Program

Agrotecnio-Cerca Center, Crop Protection

I obtained a master degree in Agronomy in 1974 and then a PhD in 1978 at the Polytechnics University in Madrid. Next, I moved to Cabrils Experimental Station (Catalonia) to work on biological control of tomato pests and started to collaborate with the IOBC-Working Groups on Protected Crops, Temperate and Mediterranean Climates. In 1978 I moved to the University of Lleida (Catalonia) and became Full Professor of Entomology in 1988, but I continued to cooperate with my colleagues in IRTA Cabrils with biological control of protected crops. In parallel I have been working on Biological Control, IPM and Landscape Influence on Arable Crop Insects. In this framework I did, among others, research on Non-Target Effects of Bt Maize on entomofauna. From 1990 to 2003 I convened the Working Group on IPM in Protected Crops, Mediterranean Climate. Then I contributed to IOBC management in the Council, Treasurary and Auditing Committee. Currently, I am retired from my position in the University of Lleida but I continue working in Agrotecnio Center, one of the research centers of excellence in Catalonia.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ramon-Albajes

Abstract

The role of aphids in biological control by conservation contrasts in two types of crops in northeastern Iberian Peninsula; while in greenhouse vegetables -where biological control works effectively- it is a pending issue due to the rapid growth of aphid populations and the difficulty of foreseeing their entrance inside the greenhouse, in maize they contribute, together with other homopterans, to the early installation of generalist and specific predators on the crop plants.

Ohio State University, College of Food, Agricultural an Environmental Sciences, Department of Entomology

Dr. Mary M. Gardiner is a Professor of Entomology and Co-Director of the Environmental Sciences Graduate Program at The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Her research program focuses on the value of urban greenspace as habitat for beneficial insects, including Coccinellidae. Across the Midwestern United States several lady beetle species have experienced marked decline whereas exotics have become dominate. The Gardiner Lab has examined how the management of urban greenspaces as well as their landscape context influence the local abundance and species composition of lady beetles as well as the outcomes of their competitive interactions. Mary is also a State Specialist with OSU Extension who has authored a book and many field guides for home gardeners who assist directly with her research as community scientists.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mary-Gardiner-6

Abstract

We employed a community science approach to study the seasonal occupancy of coccinellids within residential gardens across a wide range of landscape contexts. We found that native coccinellid abundance was positively correlated with forested habitat while alien species were more common when gardens were embedded within agricultural landscapes. Urbanization was negatively associated with both alien and native coccinellids. Our findings highlight the value of gardening to provide coccinellid habitat and illustrate the importance of preserving forested land for remaining native coccinellid populations.

Download

Oklahoma State University, department of Entomology and Plant Pathology

Kristopher L. Giles is Regent professor of Entomology at Oklahoma State University, department of Entomology and Plant Pathology. He’s developing research on insect-natural enemy interactions and biological control in several field crop ecosystems of USA plains. He has published more than 100 scientific and technical articles on aphid and natural enemy ecology, tritrophic interactions, sampling, population dynamics, economic injury levels and integrated pest management.

Abstract

Download completed abstract in PDF

University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Zoology.

Professor of Zoology Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice. Vice Dean from 200-2003 and head of Department of Zoology from 200-2009. From 2004: head of the committee for PhD studies in Entomology. Studied Systematic Biology and Entomology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Charles University, Prague, under the supervision of Karel Hurka and Ivo Hodek. PhD in Entomology, Institute of Entomology, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice; doctoral thesis: Cold hardiness of ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccnellidae); supervisor Ivo Hodek. Member of IOBC-WPRS Working Group “Benefits and Risks of Exotic Biological Control Agents” and Working Group “Aphidophaga”. 90 scientific articles in WoS, 4 chapters in books, 2 books.

Abstract

Ivo Hodek was the world leading specialist on biology of Coccinellidae, and the founder of Ecology of Aphidophaga. We will summarize his original research about Coccinellidae, diapause and cold hardiness of insects, look at his books, mention his students, and the editorial work for the European Journal of Entomology.

Download

ETH Zurich, Department of Environmental System Science

Christoph Vorburger studied biology at the University of Zürich in Switzerland, focusing on aquatic animals for his Masters and PhD (freshwater crayfish and hemiclonal water frogs). His interest in clonal reproduction and in host-parasite coevolution brought him to aphids and their parasitoids. He became fascinated by the fact that their interaction is mediated by protective bacterial symbionts. After his initiation to the world of aphids during a postdoc in Australia, he developed a research program on the evolutionary ecology of symbiont-conferred resistance, first at University of Zürich and then at ETH Zürich. He returned to his wet roots by becoming Head of the Department of Aquatic Ecology at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, but he retains his link to ETH as an Adjunct Professor as well as his interest and research in symbiont-mediated coevolution of aphids and their parasitoids.

Abstract

Some pest aphids harbor heritable bacterial endosymbionts that protect them against parasitoid wasps. Such symbionts are mediators of host-parasitoid coevolution and a potential nuisance for biological control. Recent work on parasitoids of black bean aphids shows that targeted selection for parasitoid counteradaptations is a viable strategy to improve biological control of symbiont-protected aphids.

University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Department of Entomology

Dr. Jen White received her Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior from the University of Minnesota.  After a postdoc at the University of Arizona, she has since been a faculty member at the University of Kentucky where she is currently a Professor of Entomology and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Entomology program.  Her research interests focus on arthropod interspecific interactions, particularly as mediated by microbial symbionts. Much of her research has focused on how facultative symbionts in aphids mediate host plant specialization, susceptibility to natural enemies, and aphid evolutionary trajectory, particularly within the context of biological control and introduced species.  She is also interested in interactions among symbionts that share a host, and is currently using a spider model system to understand the consequences of co-infections by multiple types of symbionts.

Abstract

Generalist predators with broadly overlapping niches commonly coexist on seemingly identical sets of prey. In this talk I’ll demonstrate that aphid predators can differentially exploit fine-grained niches generated by variable, heritable and selective defenses within a single aphid species. Such niche differentiation among generalist predators may, in turn, promote diversity and stability of enemy communities invaded by a dominant predator.