There is an increasing awareness of the importance of the microbiome of arthropods to understand their host’s biology. In the bulb mite, Rhizoglyphus robini, associated bacteria have been found to be involved in its chitinolytic abilities. The bulb mite, a plant pest feeding on below- ground parts of mostly Liliaceae crops, prefers fungus- infested plants.…
La pyrale du buis fait des ravages dans les jardins privés et publics de la ville de Neuchâtel. Un groupe interdisciplinaire de chercheurs collabore avec des citoyens pour suivre sa trace et pour réfléchir à des solutions innovantes à ce problème. Pour en savoir plus, visiter la page du projet.
Read more Pister la pyrale: un projet de sciences citoyennes
Un article de Lukas Denzler sur nos recherches concernant le cynips du châtaignier et son antagoniste, le Torymus sinensis, paru dans le NZZ, aujourd’hui. Lire l’article ici
1. Understanding the environmental factors that structure biodiversity and food webs among communities is central to assess and mitigate the impact of landscape changes. 2. Wildflower strips are ecological compensation areas established in farmland to increase pollination services and biological control of crop pests and to conserve insect diversity. They are arranged in networks in order to favour…
Une version vulgarisée (en français AFS_01_13_F_Aebi et en allemand AFS_02_13_D_Aebi) d’un article paru dans le Journal of Applied Ecology, publiée dans Recherche Agronomique Suisse. Zindel R, Gottlieb Y, Aebi A. (2011) Arthropod symbiosis, a neglected parameter in pest and disease control programs. Journal of Applied Ecology 48: 864–872
Read more Symbiontes et arthropodes – quelles implications pour la lutte biologique?
Torymus sinensis, a chinese hymenopteran parasitoid is considered as the only antagonist of the chestnut gall wasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus. After the invasion of the gall wasp in Ticino’s chestnut forests, cantonal authorities sought an homologation of T. sinensis by the Federal Office for the Environment. A very good paper by Luca Berti (published the 4th…
Read more “Cinipide, la lotta biologica funziona” by Luca Berti, in La Regione Ticino
The chestnut gall wasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus is a global pest of chestnut (Castanea spp). Established as a pest in the mid-twentieth century in Japan, Korea and North America, this species was first reported in Europe in 2002. Following the successful release of a biological control agent Torymus sinensis in Japan, this parasitoid species has been…
1. Arthropods are important players in biological control as pests, control agents and transmitters of invertebrate diseases. Arthropods are frequently infected with one or several micro-organisms, serving as micro-ecosystems in which multiple interactions can take place. These micro-organisms include disease agents and symbiotic micro-organisms. The latter are usually vertically transmitted and can have a broad…
Read more Arthropod symbioses: a neglected parameter in pest- and disease-control programmes
The process of biological control carries a distinct risk that an alien biological control agent (BCA) will become established as an invasive alien species with an associated threat to the local ecosystem biodiversity. It is imperative that a wide-ranging environmental risk assessment (ERA) is performed before the release of any BCA. This should include considering…
Read more Detecting arthropod intraguild predation in the field
