Warren Booth

Research within the Booth lab is primarily focused on understanding how organisms adapt or evolve to the selective pressures associated with living in urban environments. We utilize indoor urban pest insects, including but not limited to bed bugs and cockroaches, as model systems, and employ complimentary approaches including molecular ecology, population genomics, and laboratory assays, to understand rapid evolutionary processes and outcomes.

Research Interests

• Population and evolutionary genomics of indoor urban pest insects
• Insecticide resistance evolution
• Influence of socioeconomic disparity on urban pest population dynamics
• Mitochondrial heteroplasmy and recombination
• Invasion biology and ecology
• Urban pest managemen
• Urban evolutionary biology/genomics

For more information please visit the Booth Lab website.

A complete list of Dr. Booth’s publications is available here

Select publications

Lewis, C. D., Levine, B.A., Vargo, E.L., Schal, C. & Booth, W. 2022. Recent upsurge in target site insecticide resistance in bed bug populations in the United States. Journal of Pest Science. doi.org/10.1007/s10340-022-01505-4

Balvín, O., Sasínková, M., Martinů, J., Nazarizadeh, M., Bubová, T., Booth, W., Vargo, E.L. & Štefka, J. 2021. Early evidence of establishment of the tropical bedbug (Cimex hemipterus) in Central Europe. Medical and Veterinary Entomology. 35, 462-467.

Lewis, C. D., Levine, B.A., Vargo, E.L., Schal, C. & Booth, W. 2020. Recent detection of multiple populations of the tropical bed bug (Hemiptera: Cimicadae) exhibiting putative kdr-associated mutations in Hawaii. Journal of Medical Entomology. 57, 1077-1081.

Holleman, J. G., Robinson, G.A., Bellovich, I. & Booth, W. 2019. Knockdown resistance- associated mutations dominate populations of the bed bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) across the south-central United States. Journal of Medical Entomology, 56, 1678-1683.

Booth, W. 2019. Evolution: Bedbugs evolved before their assumed ancestral host. Current Biology. 29, R413-R415.

Balvin, O., & Booth, W. 2018. Distribution and frequency of pyrethroid resistance mutations in host-associated lineages of the bed bug, Cimex lectularius (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) across Europe. Journal of Medical Entomology. 55, 923-928.

Booth, W., Schal, C. & Vargo, E.L. 2018. Population genetics of bed bugs. In Advances in the Biology and Management of Modern Bed Bugs (Eds. S.L. Doggett., D.M. Miller. & C.Y, Lee). John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Runjac, J., Bellovich, I., Page, C.E., Brown, C.R. & Booth, W. 2017. No detectable insecticide resistance in swallow bugs (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) following long-term exposure to naled (Dibrom 8). Journal of Medical Entomology. 54, 994-998.

Kolokotronis, S-O., Foox, J., Rosenfeld, J.A., Brugler, M.R., Reeves, D., Benoit, J.B., Booth, W., Robison, G., Steffen, M., Palli, S.R., Schal, C., Richards, S., Sorkin, L.N., Amato, G., Mason, C.E., Siddal, M.E. & DeSalle, R. 2016. The Mitogenome of the bed bug Cimex lectularius (Hemiptera: Cimicidae). Mitochondrial DNA: Resources. 1, 425-427.

Benoit, J., ….Booth, W., … (total 82 authors). 2016. Unique features of the bed bug, a global human ectoparasite, identified through genome sequencing. Nature Communications, 6. doi: 10.1038/ncomms10165.

Booth, W., Balvin, O., Schal, C., Vilimova, J. & Vargo, E.L. 2015. Host association drives significant genetic differentiation in the common bed bug, Cimex lectularius. Molecular Ecology, 24, 980-992.

Robison, G.A., Balvin, O., Schal, C., Vargo, E.L. & Booth, W. 2015. Extensive mitochondrial heteroplasmy in natural populations of a resurging human pest, the bed bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae). Journal of Medical Entomology, 52, 734-738.

Terrapon, N., Roberston, H.M., Ji, L., Meng, X., Booth W., et al. 2014. The draft genome of a termite illuminates alternative social organization. Nature Communications. 5, 3636. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4636.

Vargo, E.L., Crissman, J.R., Booth, W., Santangelo, R.G., Mukha, D.V. & Schal, C. 2014. Hierarchical genetic analysis of German cockroach (Blattella germanica) populations from within buildings to across continents. PLoS ONE. 9(7): e102321.

Saenz, V., Booth, W., Schal, C. & Vargo, E.L. Genetic analysis of bed bug (Cimex lectularius) populations reveals small propagule size within individual infestations but high genetic diversity across infestations from the eastern U.S. Journal of Medical Entomology. 49, 535-546.

Booth, W., Saenz, V.L., Santangelo, R.G., Schal, C. & Vargo, E.L. 2012. Molecular markers reveal infestation dynamics of the bed bud, Cimex lectularius, within apartment buildings. Journal of Medical Entomology. 49, 535-546.

Booth, W., Santangelo, R.G., Vargo, E.L., Mukha, D.V. & Schal, C. 2012. Population genetic structure in German cockroaches (Blattella germanica): Differentiated islands in an agricultural landscape - Journal of Heredity­. 102, 175-183.

Crissman, J., Booth, W., Santangelo, R.G., Mukha, C., Vargo, E.L. & Schal, C. 2011. Population genetic structure of the German cockroach (Blattella germanica) within and among apartments. - Journal of Medical Entomology. 47, 553-564.

Membership

Entomological Society of America

American Genetics Association

Society for the Study of Evolution

Editorial Board

Journal of Medical Entomology – Subject Editor

Journal of Heredity – Associate Editor