Rowen, Elizabeth
Service Assistant Professor of Entomology
I grew up in Santa Cruz, CA with two younger sisters, and dreamed of being an astronaut. When I realized the food was not so good in space, I decided instead I would help develop crops for NASA. When I moved across the country to get my BA in Biology at Wellesley College in 2011, I discovered a love for ecology and plant biology that I have been pursuing ever since. After internship at the Bureau of Land Management in Bishop CA collecting native seeds for restoration projects, I wanted to learn more about plant behavior and ecology. I relocated to Indiana to do my Masters in Entomology at Purdue University under the supervision of Dr. Ian Kaplan, where I studied plant volatiles and the effect of a predator lure containing methyl salicylate on tomato defenses against Manduca sexta. I then moved the Pennsylvania State University to do a PhD in Entomology with Dr. John Tooker, where I studied the effects of soil management techniques (tillage, fertilizers, cover crops, and neonicotinoid pesticides) on plant resistance to herbivores and their predators in both corn and soybeans.
Select Publications
- Rowen, E, Tooker, J. Stacked cow manure and wheat cover crops in no-till corn augment resources for predators but only weakly affect predator activity-density and predation rates. Environmental Entomology. sub
- Rowen, E, Regan K, Barbercheck M, Tooker J.2020 Tillage in agriculture: Is it costly or beneficial for pest management? Agriculture, Ecosystem and Environment, 294: 106849
- Rowen, E, Tooker, J. Fertilizing corn with manure decreases caterpillar performance but increases slug damage. Environmental Entomology, 49:141–150.
- Rowen E, Tooker J, and Blubaugh C. 2019. Soil fertility management to promote arthropod pest suppression. Biological Control 134: 130–140.
- Rowen E, Gutensohn M, Doudareva N, Kaplan I. 2017 Carnivore attractant or plant elicitor? Multifunctional roles of methyl salicylate lures on tomato ( Solanum lycospersicum) defense. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 43: 572–585.
- Rowen E, & Kaplan, I. 2016. Eco‐evolutionary factors drive induced plant volatiles: a meta‐analysis. New Phytologist. 210: 284–294.