Matt Boucher, Ph.D.

My current research explores the planting green concept, a management practice in which farmers plant a cash crop into a living cover crop. This practice has the potential to reduce insect and slug damage to the cash crop, but the dynamics of pest suppression are poorly understood. I am especially interested in the behavior and ecology of slugs in planting green systems, as these systems provide ideal habitat for slugs and the known effects of planting green on slug damage are variable. Thus, slugs warrant attention as both an ecologically interesting creature and a potential barrier to grower adoption of planting green.