| Job Description: |
• Prepare research field plots, including soil preparation, bed formation, laying plastic mulch, installing irrigation lines, and assisting with any soil sterilization needed using ASD treatment.
• Collect plant tissue, soil samples, and insect samples at required intervals, ensuring sample integrity during transport to the laboratory.
• Maintain field plots throughout the season, including weed control, irrigation adjustments, plot repairs, and general upkeep of plant and mulch structures.
• Quantify whitefly populations using standardized methods (leaf counts, sticky traps, vacuum sampling, or visual ratings), and record population trends throughout crop cycles.
• Record field observations including plant growth metrics, disease incidence, symptom progression, whitefly abundance, and environmental conditions.
• Assist with plot layout, flagging, labeling, and mapping for experimental designs and support harvesting and post-harvest sample processing as needed.
• Maintain field-related inventories including mulch films, irrigation supplies, fertilizer, soil amendments, and field tools, and follow all safety protocols for chemical handling, equipment use, and field operations in warm/humid Florida conditions.
• Provide general logistical, maintenance, training, outreach, inventory, administrative, and non-critical research support—including organizing supplies and storage areas, basic workspace upkeep, preparing extension materials, transporting samples or supplies, maintaining small tools, training helpers, handling minor administrative tasks, assisting with non-core lab/field inventories, participating in occasional meetings or safety activities, and helping with supplemental research tasks as needed.
• Operate tractors, tractor accessories, utility vehicles, and other agricultural field equipment safely and according to UF guidelines. Apply pesticides as needed.
**Driving is required for the role in the execution of the above-listed essential functions.
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