Francis Reay-Jones

Professor of Entomology & IPM Coordinator
Agronomic Crops Program Team, Plant and Environmental Sciences Department, PeeDee Research and Education Center

Office: 2200 Pocket Road, Florence, SC
Phone: 843-519-0480

Email: freayjo@clemson.edu

Educational Background

Ph.D. Entomology (minor in applied statistics)
Louisiana State University 2005

M.S. (year 2) Plant Technology
Universite d'Angers / Institut National d'Horticulture

M.S. (year 1) Population and Ecosystem Biology
Universite Bordeaux, France 2000

B.S. Biology
Universite Bordeaux, France 1999

Profile

As a Professor of Entomology, my research and extension programs focus on economically important insects in field crop agroecosystems. I also serve as IPM Coordinator where I oversee a statewide extension IPM program that aims to increase adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) practices. The main emphasis of my research and extension program is to improve insect pest management in field crop systems that (a) increases economic benefit for growers, and (b) promotes environmentally friendly tactics. Improved practices target major field crop industries in South Carolina (corn, grain sorghum, cotton, soybean, and tobacco).

Research Interests

In addition to addressing clientele needs by conducting research that can be rapidly implemented by growers (e.g., insecticide efficacy and timing, development of economic thresholds, evaluating varieties with resistance to insect pests), my research program also strives to address challenges that require a more long-term focus, such as understanding insect dispersal and crop colonization, determining how transgenic crops impact pest biology, or elucidating the feeding behavior of insect herbivores.

Extension and Outreach

My extension activities include delivering information to county extension agents, growers, and others involved in agriculture by giving presentations at meetings hosted by county extension agents, grower meetings organized by industry, experiment station field days and tours, certified crop advisor training sessions, crop pest scout schools, county extension agent training sessions, and state commodity meetings. I also update annually the Clemson University Pest Management Handbook with sections on corn, grain sorghum, and tobacco insects, in addition to writing several publications in Land-Grant Press (https://lgpress.clemson.edu/).

As IPM Coordinator, I oversee activities of the SC Extension IPM Program that is funded by a grant from the USDA NIFA Crop Protection and Pest Management Extension Implementation Program. This grant provides partial support to address stakeholder identified needs in Agronomic Crop IPM, Specialty Crop IPM, and Pollinator Health priority areas. The overarching goal of the program is to increase adoption of cost-effective and environmentally sound IPM practices, providing long-term solutions to critical pest management challenges. Coordinated extension programming aims to develop appropriate knowledge and competencies in producers and pest managers across the state, with the purpose of preventing excessive levels of pest damage, minimizing risks to the environment and to people, and reducing the evolution of resistance among target pests to pesticides.

Publications

Esquivel, I. L., T. Bryant, S. Malone, A. L. Jacobson, S. H. Graham, P. Gimenez-Cremonez, S. V. Paula-Moraes, D. Reisig, J. Greene, A. Huseth, P. Roberts, F.P.F. Reay-Jones, and S. Taylor. 2025. First report of two-spot cotton leafhopper (Amrasca biguttula Ishida) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) on commercial cotton in the southeastern United States. Insects. 16(9): 966. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects16090966.

Bryant, T., and F.P.F. Reay-Jones. 2025. Pest status and management of stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in field corn in the southeastern United States. Journal of Integrated Pest Management. 16(1): 26. https://doi.org/10.1093/jipm/pmaf027

Mueller, D.S., Iles, L.C., Pilcher, C., Sisson, A.J., Magarey, R., Adams, R., Almodovar, W.I., Alston, D., Beauzay P., Bessin, R., Bish, M., Burrows, M., Calixto, A., Chandran, R., Colquhoun, J.B., Concklin, M., Dreves, A.J., Ellsworth, P.C., Esker, P.D., Farrar, J., Fournier, A., Frank, D., Hamby, K., Hamilton, G., Hanson, A., Hazelrigg, A., Hein-Ferris, N., Held, D., Jaskinski, J., Kelly, H.M., Kerns, D., Kersten, M., Knodel, J., Koehler, G., Kratsch, H., Krupke, C.H., Leppla, N.C., Lizotte, E., Matney, C., Melanson, R.A., Miller, F., Murray, M., Owens, D., Plewa, D., Reay-Jones, F.P.F., Rondon, S.I., Royer, T.A., Rozeboom, P.A., Sandler, H., Schell, S.P., Schuh, M., Seipel, T., Seth-Carley, D., Sial, A., Singh, R., Smith, D.L., Stock, T., Studebaker, G., Szczepaniec, A., Tewksbury, L., Tooker, J., Varenhorst, A.J., Vinchesi-Vahl, A., Walsh, D., Wickwar, D., Wright, R.J., and Zebelo, S. 2025. Integrated Pest Management (IPM): State infrastructure status after 50 years of federal support (1973-2023). 2025. Journal of Integrated Pest Management. 16(1) 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1093/jipm/pmaf016

Reay-Jones, F.P.F., G. D. Buntin, and D. D. Reisig. 2025. Interactive effects between yields of Bt and non-Bt corn and planting dates in the southeastern United States. Journal of Economic Entomology. 118(2): 680-691.

Reay-Jones, F.P.F., G. Schnabel, T. Bryant, J. LaForest, R. Melanson, A. Acebes-Doria, and B. Blauuw. 2025. MyIPM smartphone applications – tools to increase adoption of integrated pest management. Journal of Integrated Pest Management. 16(1): 3. https://doi.org/10.1093/jipm/pmae038

Calixto, E. S., S.V. Paula-Moraes, D.D. Reisig, A.A. Santos, and F.P.F. Reay-Jones. 2024. Beyond wingbeats: dispersal capacity and morphophysiological determinants in Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 117(6): 309-318.

Reay-Jones, F.P.F., G. D. Buntin, D. D. Reisig, and W. C. Bridges, Jr. 2024. Longitudinal trials illustrate interactive effects between declining Bt efficacy against Helicoverpa zea and planting dates of corn. Journal of Economic Entomology. 117: 1901-1912.

Bryant, T., J. K. Greene, D.D. Reisig, and F.P.F. Reay-Jones. 2024. Continued decline in sublethal effects of Bt toxins on Helicoverpa zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in field corn. Journal of Economic Entomology. 117: 1876-1883.

Silva, T., G. A. Sword, A. Miller, J. A. Qureshi, G. P. Head, D. D. Kerns, J. L. Jurat-Fuentes, J. Villegas, T. Towels, X. Ni, F.P.F. Reay-Jones, D. Carrillo, D. R. Cook, C. Daves, M. J. Stout, B. Thrash, S. Paula-Moraes, S. Lin, B. Patla, Y. Niu, C. I.R. Sakuno, and F. Huang. 2024. Reversal of practical resistance in fall armyworm to Cry1F maize: a case report on the resistance to susceptibility in Bt crops from the southeastern United States. Journal of Pest Science. 98: 1019-1035. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-024-01804-y

Bryant, T., J. K. Greene, and F.P.F. Reay-Jones. 2024. Competition between brown stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and corn earworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in field corn. Environmental Entomology. 53(5) 860-869.

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