Donald Dahlsten, 69; Specialized in Using Insects to Control Pests
Donald L. Dahlsten, 69, a UC Berkeley professor of insect biology who specialized in using predatory insects to control pests, died Sept. 3 in a Berkeley hospital after a battle with rare type of skin cancer.
Dahlsten was one of the world’s most respected leaders in biological control, a field that gained momentum in the 1960s as an alternative to the increasingly ineffective use of pesticides.
He became best known in the early 1990s for using a special breed of Australian wasp to effectively kill blue gum psyllids, a species that ravaged blue gum eucalyptus trees in nurseries throughout California.
In 1998, Dahlsten imported a species of Australian wasp to combat red gum lerp psyllids after they infested California’s red gum eucalyptus trees.
Born in Clay Center, Neb., on Dec. 8, 1933, Dahlsten earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Davis and master’s and doctoral degrees from UC Berkeley.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
