Meet PestFacts WA team member - Bec Severtson
Bec Severtson is a Research scientist based in Northam’s DPIRD office and will be working with the PestFacts WA team to assist with PestFacts WA service outputs.
Bec is also working in other DPIRD Crop Protection projects, conducting research on the Dongara weevil, and reviewing alternative methods of insect pest control to reduce chemical use in broad acre cropping.
Bec has worked at the Department in several entomology roles over the years. Bec originally joined as a Quarantine Officer and worked in the South Perth entomology team for five years before providing technical support on the Gorgon LNG Project quarantine program and working in the stored grain insect resistance program. Bec also worked on large invertebrate biodiversity projects at Curtin University and was a senior botanist in environmental consultancies for the mining and oil and gas industries which involved travelling to remote parts of Western Australia and Timor Leste.
Bec has a Bachelor of Science in Biology with Honours from Curtin University. Her research focussed on grassland ecology on cattle stations in the Pilbara region of WA.
Bec’s interest in entomology and biology in general was sparked by a childhood spent in rural mining towns in Queensland, South Australia and WA. This interest has extended to agricultural entomology in the past five years after moving to a farming community.
Bec looks forward to assisting the team communicate crop protection information to WA grain growers.
Article author: Bec Severtson (DPIRD Northam).