Mary Barbercheck, Ph.D.

Current Post-doctoral Researchers:

Richard Smith (co-supervised with D. Mortenson, Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences) David Lewis (co-supervised with J. Kaye, Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences)

Department Focus Area:

Ecological applications, disease ecology and biology

Research Programs & Interests:

Biological soil quality and sustainability - A major area of emphasis in my research program is on the impact of agricultural practices on soil biodiversity and function. Soil organisms are tightly linked functionally to above-ground interactions and are involved in ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, carbon storage, maintenance of plant diversity, biological control of human and agricultural pests, and bioremediation, and therefore, are of critical importance to ecosystem function and productivity. Agricultural management has generally been driven by production at the expense of the environment and, in many cases, the use of pesticides and fertilizers has masked the importance of soil biota. Consequently, there is a lack of data on the value of services provided by soil arthropods in maintaining soil structure, soil fertility, antagonism and control of pest organisms, and in mediating processes such as decomposition and mineralization. This information will be critical as the use of synthetic inputs in agriculture become more restricted and/or less desirable. The long-term goal is to identify practices that encourage productivity and minimize costs associated with synthetic inputs and damage from insect pests.

Biology and ecology of entomopathogenic nematodes and fungi - Entomopathogenic nematodes and fungi important natural mortality factors for soil-dwelling insect pests, and currently the ones with the greatest potential for successful commercial use. The goal of my research on entomopathogenic nematodes and fungi has been to clarify aspects of their biology and ecology that relates to their successful use as conserved or applied biological control agents. Projects have ranged from very practical to fairly basic - from efficacy trials to the effects of insect food plant on the biology and ecology of entomopathogenic nematodes and the effects of selection on several aspects of their biology. Another current area of emphasis is the impact of agricultural practices on the occurrence and abundance of entomopathogenic nematodes and fungi.

International Programs/Experience:

International Teaching: Insect Nematology. Short Course on Insect Pathology for Central America and Mexico. Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Dec. 6-11, 1999.

International Research:

Supervised PhD student who conducted her dissertation research in Mexico.

Eben, A.U. and M. E. Barbercheck. 1997. Mexican Diabroticites: I. Laboratory tests on host breadth of Acalymma and Diabrotica spp. Entomol. Exp. Appl. 82: 53-62.

Eben, A.U. and M. E. Barbercheck. 1997. Mexican Diabroticites: II. Tests for preference of cucurbit hosts by Acalymma and Diabrotica spp. Entomol. Exp. Appl. 82: 63-72.

Eben, A.U. and M. E. Barbercheck. 1996. Sculpturing of the eggshell of some Mexican diabroticites (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Coleopterists Bull. 51: 80-85.

Eben, A.U. , M. E. Barbercheck & M. Aluja. 1996. Field observations on host plant associations and natural enemies of diabroticite beetles (Chrysomelidae: Luperini) in Veracruz, Mexico. Acta Zoologica Mexicana: 67: 47-65

1982-85, Agricultural Researcher (Nematology), Plant Protection Research Institute, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Barbercheck, M.E. 1986. Control of Meloidogyne javanica in dormant grapevine nursery stock (research note). Phytophylactica 18: 39 - 40.

Barbercheck, M.E. and Heyns, J. 1986. Occurrence of Xiphinema in South African plant improvement vineyards. Phytophylactica 18: 59 - 61.

Barbercheck, M.E. and Von Broembsen, S.L. 1986. Effects of soil solarization on plant-parasitic nematodes and Phytophthora cinnamomi in South Africa. Plant Disease 70: 945 - 950.

Barbercheck, M.E., Smith, P.C., and Heyns, J. 1985. Occurrence and distribution of Xiphinema in vineyards of the Bree River Valley. Phytophylactica 17: 27 - 30.

International Presentations:

Jabbour, R., Barbercheck, M. 2008. Habitat complexity effects on nematode movement in maize. Annual Meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology, Coventry, UK, August 3 - 7, 2008.

Amy Trauger, Carolyn Sachs, Mary Barbercheck, Kathy Braiser and Nancy Ellen Kiernan. “Our market is our community”: women farmers and civic agriculture in Pennsylvania, USA, Agriculture, Food and Human Values, Victoria, BC. 2008

Effect of soil management on naturally occurring entomopathogenic fungi during the transition to an organic farming system Randa Jabbour, R., Barbercheck, M., Mullen, C.. Society for Invertebrate PathologyAnnual Meeting, Quebec, Canada, August 2007

Barbercheck, M.E., and C. M. Greenwood, 2004. Response of soil fauna to inundatively and cadaver-applied entomopathogenic nematodes (Invited Symposium Paper) Society for Invertebrate Pathology 37th Annual Meeting, Helsinki, Finland, Aug. 1-5, 2004.

Barbercheck, M.E., J. Wang and C. Brownie. Adaptation of entomopathogenic nematodes to insect food plant. VIII International Colloquium on Invertebrate Pathology and Microbial Control. XXXV Annual Meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology. August 18 to 23, 2002. Foz do Iguassu, Brazil.

Koenning, S. and M.E. Barbercheck Influence of diverse agricultural systems on the population dynamics of free-living, plant-parasitic and entomopathogenic nematodes. Fourth International Congress of Nematology, 2002, Teneriffe.

Barbercheck, M.E. , Mueller, P. et al. Desarrollo y Implementacion de un Estudio de Sistemas Agricolas al Gran Escala y Larga Duracion. I Simposio Internacional sobre Ganaderia Agroecologica, La Habana, Cuba, 6-8 December, 2001.

