Iris Rivera-Salinas, a Chancellor Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Santa Cruz, will present a seminar hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology on April 15. The event will take place at 12:10 p.m. in Briggs Hall and is open to both in-person and virtual attendees.
The seminar aims to explore the intricate factors influencing ecosystem services, focusing on pest and disease control in agriculture. This topic is important as it addresses how biodiversity contributes to vital ecosystem functions that impact food production and environmental health.
Rivera-Salinas said, “Biodiversity provides vital ecosystem services, including the regulation of pests and diseases in agroecosystems. However, the effectiveness of these services depends on various factors, such as complex ecological interactions, landscape characteristics and seasonal variations.” She will discuss her doctoral research examining natural enemies’ roles in controlling coffee pests in Puerto Rico as well as her proposed postdoctoral work investigating how flower composition and landscape affect parasites and viruses among bees along California’s coast.
Rivera-Salinas is part of the Stacy Philpott lab at UC Santa Cruz’s Department of Environmental Studies. Her research interests include agroecology, ecological complexity, insects, disease transmission and predation. In a recent publication co-authored by Rivera-Salinas titled “Pest Control in Coffee: A Tri-Trophic Comparison between a Mainland and an Island Agroecosystem,” she wrote: “The practical requirement of pest control in agriculture is an evident application of principles of tri-trophic ecological interactions—plant (crop), herbivore (pest), and predator (natural enemy). We analyze the coffee agroecosystem…comparing a mainland site (Mexico) and an island site (Puerto Rico)…We explore how the basic nodes of the natural enemy network remain relatively constant between mainland and island, but their frequency and…the complications of their interconnections are dramatically different.”
University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources supports its programs through public contributions according to its official website. The organization promotes sustainable practices for resilient ecosystems while managing Cooperative Extension services throughout all 58 counties according to its official website. It operates nine research centers representing diverse Californian ecosystems according to its official website, conducts over 33,800 educational events annually with more than 18,400 volunteers according to its official website, extends university research via workshops across communities according to its official website, delivers science-based information for stewardship efforts according to its official website, mobilizes resources for state issues according to its official website, strengthens economic vitality through partnerships according to its official website, utilizes trusted community-linked services according to its official website.
Looking ahead, Rivera-Salinas said her talk “will emphasize the importance of investigating the complexities behind ecosystem services that facilitate win-win scenarios for both biodiversity conservation and the management of agroecosystems.”
