Research

I am an evolutionary entomologist interested in understanding the forces that shape insect-microbe symbioses, focusing on non-model study systems. My research involves a combination of field collections, lab work, high-throughput sequencing, and bioinformatics for comprehensive insights into complex interactions.

Evolution of Hawaiian Planthoppers

Dr. Cabuslay hunched over, collecting arthropods in a lava tube

The relationship between a host and its obligate microbial symbionts changes over evolutionary time. Symbiont genomes are dramatically reshaped, host ecology can shift, and new symbionts may be introduced. Leveraging the time-calibrated backdrop of Hawai’i’s geological history, I am using a phylogenomic and metagenomic approach to understanding how the process of symbiont genome evolution can contribute to host evolution and diversification.

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Evolutionary histories in the turtle ant gut microbiome

Turtle ants (Cephalotes spp.) are host to a highly diverse community of bacteria housed within their gut. Multi-omics approaches allow us to gain high resolution phylogenetic and genomic insights into how the community and its members have been shaped over the course of Cephalotes evolution.

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Cabuslay, C., Wertz, J. T., Béchade, B., Hu, Y., Braganza, S., Freeman, D., Pradhan, S., Mukhanova, M., Powell, S., Moreau, C., & Russell, J. A. (2024). Domestication and evolutionary histories of specialized gut symbionts across cephalotine ants. Molecular Ecology, 33, e17454. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17454 [PDF]
Benoît Béchade, Christian S Cabuslay, Yi Hu, Caroll M Mendonca, Bahareh Hassanpour, Jonathan Y Lin, Yangzhou Su, Valerie J Fiers, Dharman Anandarajan, Richard Lu, Chandler J Olson, Christophe Duplais, Gail L Rosen, Corrie S Moreau, Ludmilla Aristilde, John T Wertz, Jacob A Russell, Physiological and evolutionary contexts of a new symbiotic species from the nitrogen-recycling gut community of turtle ants, The ISME Journal, Volume 17, Issue 10, October 2023, Pages 1751–1764, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-023-01490-1
Hu, Yi, Catherine L. D’Amelio, Benoît Béchade, Christian S. Cabuslay, Piotr Łukasik, Jon G. Sanders, Shauna Price, et al. 2023. “Partner Fidelity and Environmental Filtering Preserve Stage-Specific Turtle Ant Gut Symbioses for over 40 Million Years.” Ecological Monographs93(1): e1560. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1560 [PDF]
Benoît Béchade, Yi Hu, Jon G Sanders, Christian S Cabuslay, Piotr Łukasik, Bethany R Williams, Valerie J Fiers, Richard Lu, John T Wertz, Jacob A Russell, Turtle ants harbor metabolically versatile microbiomes with conserved functions across development and phylogeny, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, Volume 98, Issue 8, August 2022, fiac068, https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiac068

Sustainable Practices in Insect Pest Management

The application of agricultural pesticides can cause unintentional damage to local communities and nearby natural ecosystems. In collaboration with land owners, non-profit organizations, private industry, and government agencies at the state and national level, we tested experimental pesticide formulations and application mechanisms to mitigate harm while maintaining or improving pest management efficacy.

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Van Steenwyk, R.A., Siegel, J.P., Bisabri, B., Cabuslay, C.S., Choi, J.M., Steggall, J.W., Mace, K.C., Blecker, S.W., Poe, P.A., Peters-Collaer, S.R. and Klassen, P. (2021), Spray drift mitigation using opposing synchronized air-blast sprayers. Pest Manag Sci, 77: 895-905. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.6094 [PDF]

Other Publications

Robert A Van Steenwyk, Benjamin J Wong, Christian Cabuslay, Control of Two Erythroneura Leafhoppers in Wine Grapes, 2016, Arthropod Management Tests, Volume 43, Issue 1, 2018, tsy040, https://doi.org/10.1093/amt/tsy040
Robert A Van Steenwyk, Christian Cabuslay, Control of Peach Twig Borer in Almond, 2017, Arthropod Management Tests, Volume 43, Issue 1, 2018, tsy043, https://doi.org/10.1093/amt/tsy043