ENDORSE: ENhancing Diversity to Overcome ReSistance Evolution

Lead Research Organisation: University of Stirling
Department Name: Biological and Environmental Sciences

Abstract

Despite its place as a global leader in agriculture, each year the Brazilian agricultural economy loses approximately $15 billion to insect crop pest outbreaks. Indeed, insects consume 10-20% of all global crops while growing or in storage. Current agricultural practices in Brazil rely heavily on widespread pesticide application, which has led to the evolution of pesticide resistance in several significant insect pests. Such practices undermine the sustainability of important crop pest control technologies, reduce associated economic returns, and exacerbate the risks to economic production and food security in Brazil. We propose a revolutionary approach to pest management that will enhance the sustainability and long-term resilience of crop production, providing the benefit of managing insect pests more predictably.

Our solution comes from evolutionary science and the particular features of host-pathogen interactions. Insecticide resistance evolution occurs when a single control agent is applied over a broad area, then consistent evolutionary pressures drive rare resistance genes to spread rapidly through the pest population. To prevent these sweeps of resistant alleles, we are investigating how multiple fungal pathogen strains can be used in a spatial matrix across agricultural landscapes, so that selection for resistance varies in different locations, preventing a uniform evolutionary response. On their own, multiple pathogen strains may not be sufficient because of cross resistance: genes making pests resistant to one fungal strain could also confer resistance to others. However, in host-pathogen systems, the optimum genotype to defend against one pathogen is often highly sensitive to the organism's environment. Simultaneous manipulation of an environmental landscape variable (the type of crop grown by farmers) will substantially decrease the consistency of selection: we predict this will prevent resistance evolution.

In order to achieve real-world effectiveness of this pest control system, an integrated team of Brazilian and UK researchers will work together to establish the long-term prospects of our new solution. The aims are to:

1. Examine whether genetic variation for insect susceptibility to multiple fungal biopesticides under heterogeneous agricultural landscapes is stable, and assess how it responds to selection in the long-term. This will allow us to anticipate and avoid selection for resistance to multiple strains, and ensure the long-term sustainability of our pesticide resistance management system.

2. Investigate the suitability of fungal biopesticides for industrial scale production and field application in Brazil, which will facilitate product development for future industrial investment. We will also provide farmers and the crop protection industry with solutions for crop protection technology deployment, including improved delivery systems, higher pest control consistency and enhanced performance under field conditions.

3. Identify the barriers to uptake of our new pest control technologies and research methods to encourage farmer behavioural change. This research will provide economic and social science data to underpin advice for policy recommendations regarding incentive schemes, publicity campaigns and marketing strategies, thereby promoting uptake of these sustainable pest management practices.

Planned Impact

Our work has several clear beneficiaries. We summarise them below, along with explanations for how each will benefit.

Farmers and the farming economy

Our ambition to develop a sustainable system of pest management using fungal biopesticides will benefit individual farmers and the broad agricultural economy. Farmers will be able to better control insect pests, and consequently harvest higher yields, while the increased stability achieved by decreasing the likelihood of resistant herbivore outbreaks will minimize losses and insurance claims, and reduce overall volatility in the agricultural sector. If our project is successful, the benefits could extend well beyond São Paulo State and be useful for the types of agricultural systems across Brazil (and indeed elsewhere globally).


Industrial partners

A sustainable pest control technology presents advantages to the industrial partner(s) who develop products from our initial isolates. Although the work involved in developing fungal biopesticides is not trivial, companies will be much more likely to recover their investments and secure good profits if the technology is applied in a way that minimizes the chance of pest resistance evolution, and therefore secures the long-term financial rewards of investing in research and development on biopesticides. Because increasing environmental complexity may help expose the costs of hosts carrying resistance genes to other pest-control measures, our system may also incidentally help rescue some technologies that are no longer effective thanks to previous insecticide resistance; such an outcome would help not only farmers but also producers of other pest control products that have suffered rapid evolution of pest resistance (e.g. some Bt cultivars).

Policymakers

Those within national and local government agencies will also benefit from policy recommendations provided by our economic and social science advice, which will highlight the promise of these technologies at both regional and national levels, illuminate efficacy of incentive schemes, and demonstrate how these technologies can improve the agricultural economy.

The wider public

Being able to manage insect pests more predictably is likely to improve food security in both developed and developing nations. If implemented on a wide scale in the future, we expect that a more heterogeneous worldwide agricultural landscape in combination with an arsenal of appropriate biopesticides, will stabilise food prices and help minimize local food shortages that are a source of suffering, inequality and conflict. In addition, the public will benefit from reduced ecological costs of current pest control practices. For example, chemical pesticides are known to have adverse consequences for non-target organisms living on or near agricultural land. The benefits to ecosystems will pay dividends to the public, because of the many services that healthy ecosystems provide, including to agriculture, for example, in the form of plant pollination and predation of pests.
 
