Academic and Professional Background

• Background:

  Diploma (M.Sc. equiv.) in Biology

  Ph.D. (Biology)

  Lecturer in Botany

  Lecturer in Entomology

• Research:

  My research focuses on multitrophic aspects of insect and plant defence mechanisms and their role in biocontrol.

• Publications:
  1. Lo Giudice D., Riedel M., Rostás M., Peri E., Colazzo S. (2011). Host sex discrimination by an egg parasitoid on Brassica leaves. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 37:622-628.
  2. Rostás M., Tautz J. (2011) Ants as pollinators of plants and the role of floral scents. In: Seckbach J. and Dubinsky Z., All Flesh is Grass: Plant-Animal Interactions. Springer Publishing, pp.151-160.
  3. Winter T.R., Rostás M. (2010) Nitrogen deficiency affects bottom-up cascade without disrupting indirect plant defense. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 36:642-651.
  4. Rostás M., Blassmann K. (2009) Insects had it first: surfactants as a defence against predators. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 276:633-638.
  5. Rostás M., Wölfling M. (2009) Caterpillar footprints as host location kairomones for Cotesia marginiventris: persistence and chemical nature. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 35:20-27.
  6. Wölfling M., Rostás M. (2009) Parasitoids use chemical footprints to track down caterpillars. Communicative and Integrative Biology, 2: 1-3.
  7. Tautz J., Rostás M. (2008) Honeybee buzz attenuates plant damage by caterpillars. Current Biology, 18:R1125-1126.
  8. Rostás M., Eggert K. (2008) Ontogenetic and spatio-temporal patterns of induced volatiles in Glycine max in the light of the optimal defence hypothesis. Chemoecology, 18:29-38.
  9. Attaran E., Rostás M., Zeier J. (2008) Pseudomonas syringae elicits emission of the terpenoid (E,E)-4,8,12-trimethyl-1,3,7,11-tridecatetraene in Arabidopsis leaves via jasmonate signaling and expression of the terpene synthase TPS4. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, 21:1482-1497.
  10. Rostás M., Ruf D., Zabka V., Hildebrandt U. (2008) Plant surface wax affects parasitoid’s response to host footprints. Naturwissenschaften, 10:997-1002.
  11. Rostás M., Turlings T.C.J. (2008) Induction of systemic acquired resistance in Zea mays also enhances the plant's attractiveness to parasitoids. Biological Control, 46:178-186.
  12. Winter T.R., Rostás M. (2008) Ambient ultraviolet radiation induces protective responses in soybean but does not interfere with tritrophic interactions. Environmental Pollution, 155:290-297.
  13. Rostás M. (2007) The effects of 2,4-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-1,4-benzoxazin-3-one on two species of Spodoptera and the growth of Setosphaeria turcica in vitro. Journal of Pest Science, 80:35–41.
  14. Rostás M., Ton J., Mauch-Mani B., Turlings T.C.J (2006) Fungal infection reduces herbivore-induced plant volatiles of maize but does not affect naive parasitoids. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 32:1897-1909.
  15. Babendreier, D., Rostás M., Höfte M., Kuske S., Bigler F. (2003) Effects of mass releases of Trichogramma brassicae (Hym.: Trichogrammatidae) on predatory insects in maize. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 108: 115-124.
  16. Rostás M., Hilker M. (2003) Indirect interactions between a phytopathogenic and an entomopathogenic fungus. Naturwissenschaften, 90:63-67.
  17. Rostás M., Simon M., Hilker M. (2003) Ecological cross-effects of induced plant responses towards herbivores and phytopathogenic fungi. Basic and Applied Ecology, 4: 43-62.
  18. Rostás, M. Hilker, M. (2002) Asymmetric plant-mediated cross-effects between a herbivorous insect and a phytopathogenic fungus. Agricultural and Forest Entomology, 4:223-231.
  19. Rostás M., Bennett R., Hilker M. (2002) Comparative physiological responses in Chinese cabbage induced by herbivory and fungal infection. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 28:2449-2463.
  20. Rostás M., Hilker M. (2002) Feeding damage by larvae of the mustard leaf beetle deters conspecific females from oviposition and feeding. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 103:267-277.
  21. Rostás M., Dippel C., Hilker M. (1998). Infochemicals influencing the host foraging behaviour of Dahlbominus fuscipennis, a pupal parasitoid of the European spruce sawfly (Gilpinia hercyniae). Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 86: 221-27
  22. Rostás M., Dippel C., Hilker M. (1997). Zur Bedeutung chemischer und physikalischer Signale bei der Parasitierung von Kokons der Buschhornblattwespe Gilpinia hercyniae (Hym., Diprionidae) durch die Erzwespe Dahlbominus fuscipennis (Hym., Eulophidae). Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Allgemeine und Angewandte Entomologie, 11:537-540 (German; abstr. English)
• Personal Resume:

  Michael joined the Centre in 2010 from Würzburg University in Germany where he lectured in botany and insect-plant interactions and led a research group in the fields of chemical ecology and insect-plant interactions.
  
  Michael gained his MSc and PhD from the Free University of Berlin and spent two years as a postdoc in Prof Ted Turlings' laboratory at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.