Ph.D. Student, 2018-Present

Entomology Building 

jaimie.kenney@email.ucr.edu

Education

2018 B.S. Biology - Eastern Washington University

2012 B.A. Spanish - Eastern Washington University

Research Interests

Since joining the Mauck lab in 2018, Jaimie has become fascinated by psyllids and their bacterial associates. Psyllids are tiny, sap-sucking insects that have recently gained notoriety as vectors of plant pathogenic bacteria in the genus 'Candidatus' Liberibacter. However, we have only a limited knowledge of the host plant range and know almost nothing about the microbiota of the vast majority of psyllid species. Thus, Jaimie's current research takes advantage of UC Riverside's location in southern California--a hotspot of psyllid biodiversity--to study the relationships between native psyllids, their host plants, and bacterial associates, such as 'Candidatus' Liberibacter species, in order to better understand the emergence of virulent, psyllid-transmitted plant pathogens.

Join Jaimie's iNaturalist project, Psyllids of California, to share your psyllid observations!

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/psyllids-of-california

Have you seen this psyllid?

Jaimie has a special interest in one native psyllid species, in particular: the potato psyllid (Bactericera cockerelli).  She's currently crowd-sourcing data on potato psyllid spatio-temporal distribution and host plant associations via The Potato Psyllid Project on iNaturalist, accessible here:

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/the-potato-psyllid-project

Community-Based Potato Psyllid Sampling Project

Jaimie's also collecting potato psyllid specimens from across western North America for a population genetics study. Have you recently encountered potato psyllids in your garden or while out hiking in natural plant communities? Click here for more info on how you can contribute potato psyllid specimens to this study!

Google Scholar:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2PLXJ2QAAAAJ&hl=en