Ecology, Biological Control,
and evolution in agricultural systems

BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AS AN ECOLOGICAL PROCESS

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Jervis, M.A. Kidd, N.A.C., Mills, N.J., van Nouhuys, S.Singh, A., Yazdani, M.* (2023) Population Dynamics. In: Hardy ICW & Wajnberg E (Eds) Jervis’s Insects as natural enemies: practical perspectives. Springer, Dordrecht.

 

Impact of insecticides on biological control

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Keasar, T., Wajnberg, E. Heimpel, G., Hardy, Ian C.W., Shaltiel, L., Gottlieb, D., van Nouhuys, S. 2023
Dynamic economic thresholds for agricultural pests and the importance of migration between field and off-field locations.  Forum article in Economic Entomology. 116(2), 2023, 321–330 DOI: 10.1093/jee/toad019

 

Keasar, C.­, Keasar, T, van Nouhuys, S. (2024) Plant protection- ‘red lines’ and AI.  in IsraelAgri.

 

The effects of interacting natural enemies in biological control systems

 

van Nouhuys, S., Harris, D. C., Hajek, A. E. 2023
Population level interactions between an invasive woodwasp, an invasive nematode and a community of native parasitoids.

Neobiota, 82: 67-88. 10.3897/neobiota.82.96599

 

van Nouhuy s, S.,  Harris, D. C., Stephen, F. M., Galligan, L. D., Hajek, A. E. 2022  
Association of the native parasitic nematode Deladenus proximus  with individuals and populations of the native woodwasp  Sirex nigricornis .  Agricultural and Forest Entomology, 24: 237-246. DOI: 10.1111/afe.12487

 

Hajek, A. E. and van Nouhuys, S.  2016
Fatal diseases and parasitoids: from competition to facilitation in a shared host
Proceedings of the Royal Society B 283, 10.1098/rspb.2016.0154

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The evolutionary consequences of domestication

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Poppy

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Poppy is an ancient domesticated plant. Humans have selected it for medicinal use, food and flowers. PhD Student Pranoy is studying the how suites of plant traits have changed in response to this domestication.

 

Parasitoids

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Plants and their pest herbivores have of course evolved due to domestication. Parasitoids that reply on herbivores in agricultural systems have also evolved. Long ago, for her PhD, Saskya studied the evolution of parasitoid wasp foraging behavior where its host is found on cultivated cabbage vs where it is found on wild mustard. van Nouhuys, S. and S. Via 1999 Natural selection and genetic differentiation of behavior between parasitoids from wild and cultivated habitats Heredity, 83: 127-137

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