Professor Monika Hilker Receives Silverstein-Simeone Award

Freie Universität Berlin Biologist Wins Research Award for Her Work on Interactions between Plants and Insects. No 166/2019 from Jun 11, 2019 Professor of applied zoology and animal ecology at Freie Universität Berlin's Institute of Biology, Monika Hilker, has received the Silverstein-Simeone Award for her research in the field of chemical ecology. The prize is named after the founders of the International Society of Chemical Ecology, Robert M. Silverstein and John Simeone. The scientific society deals with the chemistry and ecology of natural substances that regulate interactions between organisms. Monika Hilker's work on the chemically based ecological relationships between plants and insects earned her this recognition. She and her team were able to show that plants can successfully defend themselves against insect infestation even in early stages of development by reacting to attempts to lay eggs. For example, pine trees react to sawflies when they lay eggs in their needles by letting off a different kind of odor.