Vegetable Entomology Staff
Dakshina Seal, Assistant Scientist
My research focuses on pests of vegetable crops. This involves studying the biology of a wide range of pests that affect commercial growers of vegetable crops here in south Florida and determining the best approach to monitoring and managing the control of said pests.
My staff includes a full-time research technician and two field technicians.
Catherine M. Sabines, Research Technician
Catherine conducts studies on silverleaf whitefly, melon thrips, leafminers and mites on various vegetable crops. She maintains the laboratory rearing of silverleaf whitefly. As well, she analyzes all samples generated from various field studies to evaluate the effectiveness of various management programs using chemical and biological products, recording the data using SAS. She provides assistance to the field technicians to set field plots, collect samples, and process them for further study. She also takes care of the administrative duties for the lab, including inventory and purchasing.
Jacinto Betancourt, Field Technician
Jacinto grows vegetables for conducting pest management studies. He sets up research plots and maintains those plots with specific management tools, and collects samples and processes them for further study. Jacinto maintains the laboratory rearing of corn silk fly and sweet potato weevil.
Rafael Herrera, Field Technician (part time)
Rafael sets up research plots and maintains those plots with specific management tools, and collects samples, processing them for further study.