Written by Alexandra Veverka

This past week I have begun to feel like I have a normal life here, and it is almost perfect. I always loved the idea of merging with the community I am visiting, not just becoming another tourist. I have truly been able to do so here in the kind and welcoming community of Valencia.

I have begun even more work looking at how to control pests within different productions including citrus and strawberry. This can be a challenge at times because it is a lot of new research and information that I was not familiar with before, but the team I am working with has extensive knowledge on how to identify certain pests and distinguish the relationship between them. You may think all these bugs look the same. But in fact they are different, and identifying the differences can be very challenging but rewarding to discover.

The photo of the leaf is one I took under the microscope. This is something I would have looked at before and had absolutely no idea what was going on. However, after hours in the lab, I can identify the green insect as a male T. urticae, and the creme insect is a Amblyseius californicus. These are important to identify because then we can understand that the californicus is a predator of urticae and feeding on the urticae (the green insect) in this photo. The purpose of this is for biological control to get rid of insects harmful to the plant using natural enemies.

My work has shown me so much more about the natural world than I expected, and so much more outside of just plants. In addition to this I have been able to experience so much out of work, including a fun quiz night with new friends. I have and will continue to enjoy all the incredible food and people that Valencia has to offer. Ever since I was little I wanted to go to Madrid, but Valencia has stolen my heart.