Insect Control: Resistance Management and Agricultural Economics

Concerns over the impacts of insecticides, and the evolution of resistance in pest populations, are driving development of novel and sustainable pest control tools. Agricultural pests inflict billions of dollars of damage to crops and are difficult to control, threatening food security and farmers' livelihoods. The challenge is, in large part, as result of the pests developing resistance to conventional insecticides and biopesticides. Current resistance management strategies are difficult, with a restricted range of available products and poor compliance. Genetic technology has enabled the development of self-limiting technologies [1,2] to suppress pest populations. For control of wild pest insects, genetically-modified males would be released over the crop: after mating with wild females all female progeny die, reducing the size and reproductive capacity of the population. The self-limiting male releases can have additional resistance management benefits: survival of their male progeny in the field leads to introgression of insecticide-susceptibility genes into the wild population [3].

This studentship project will build on previous mathematical modelling of resistance management using self-limiting technologies [4-7]. The effects of self-limiting male releases on the evolution and management of resistance in spatially explicit populations will be investigated. This will necessitate the development of population genetic and population ecological frameworks. Data will be used to develop appropriate cost-effective economic models for incorporation of self-limiting technologies into integrated pest management strategies.

References
1 Thomas et al. 2000 Science 287:2474.
2 Jin et al. 2013 ACS Synth Biol 2:160
3 Harvey-Samuel et al. BMC Biology 13:49
4 Alphey et al. 2007 J Econ Entomol 100:1642.
5 Alphey et al. 2009 J Econ Entomol 102:717.
6 Hackett & Bonsall 2016 J Appl Ecol 53, 1391.
7 Watkinson-Powell & Alphey J. Theor. Biol. 413:72.