Barbercheck, M.E. , Mueller, P. et al. Investigaciones Sobre la Ecologia del Suelo en el Centro de Sistemas Agricolas Ambientales. IV Taller Internacional sobre Recursos Fitogeneticos, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, 3-4 December, 2001.

C. M. Newman, C.M. & M. Barbercheck . Interaction between soil mites and entomopathogenic nematodes. ESA Annual Meeting, Dec. 3-7, 2000. Montreal, Canada

Barbercheck, M.E. Evaluation of non-target effects of native and introduced entomopathogenic nematodes. COST 819 Symposium on Entomopathogenic Nematode Bacterial Complexes - Current Achievements and Prospects for the Future, Maynooth, Ireland, 12-16 April, 2000.

Barbercheck, M.E. & L. C. Millar. Non-Target Effects of Entomopathogenic Nematodes. IOBC International Symposium "Evaluating Indirect Effects of Biological Control . 10/17-20, 1999. Montpellier, France

Barbercheck, M.E. and j. Wang. Insect host plant effects on the biology of entomopathogenic nematodes. Annual Meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology, Banff, Canada, Aug.24-29, 1997

Barbercheck, M.E. Tritrophic level effects on entomopathogenic nematodes. VIth International Colloquium on Invertebrate Pathology and Microbial Control, Montpellier, France, August 1994.

Barbercheck, M.E. The effect of soil solarization, fallow, and EDB fumigation on plant-parasitic nematodes. Nematological Society of Southern Africa, Stellenbosch, SA, 1985

Relevant Publications:

Jabbour, R. and M. E. Barbercheck. 2008. Soil and habitat complexity effects on movement of the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae in maize. Biological Control 47: 235-243

Trauger, A., Sachs, C., Barbercheck, M., Brasier, K., Kiernan, N.E., 2008. Agricultural Education: Gender Identity and Knowledge Exchange. Journal of Rural Studies 24: 432-439.

Barbercheck, M.E., D.A. Neher, O. Anas, S.M. El-Allaf, and T.R.Weicht. 2008. Response of soil invertebrates to disturbance across three resource regions in North Carolina. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 0167-6369 (Print) 1573-2959 (Online). DOI 10.1007/s10661-008-0315-5

Wyer, M.B., M. E. Barbercheck, D. Cookmeyer, H. Ozturk, M. Wayne. 2008. Women in Science and Technology. 2nd Edition. Routledge, NY.

Stuart, R.J., M. E. Barbercheck, P. S. Grewal, R. A.J. Taylor, C. W. Hoy. 2006. Population Biology of Entomopathogenic Nematodes: Concepts, Issues and Models. Biological Control 38: 80-102.

Mueller, P., Creamer, N., Mary Barbercheck, Melissa Bell, Cavell Brownie1, Alyssa Collins, Ken Fager, Shuijin Hu, Lisa Jackson, Steve Koenning, Nicholas Kuminoff, Michael Linker, Frank Louws, Susan Mellage, David Monks, David Orr, Charles Raczkowski, Jessica Seem, Cong Tu, Michael Wagger, Robert Walters, Ada Wossink, and Weijin Zhang. 2006. Long-Term, Large-Scale Systems Research Directed Toward Agricultural Sustainability. Pp. 79-98 in: Long-term Field Experiments in Organic Farming (J. Raupp, C. Pekrun, M. Oltmanns, U. Köpke, Eds.)(2006). ISOFAR Scientific Series No 1. Verlag Dr. Köster, Berlin, Germany. ISBN-Nr. 3-89574-590-1

Barbercheck, M. E. and Hoy, C. W. 2005. A systems approach to conservation of nematodes. In: Grewal P. S., Ehlers, R.-U. and David, Shapiro-Ilan, D. I. (Eds), Nematodes as Biocontrol Agents, CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, UK, pp. 331-347.

Barbercheck, M. and L. D. W. Duncan. 2004. Abiotic Factors. In: R. Gaugler, A. Bilgrami, (Eds.), “Nematode Behaviour”, CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, UK , pp. 309-343

Neher, D. A., J. Wu, M.E. Barbercheck and O. Anas. 2005. Ecosystem type affects interpretation of soil nematode community measures. Applied Soil Ecology 30: 47-64.

Eaton, R. J., Barbercheck, M., Buford, M., Smith, W. 2004. Effects of organic matter removal, soil compaction, and vegetation control on collembolan populations. Pedobiologia 48: 121-128.

Barbercheck, M.E., J. Wang, and C. Brownie. 2003. Adaptation of the entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema carpocapsae, to insect food plant. Biological Control 27: 81 – 94.

Neher, D., M. E. Barbercheck, S. El-Allaf & O. Anas. 2003. Effects of Disturbance on Decomposition of Cellulose and Lignin. Applied Soil Ecology 23:165-179.

Mueller, J. P. M. E. Barbercheck, M. Bell, C. Brownie, N. G. Creamer, A. Hitt, L. King, H.M. Linker, F.J. Louws, S. Marlow, M. Marra, C. W. Raczkowski, D. Susko, and M.G. Wagger. 2002. Development and implementation of a long-term agricultural studies: Challenges and opportunities. HortTechnology 12: 362-368. Millar, L. C. and M. E. Barbercheck. 2002. Effects of tillage practices on entomopathogenic nematodes in a corn agroecosystem . Biological Control 25: 1- 11.

Hummel, R., J. F. Walgenbach, M. E. Barbercheck, G. G. Kennedy, G. D. Hoyt, and C. Arellano. 2002. Effects of production practices on soil-borne entomopathogens in western North Carolina vegetable systems. Environmental Entomol. 31: 84-91.

Millar, L. C. and M. E. Barbercheck. 2001. Interaction between endemic and introduced entomopathogenic nematodes in corn. Biological Control. 22: 235-245.