Biological control of Invasive Plants
As an undergraduate at the University of Delaware I spent three years working on projects relating to the control of mile-a-minute weed using small weevil. My projects included extensive field and greenhouse work and employed both experimental and observational studies. The questions I addressed during this work focused in two major areas (1) the host-plant finding behavior the weevil and (2) the factors influencing the reproductive potential of mile-a-minute. This work was done in collaboration with Dr. Judith Hough-Goldstein and Dr. Ellen Lake with funding from the United States Forest Service and the University of Delaware. I also assisted on projects relating to the restoration of invaded sites combining native seed planting and biological control (with Dr. Kiri Wallace).
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Invasive Pests of Small Berries
I spent the summer of 2012 working at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station at Cornell University studying the impacts of invasive insect pests (spotted-wing drosophila, grape mealy bug, brown marmorated stink bug, and grape berry moth) of small berries (grapes, strawberries, raspberries, etc.) as well as potential control methods. My main research project aimed on determining the economic injury level of brown marmorated stink bug in vineyards. By varying the density, life stage, and sex of individuals on two varieties of grape we aimed to isolate those factors most likely to influence decreases in yield or quality. This work was done in collaboration with Dr. Greg Loeb and Stephen Hesler with funding from the Cornell Summer Scholars program
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