Betty Benrey

Current appointments

• Foreign Expert Professor – Henan University, China
• Visiting Scholar – The University of Pennsylvania
• Red Global Mexico, Chapter Switzerland-Liechtenstein (Global Network MX)

I am a Mexican national recently retired from The University of Neuchâtel. I remain actively involved in research and mentorship, continuing to supervise graduate students and contributing to international scientific collaborations, with a strong commitment to advancing sustainable agriculture through interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approaches. As a biologist with a long-standing interest in plant-insect interactions, my research explores the ecological processes that shape biodiversity and pest dynamics in agricultural systems. My research revolves around plant-insect-microbe interactions, chemical ecology, and agroecology, with a focus on how domestication and plant diversity shape multitrophic interactions in agricultural systems. I use beans, maize, and squash, within the context of a traditional Mesoamerican polyculture, the milpa, to investigate how plant traits influence herbivores, natural enemies, and microbial symbionts.

Over the years, my work has advanced understanding in several key areas:

• Effects of domestication on plant defenses, insect performance, and the genetic structure of herbivore and parasitoid populations.
• Induced plant defenses, and their cascading impacts on arthropod communities across multiple trophic levels.
• Belowground-aboveground linkages, including how mutualistic associations like rhizobia or extrafloral nectar-producing plants mediate insect interactions.
• Plant diversity and pest regulation, demonstrating that traditional systems like the milpa foster higher biodiversity and enhance natural enemy efficacy through shared herbivore-parasitoid networks and apparent competition. Our field-based research combines evolutionary and applied perspectives to contribute to more resilient, biologically informed cropping systems.

Recent work in Oaxaca, Mexico, has shown that milpa systems not only support more diverse insect and microbial communities than monocultures, but also promote ecological facilitation among crops through root and shoot interactions. These interactions enhance associational resistance, whereby one crop species benefits from the defensive traits or natural enemy attraction of its neighbors. Together, these mechanisms contribute to improved pest suppression and greater system resilience. This research highlights the milpa as a powerful model for designing sustainable, ecologically functional agriculture rooted in traditional knowledge.