had growers that were literally on the verge of going out of business (because of stink bug damage to their orchards),” said Leskey. “For me, I’m interested in the science, but it’s also a cause as well.”

Leskey and her team study stink bug behavior, using what they learn to develop strategies for dealing with the insects. Although a eureka moment has eluded them, they have developed several methods that are helping manage stink bug populations. Currently, they are experimenting with “attract and kill”—a method that shows promise. Essentially, the bugs are lured to designated areas in an orchard with a pheromone and another compound. When the stink bug arrives, a pesticide kills them on the spot.

 “It’s a mechanism in which we can literally lead them around and make them go where we want them to go,” said Leskey.

The primary goal of the “attract and kill” research is to control stink bugs while using the least amount of broad-spectrum insecticide as possible because that would kill all insects, including beneficial ones. “When we are developing strategies like that, we’re allowing the natural insects to flourish because we’re not treating as much of the acreage with insecticides because of this bug,” Leskey said.

On the lawn outside the Appalachian Fruit Research Station, an otherworldly array of black, three-foot-high pyramids mimics tree trunks to stink bugs as they approach. Using an olfactory stimulus, researchers attract the bugs, which climb up and are funneled into the pyramids, where a killing agent lowers the boom.

“We’re now using this as a detection and monitoring tool in grower orchards across the country” Leskey said. “A grower can look at this trap and determine if there are enough bugs to warrant spraying an insecticide.”

Although the pyramids are low-tech, some of Leskey’s research is the stuff of science fiction. A National Geographic story from last fall featured footage of a stink bug tethered to a “flight mill” in Leskey’s laboratory. Similar to a treadmill, the device allows the bug to fly in circles and the flight can be measured in distance. The average stink bug travels up to 60 miles a day, Leskey said. This information is useful because it helps researchers gauge the threat to crops in a prescribed area.

Researchers also are experimenting with harmonic radar to track stink bugs. In Leskey’s lab, stink bugs have been outfitted with small radar tags made of copper wire with a tiny diode. Data gleaned from tracking the insects helps researchers understand stink bug behavior.

Although Leskey is serious about her work, her office reflects her silly side. The space is scattered with toys, including matchbox cars, glow-in-the-dark plastic bugs, a large Swatch watch clock (she has a collection of about 150 Swatches) and just about anything related to stink bugs, including notepads from stinkybug.com, “for all your stink bug gifts.”

A sense of humor comes in handy in an office full of scientists, according to Glenn. “(Leskey is) a very friendly, warm person and she comes across that way,” he said.

Leskey’s work to combat stink bugs goes beyond research. She has spoken around the world; published numerous papers in prestigious journals, sometimes with collaborators; and leads a prestigious multi-state, multi-institution grant that was just renewed and represents $11 million in total funding to attack the stink bug problem.

“She’s recognized internationally as THE point person with respect to brown marmorated stink bugs,” said Chris Bergh, entomology professor at Virginia Tech, where Leskey’s status as an adjunct professor allows her to co-advise graduate students. “She’s an outstanding scientist. Her approaches are always pragmatic.”

Leskey enjoys finding solutions to real-world problems. “It’s very satisfying, working on something that’s very pertinent to people’s lives,” she said.

Leskey has involved the public in stink bug research. For the past two years, she has overseen the Great Stink Bug Count, a project that invites members of the public to document stink bugs at their properties and submit a range of data to the USDA online. The project has been popular with schoolchildren and homeowners, and provides invaluable data, according to Leskey.
 
The Budding Scientist

Leskey grew up in a small, blue-collar town near Johnstown, Pa., the daughter of parents who indulged her propensity for the outdoors, getting dirty and exploring the natural world. “As a kid, I was allowed to have bug zoos and I could bring in fireflies at night, but I had to release them the next morning,” said Leskey, who brought Monarch butterfly pupae to her kindergarten class to demonstrate pupation as her first show-and-tell project. “I was definitely encouraged in my field ecology leanings from a very young age.”

When she chose Wilson College after high school, her goal was to become a medical doctor. She majored in biology but during her junior year, changed her mind about medical school. “It wasn’t what interested me. I had become more interested in ecology, at that point.” She ended up doing her senior thesis on a mosquito-like insect called a crane fly.

Leskey loved her time at Wilson, making lifelong friends and forming bonds with professors. After breezing through high school, she found Wilson classes challenging. “It was amazing and all-encompassing,” Leskey said of her Wilson experience. “I became great friends with the library. If an exam was coming up, I was in the library studying for days and days and days and days.”

After graduating from Wilson, Leskey earned a master’s degree in ecology from Penn State and went on to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to pursue her Ph.D. in entomology. There, she studied under legendary insect behaviorist Ron Prokopy, whose research on fruit flies led to environmental pest control programs that used fewer pesticides. The late Prokopy, who once surprised Leskey by popping an insect into his mouth and encouraging her to do the same, made a big impact. “That’s been my training and that’s the same kind of thing that I do now,” said Leskey, referring to managing insects by manipulating their behavior.

Though she earned degrees from two other schools, Leskey has maintained close ties to Wilson. Before becoming a trustee, she served on the Alumnae Association board from 2005 to 2012. In spite of a schedule that finds her at work sometimes 70-80 hours a week and a busy personal life, Leskey enthusiastically devotes time for service on the Board of Trustees.

“It’s been an amazing experience, learning about the complexities of running an institution like Wilson, learning about the dedication of the faculty and staff to the College, learning from all of the other board members,” she said. “I’ve made a lot of great friends on the board and gotten to know Wilson faculty and staff in a different capacity. It’s been a gift and I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to serve Wilson in that capacity.”
‘The Best Job in the World’

 A typical day at the USDA fruit research facility is atypical, according to Leskey. Some days she’s in the office, gathering and analyzing data or meeting with her lab group; other days, she’s out in the field; and still others, she’s traveling or hosting visitors from other countries seeking help on how to respond when stink bugs show up.

“I think one of the things I like about being a researcher is that every day is different,” said Leskey. “You’re always moving forward. There’s always something new—a new question, a new challenge. It’s never the same. I always think I have the best job in the world. I get paid to do what I think I always knew I wanted to do.”

Leskey, who didn’t necessarily envision herself reaching the level of notoriety she’s received—“not on this scale anyway”—sees herself moving on from stink bug research one day but for now, she’s content.

“I was very happy doing the research I was doing before,” she said “But I’m glad I’ve given this the effort I’ve given because I think the agricultural community deserves that. I’m happy to do that and help solve a problem that’s been such a major issue for them.”