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Beneficial Insects: Recognizing and Protecting Natural Enemies and Pollinators
June 3, 2023
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Beneficial insects include pollinators, predators, and parasitoids. All are affected negatively by insecticide use, loss of habitat, disease and other factors. This workshop will focus on identification and recognition of beneficial insects, yard and garden habitat modifications to encourage populations of beneficials, and the use of neem and other biorational insect control measures as alternatives to commercial insecticides.
- Cost: $15
- Register: Register HERE
Participants will receive a supply of neem oil and instructions to create do-it-yourself garden and house plant sprays. If weather and time permit, an optional insect field walk will be offered. Closed-toe shoes, long pants and insect/tick repellent strongly recommended.
Paula Mitchell, Professor Emerita at Winthrop University, is presently the part-time Collections Manager for the Winthrop Biology Department Museum and an adjunct professor in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Clemson University. She was born and raised in New York City and received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973. She enrolled in graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin intending to study lizard ecology, but ultimately found lizard gut contents far more interesting than the lizards themselves. Morphing from herpetologist to heteropterist, Paula completed her Ph.D. in Zoology in 1980, followed by a post-doctoral position in the Entomology Department at Louisiana State University. Her doctoral research focused on the ecology and feeding behavior of leaf-footed bugs; at LSU she studied soybean insect feeding and crop damage. From 1984-1993, Paula taught part-time at Tarleton State University and Texas Christian University while raising young children; during this time, she also served as co-editor of the Journal of Economic Entomology. During her 25 years at Winthrop, she taught courses in zoology, entomology, animal-plant interactions, and sustainable agriculture; served as the first female president of the South Carolina Entomological Society; and was a Fulbright Research Scholar for one year in India, studying the use of neem as an environmentally friendly method of controlling insects on pigeonpea. Her research at Winthrop focused on pests of soybean and cotton, and she is presently co-authoring a guide to the lace bugs of South Carolina. She has published 3 book chapters, 30 research papers, and a book about the feeding behavior of stink bugs, and lives in Rock Hill with her spouse, her cat, and a small colony of lace bugs.