Meg Ballard

I'm a M.S. student in the lab of Dr. Hough-Goldstein. I grew up in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey and spent most of my free time as a kid playing in the sand and eating blueberries off the wild bushes in the woods that were my backyard. Growing up and then attending college in New Jersey afforded me the opportunity to observe the interface between native habitats, small vegetable farms, and suburban sprawl. This set the stage for an interest in ecological systems and agriculture that I discovered while at Rutgers University. At Rutgers I worked as an integrated pest management field scout in sweet corn and tomatoes and was introduced to the wonderful world of insects. My interest in agroecosystems and conservation ecology and biocontrol grew from this early experience with IPM.

After working for several years as a middle school science teacher, I moved back to the Delaware Valley to pursue my M.S. at the University of Delaware . My research here has focused on how alien plant invasions alter insect communities. My project looked at 12 species (six native and six alien) of early-successional annual herbaceous plants (i.e. weeds) and the phytophagous insects that were found on these plants. I also examined differences in populations of generalist insect predators. My preliminary results have shown that the alien plants in my experiment had a smaller biomass of insects, as well as fewer insects and decreased species richness, compared to the native plants. While some authors have recently said alien plant invasions don't decrease biodiversity and are not damaging to ecosystems except as humans place value judgments on them, my research shows that insect diversity and numbers can be negatively impacted by alien plan invasions. My future research will hopefully broaden the knowledge of how alien plants impact ecosystem functioning.

On a personal note, I like to spend any free time renovating my 90 year old craftsman bungalow with my husband, reading science fiction when I can, and chasing my dog around the yard.