My name is Maggie and I am originally from Prince Edward Island. I did my undergraduate degree (BScH) at Acadia University along with my Co-op’s at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Kentville and Charlottetown. For my undergraduate thesis I studied species in the Delia genus and their impact on commercial onion in the Annapolis Valley. As a research assistant in my coop positions I studied economically important agricultural and horticultural pests such as wire worm (Agriotes sputator), pollen beetle (Meligethes viridescens), and the apple maggot (Rhagoletis pomonella).
My PhD research surveys the diversity and abundance of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) found in pea leaf weevil pitfall traps in pea and faba bean agroecosystems in Alberta. Local landscape variables associated with agroecosystems will be assessed to determine the influence of these variables on ground beetle abundance and diversity and molecular gut content analysis (MGCA) will also be conducted to disentangle the food webs in agroecosystems. I am co-supervised by Dr. Maya Evenden and Dr. Boyd Mori in the ALES faculty. My research interests are in agricultural and horticultural pest management and predicting the landscape effects on agricultural pest suppression.
