UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Far from the antiseptic and pristine campus laboratories of Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, an urban entomologist is looking for a good home for a thriving brood of cockroaches.

Don't worry, Glenn Holbrook, assistant professor of entomology, isn't coming anywhere near your neighborhood. He's already found his new roach hotel -- er, laboratory -- in an old house on Penn State farmland.

"This structure is perfect for studying urban insect infestations because it's off by itself with no surrounding houses," Holbrook says. "While not decrepit, this old farmhouse is in about the same shape as many of the homes where we find large roach infestations -- it adds an air of realism to our studies."

Located on property near the University Park Airport, the house will be used to track a growing population of German cockroaches, the primary roach species found indoors in Pennsylvania.

Holbrook's research will concentrate on the social organization of cockroach populations. If researchers can understand the factors influencing where cockroaches live within a structure, then they can predict the best areas for pesticide applications or other control measures.

"People think roaches live in the kitchen, but the reality is much more complex," Holbrook says. "Structural pests are unpredictable. Entomologists are much more advanced in understanding the behavior of agricultural pests."

Holbrook's farmhouse lab will be specially equipped to allow researchers to observe its insect occupants. Cupboard doors will be replaced with clear plastic doors and most of the lightbulbs in the house will be replaced with red bulbs. "Cockroaches can't see red," Holbrook explains. "So we can work and see within the house and roaches still think it's dark."

Researchers also may use night-vision goggles and replace some interior walls with clear plastic materials.

Nearby housing developments do not have to worry about a migrating roach population from Penn State's farmland, Holbrook says. German cockroaches do not migrate outside of warm structures, so infestation from an isolated farmhouse is unlikely.

Holbrook says the farmhouse also will be used to study other urban insect pests, such as ants.

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EDITORS: Glenn Holbrook can be reached at 814-865-2435.

Contacts:

Chuck Gill cdg5@psu.edu 814-863-2713 814-865-1068 fax