Heather Lee Grab, Ph.D.

Department Focus Area

• Ecological Applications
• Pollinator Biology, Health, and Ecology

Research Interests

Pests and beneficial insects, like pollinators, can have major impact on the productivity of agroecosystems. The integrated pest and pollinator management strategies that I work on help growers to balance pest management needs with services provided by beneficial insects like wild pollinators. Yet, predicting when and where pests and beneficial insects are likely to occur remains a challenge for implementing these strategies. I am interested in understanding factors that predict the abundance and distribution of these important insects and applying that knowledge towards advancing the productivity and sustainability of agroecosystems.

Projects in the lab include 1) Co-managing pest and beneficial insect populations on farms through Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management including strategies like identifying reduced risk pesticide programs, all the way up to studies of habitat distribution at the landscape scale and 2) Leveraging long term monitoring data sets in combination with environmental data on land use, climate, soils etc. to predict population of pests and beneficial insects in the short and long term. Ultimately, by understanding where and when these important insects are likely to occur, I seek to develop strategies that support both food security and sustainable ecosystem goals.

Extension Activities & Interests

I work to support the needs of stakeholders in vegetable crops as well as other specialty crops like small fruits.