Dr. Randa Jabbour

Research

My overall research goal is to utilize ecological interactions to design sustainable agricultural systems. Specifically, I study 1) pest management in cropping systems, 2) the effect of biodiversity and habitat heterogeneity on ecosystem services, and 3) the role of farmer decision-making in agricultural management, in collaboration with social scientists. Here in Wyoming, I plan to develop research projects in these areas in relevant field crop and forage systems, in collaboration with faculty and Extension professionals here at the University and with others in the region.

Publications

Noy, S. and Jabbour, R. 2019. Decision-making in local context: Expertise, experience, and the importance of neighbours in farmers’ insect pest management. Sociologia Ruralis doi.org/10.1111/soru.12267.

Jabbour, R. and Pellissier, M.E. 2019. Instructor priorities for undergraduate organic agriculture education. Natural Sciences Education 48: 1-7.

Leslie, T and Jabbour, R. 2019. Case study and exercise: Genetically modified crops and biological conservation on farmlands. Lessons in Conservation 9: 95-110. 

Pellissier, M.E.* and Jabbour, R. 2018. Herbivore and parasitoid insects respond differently to annual and perennial floral strips in an alfalfa ecosystem. Biological Control 123: 28-35.

Rand, T., Pellissier, M.E.*, Jabbour, R., Lundgren, J.G., and Waters, D.K. 2018. Evaluating the establishment success of Microctonus aethiopoides (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a parasitoid of the alfalfa weevil (Coleoptera:Curculionidae), across the northern Great Plains. The Canadian Entomologist 150: 274-277.  

Jabbour, R. and Noy, S. 2017. Wyoming producer priorities and perceptions of alfalfa insect pests. Journal of Integrated Pest Management 8: 1-7.  

Noy, S. and Jabbour, R. 2017. Using egocentric networks to illustrate information seeking and sharing by alfalfa farmers in Wyoming. Journal of Extension 55:2RIB1.

Pellissier, M.E.*, Nelson, Z*. Jabbour, R. 2017. Ecology and management of the alfalfa weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Western United States alfalfa. Journal of Integrated Pest Management 8: 1-7.

Kniss, A.R., Savage, S., Jabbour, R. 2016. Commercial crop yields reveal strengths and weaknesses for organic agriculture in the United States. PLoS ONE 11(8): e0161673. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0161673.

Jabbour, R., Pisani-Gareau, T., Smith, R.G., Mullen, C., Barbercheck, M. 2015. Cover crop and tillage intensities alter ground-dwelling arthropod communities during the transition to organic production. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 31: 361-374.

Jongejans, E., Skarpaas, O., Ferrari, M.J., Long, E.S., Dauer, J.T., Schwarz, C.M., Rauschert, E.S.J., Jabbour, R., Mortensen, D.A., Isard, S.A., Lieb, D.A., Sezen, Z., Hulting, A.G., Shea, K. 2015. A unifying gravity framework for dispersal. Theoretical Ecology 8: 207-223.

Birthisel, S.K.*, Gallandt, E.R., Jabbour, R., Drummond, F.A. 2015. Habitat and time are more important predictors of weed seed predation than space on a diversified vegetable farm in Maine, USA. Weed Science 63: 916-927.

Schipanski, M., Smith, R.G., Pisani Gareau, T.L., Jabbour, R., Lewis, D.B., Barbercheck, M.E., Mortensen, D.A., Kaye, J.P. 2014. Multivariate relationships influencing crop yields during the transition to organic management. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 189: 119-126.

Birthisel, S.K.*, Gallandt, E.R., Jabbour, R. 2014. Habitat effects on second-order predation of the seed predator Harpalus rufipes and implications for weed seedbank management. Biological Control 70: 65-72.

Jabbour, R., Gallandt, E.R., Zwickle, S., Wilson, R.S., Doohan, D. 2014. Organic farmer knowledge and perceptions are associated with on-farm weed seedbank densities in northern New England. Weed Science 62: 338-349.

Crowder, D.W., Jabbour, R. 2014. Relationships between biodiversity and biological control in agroecosystems: Current status and future challenges. Biological Control 75: 8-17.

Jabbour, R., Zwickle, S., Gallandt, E.R., McPhee, K., Wilson, R., Doohan, D. 2013. Mental models of organic weed management: comparison of New England farmer and expert models. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 29: 319-333.  

Lynch, C.A., Crowder, D.W., Jabbour, R., Snyder, W.E. 2013. Spud web: Species interactions and biodiversity in potatoes. Book chapter in Insect Pests of World’s Potatoes: Biology and Management, edited by P. Giordanengo and A. Alyokhin.

Northfield. T.D, Crowder, D.W., Jabbour, R., Snyder, W.E. 2012. Natural enemy functional identity, trait-mediated interactions, and biological control. Book chapter inEcology and Evolution of Trait-Mediated Indirect Interactions, edited by T. Ohgushi, O. Schmitz, and R.D. Holt.

Jabbour, R., Crowder, D.W., Aultman, E.A.*, Snyder, W.E. 2011. Entomopathogen biodiversity increases host mortality. Biological Control 59: 277-283.

Lewis, D.B., Kaye, J.P., Jabbour, R., Barbercheck, M.E. 2011. Labile soil carbon accumulates under reduced tillage during agroecosystem transition into organic management. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 26: 342-353.

Jabbour, R., Barbercheck, M.E. 2011. Soil microarthropod response to the application of entomopathogenic nematode-killed insects in maize and refuge habitats. Pedobiologia 54: 243-251.  

Jabbour, R., Barbercheck, M.E. 2009. Soil management effects on entomopathogenic fungi during the transition to organic agriculture in a feed grain rotation. Biological Control 51: 435 – 443. 

Smith, R.G., Jabbour, R., Hulting, A.G., Barbercheck, M.E., Mortensen, D.A.  2009.  Effects of initial seed-bank density on weed seedling emergence during the transition to an organic feed-grain crop rotation. Weed Science 57: 533 – 540. 

Geib, S.M., Jimenez-Gasco, M.M., Carlson, J.E., Tien, M., Jabbour, R., Hoover, K.  2009.  Microbial community profiling to investigate transmission of bacteria between life stages of the wood-boring beetle Anoplophora glabripennis.  Microbial Ecology 58: 199 – 211.

Jabbour, R., Barbercheck, M.E. 2008. Soil and habitat complexity effects on the dispersal of the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae. Biological Control 47: 235 – 243. 

McClain, C.R., Rex, M.A., Jabbour, R. 2005. Deconstructing bathymetric patterns of body size in deep-sea gastropods. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 297:181 – 1871.