Robert Koch

About

Robert Koch is an Interim Department Head and Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Minnesota. He holds a B.A. in Biology from St. John’s University and a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Minnesota. His research program focuses on applied ecology and integrated pest management of arthropods associated with soybean. The goal of his research, in conjunction with his extension program, is to improve the environmental and economic sustainability of crop production through integrated pest management. His work emphasizes pest biology, evaluation and integration of management tactics, and scouting and decision making. Through extension programming, Robert Koch provides research-based guidance to farmers and agricultural professionals for managing soybean pests. He leads efforts to connect agricultural professionals with the latest crop research via the Institute for Agricultural Professionals, which includes educational events such as the Field School for Ag Professionals, the Crop Pest Management Short Course, and Research Updates for Ag Professionals. His contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Award of Excellence in Integrated Pest Management, the Distinguished Extension and Outreach Award, and the International IPM Award of Excellence for Teams. He has advised multiple graduate students and collaborates with staff and researchers to advance integrated pest management practices.

Research topics

• Biology
• Ecology
• Botany
• Artificial Intelligence
• Agronomy
• Computer Science
• Genetics
• Zoology
• Toxicology

Selected publications

• Identification of point mutations related to pyrethroid resistance in voltage-gated sodium channel genes in Aphis glycines

  Entomologia Generalis · 2021 · 56 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Current Distribution and Population Persistence of Five Lepidopteran Pests in U.S. Soybean

  Journal of Integrated Pest Management · 2021 · 36 citations

  Abstract The distribution of lepidopteran pests in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is a current knowledge gap limiting accurate prioritization of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) research. Regional characterizations of lepidopteran distribution in soybean are now more than 25 yr old. The goal of this study was to generate a contemporary assessment of the distribution and population persistence of lepidopteran soybean pests. To understand which species are currently infesting soybean and their p…

  DOI

• Parasitism of Adult Pentatomidae by Tachinidae in Soybean in the North Central Region of the United States

  Journal of Insect Science · 2020 · 25 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are agricultural pests of increasing significance in the North Central Region of the United States, posing a threat to major crops such as soybean. Biological control can reduce the need for insecticides to manage these pests, but the parasitism of stink bugs by Tachinidae (Diptera) is poorly characterized in this region. The objective of this study was to evaluate the rate of parasitism of stink bugs by tachinids over 2 yr from nine states across the North C…

  DOI

• Linear Support Vector Machine Classification of Plant Stress From Soybean Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Using Hyperspectral Reflectance

  Journal of Economic Entomology · 2022 · 22 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Spectral remote sensing has the potential to improve scouting and management of soybean aphid (Aphis glycines Matsumura), which can cause yield losses of over 40% in the North Central Region of the United States. We used linear support vector machines (SVMs) to determine 1) whether hyperspectral samples could be classified into treat/no-treat classes based on the economic threshold (250 aphids per plant) and 2) how many wavelengths or features are needed to generate an accurate model without ove…

  PublisherDOI

• How does the digital transformation of agriculture affect the implementation of Integrated Pest Management?

  Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · 2022-11-30 · 14 citations

  articleOpen access

  Integrated pest management (IPM) has greatly influenced farming in the past decades. Even though it has been effective, its adoption has not been as large as anticipated. Operational issues regarding crop monitoring are among the reasons for the lack of adoption of the IPM philosophy because control decisions cannot be made unless the crop is effectively and constantly monitored. In this way, recent technologies can provide unique information about plants affected by insects. Such information ca…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• W. D. Hutchison

  47 shared

• E. C. Burkness

  University of Minnesota

  30 shared

• Paul J. CaraDonna

  Center for Plant Conservation

  28 shared

• Andrea Gruver

  Center for Plant Conservation

  28 shared

• Alexandra Duffy

  University of California, Davis

  28 shared

• Julie Craves

  23 shared

• Adrienne O'brien Treasurer

  Michigan State University

  23 shared

• Mark F. O’Brien

  Alma College

  23 shared

Labs

• Robert Koch LabPI

Awards & honors

• Award of Excellence in Integrated Pest Management (North Cen…
• Distinguished Extension and Outreach Award (CFANS, U of MN)
• Dean's Award for Distinguished Campus-Based Faculty (Extensi…
• IPM Team Award (Plant-Insect Ecosystems Section, ESA)
• Dean's Award for Distinguished Team (Extension, U of MN)

Similar researchers at University of Minnesota

• Elizabeth Borerh-65
• George Heimpelh-63
• Declan Schroederh-49