The investigators are developing an outreach program to show Iowa stakeholders how they can increase the ecosystem services of wild pollinators and natural pest enemies. They will implement a paired-comparison experiment on five ISU farms throughout the state to test the hypothesis that adding a refuge of perennial plants attractive to beneficial insects will improve the delivery of ecosystems services to soybean and melon production. They will calculate a partial budget to isolate the effects of the beneficial insects-enhancement treatment on the value of the marketable harvest of muskmelon and soybean.
Matthew O’Neal is an assistant professor in the ISU Department of Entomology. His research is focused on developing ecologically and economically sustainable insect pest management programs for soybean. He received his Ph.D. in Entomology from Michigan State University in 2002 and his M.S. in Entomology from the University of Illinois.
Email: oneal@iastate.edu
Mark Gleason, ISU Plant Pathology and Microbiology
Cindy Haynes, ISU Horticulture and Agriculture Education
Donald Lewis, ISU Entomology
Andy Joseph, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship
Michael Duffy, ISU Economics