Stephen Malcolm

Dr. Stephen Malcolm is an emeritus professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Western Michigan University.

Malcolm is a chemical ecologist interested in chemically mediated interactions among plants, herbivores and natural enemies. He is particularly interested in how cardiac-active steroids vary in milkweeds in response to insect herbivore attack, how these steroids are handled by the herbivores and how they impact parasitoids and predators. In addition, he works on ways to measure the ecological risks associated with widespread agricultural use of genetically modified plants. These interests merged with a controversy over the effects of Bt corn pollen on monarch butterfly larvae feeding on milkweeds.

Malcolm has:

• Edited the interdisciplinary journal Chemoecology.
• Presented research papers at Gordon Research Conferences and at international meetings and universities in the U.S., Europe and Australia.
• Published extensively in refereed journals and books including Biology and Conservation of the Monarch Butterfly.

Students in Malcolm's laboratory and their research topics:

• Jennifer Metz, joint Ph.D. and M.S. degree program, status of seed banks and longevity of secondary dormancy in Southwest Michigan populations of Northern and Southern Wild Rice.