Entomologist Vonny Martin Barlow of Blythe, formerly of the UC Division of Agricultural and Natural Resources (UC ANR) and the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM)--and who most recently served an entomology project consultant with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology--passed away unexpectedly Dec. 9 in a Palm Springs hospital. He was 55.
Dr. Barlow, known for his expertise in insect pest management, including pests of rice, cotton and alfalfa, was the third graduate student of the late Larry Godfrey (1956-2017), Cooperative Extension entomologist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
In an email to friends and colleagues, Sonia Rios, area subtropical horticulture advisor, UC Cooperative Extension, Riverside and San Diego counties, related that Dr. Barlow "passed away unexpectedly on Dec. 9 from a massive heart attack." Services (limited to five people due to the COVID-19 pandemic precautions) will take place Dec. 28 in Palm Springs.
Born May 18, 1965 in Mountain View, Calif., Vonny received a bachelor of science degree in biological sciences, with a special emphasis in entomology, from San Jose State University in 1993; a master's degree in plant protection and pest management from UC Davis in 1997; and a doctorate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in 2006.
"From there, I went on to North Carolina State University where I gained extensive research and extension experience as a tree fruit post-doc," he related on Linked In. "I worked on evaluating the 'whole-farm' approach to mating disruption used in apple orchards to manage codling moth and oriental fruit moth. I then joined the Agriculture and Natural Resources Division of the University of California in 2009 as an entomology/IPM/crop production farm advisor for Riverside County until 2018. I worked in an area predominated by 75 percent alfalfa rotated with other crops like cotton, mixed melons, lettuce and broccoli."
Dr. Barlow left UC ANR in 2016 to become a pest management consultant, working both with industry and agricultural partners. He served as an affiliated IPM advisor from 2012 to 2017, and was a leader and author of the rice, cotton, and alfalfa Pest Management Guidelines. He did research on biological control and IPM of invasive insects and plants of field and forage agroecosystems.
At UC Davis, where he received his master's degree, he served as a graduate research assistant in the Godfrey lab. His master's thesis project "involved studying the impact of early spring weeds on Lygus bug population dynamics and their natural enemies in the alfalfa hay cropping system," he wrote on LinkedIn. "Alternative sources for feeding and reproduction (e.g., weedy plants) have shown to have a profound impact on Lygus bug populations. I was able to develop recommendations for management of weedy plants in alfalfa that had a two-fold benefit. The first is reduction of crop loss in susceptible crops (e.g., cotton) to Lygus bugs in adjacent fields. The second is reduction of the amount of pesticides used to control Lygus bug populations."
Dr. Barlow co-chaired the Godfrey celebration of life on June 7, 2017 at the Putah Creek Lodge, UC Davis, with distinguished professor and IPM specialist Frank Zalom of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
He is survived by his mother, Janice, and a brother, Cary, both of San Jose.