Description The data-generation part of this project is now complete. Our project set out to investigate strategies to manage resistance to biopesticides used in agricultural pest control. We have identified (under lab conditions) that by manipulating aspects of the pest environment, such as the crop on which insect pest feeds or the specific identity of the microbes used to formulate biopesticides, that selection for resistance genes can be made inconsistent. This provides farmers a practical tool to potentially manage the threat of resistance in the field. We published an opinion paper on this paradigm for resistance management during the last year. We have undertaken socio-economic work investigating the cost-benefit balance for farmers in Brazil to adopt these methods. We have used innovative behavioural games to study the decision making behaviour of farmers in Brazil: farmer propensity to use biocontrol varied a lot geographically in Brazil; farmers that were keener to adopt biopesticides were also more likely to plant a wider range of crops; when pest control fails farmers showed a strong tenancy to rapidly use chemical insecticides. We have also tested (under lab conditions) the extent to which non-target insects might be adversely affected by fungi used to formulate biopesticides and found that beneficial insects were only negatively affected by an order of magnitude higher concentration of spores than our target insect pest. Our Brazilian project colleagues have successfully used encapsulation technology to coat fungal spores to improve their field viability. In Brazil, our colleagues have undertaken field trails to assess the impact of biopesticides on the community of insects living on crops: our analysis shows that whilst chemical insecticides damaged insect diversity, the impacts of biopesticides was much smaller. Our further work has studied the genetic basis of resistance to biopesticides, our current analysis of these data suggests that there are many genes for which DNA sequence variation in populations influences biopesticide resistance; furthermore, which genes influence resistance is determined by the crop on which the insect feeds and the identity of the fungal pathogen.

However, we are still active analysing data from the award,

This project is still underway. However, we do have key findings at this stage. Our project set out to investigate strategies to manage resistance to biopesticides used in agricultural pest control. We have identified (under lab conditions) that by manipulating aspects of the pest environment, such as the crop on which insect pest feeds or the specific identity of the microbes used to formulate biopesticides, that selection for resistance genes can be made inconsistent. This provides farmers a practical tool to potentially manage the threat of resistance in the field. We have undertaken socio-economic work investigating the cost-benefit balance for farmers in Brazil to adopt these methods and we have used innovative behavioural games to study farmer behavioural decision making for pest control. We have also tested (under lab conditions) the extent to which non-target insects might be adversely affected by fungi used to formulate biopesticides. Our Brazilian project colleagues have successfully used encapsulation technology to coat fungal spores to improve their field viability and field trials are currently underway with our collaborators in Brazil. Our own work has studied the genetic basis of resistance to biopesticides, these data are still being analysed.
Exploitation Route We are very optimistic that this work can be used by farmers (especially in our focal study area of Brazil) to manage the potential for biopesticide resistance. Field trials of these resistance management approaches may be necessary before this can happen. We have travelled to Brazil to meet with stakeholders to discuss the needs for resistance management strategies.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Environment

Manufacturing

including Industrial Biotechology

 
Description 21ROMITIGATIONFUND Stirling
Amount £238,000 (GBP)
Funding ID BB/W510713/1 
Organisation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2021 
End 03/2022
 
Description Assessing the impacts of tank-mixing on biopesticide efficacy: Enabling the agricultural transition to net-zero through BBSRC's Farm Sustainability Fund
Amount £47,055 (GBP)
Funding ID 91140082 
Organisation Agricultural and Horticulture Development Board 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2021 
End 03/2022
 
Description COVID 19 Grant Extension Allocation University of Stirling
Amount £309,538 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/V520986/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2020 
End 09/2021
 
Description ENDORSE - completion and impact delivery (GCRF and Newton Consolidation Accounts University of Stirling)
Amount £28,420 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/X527853/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 11/2022 
End 03/2023
 
Description EO4 Agro Climate
Amount £499,993 (GBP)
Funding ID ST/Y00017X/1 
Organisation Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2023 
End 03/2025
 
Description EO4 Agro Climate
Amount £189,933 (GBP)
Funding ID ST/W007053/1 
Organisation Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2021 
End 04/2022
 
Description Exploring interactive technologies to tackle interdisciplinary challenges of food security, biodiversity and climate change (Research Grant, Institutional Sponsorship)
Amount £10,780 (GBP)
Funding ID BB/X511985/1 
Organisation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2023 
End 03/2023
 
Description How does fluctuating selection affect pesticide effectiveness?
Amount £80,000 (GBP)
Funding ID 2436397 
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2020 
End 03/2024
 
Description Improving plant resilience to enhance efficacy of biocontrol-based crop protection
Amount £4,300 (GBP)
Organisation Royal Society of Biology (RSB) 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2023 
End 09/2023
 
Description Landscape heterogeneity as a sustainable management strategy to reduce evolution of resistance and decrease use of pesticides
Amount 3,600,000 kr (SEK)
Funding ID 2021-05466 
Organisation Swedish Research Council 
Sector Public
Country Sweden
Start 01/2022 
End 12/2025
 
Description Parasitoid Chemical Ecology and Coevolution
Amount 2,500,000 kr (SEK)
Organisation Wallenberg Foundations 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country Sweden
Start 01/2023 
End 12/2024
 
Description Stirling Spark: Sustainable Futures for Kenyan Crop Protection
Amount £14,803 (GBP)
Organisation University of Stirling 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2019 
End 07/2020
 
Description Sustainable futures for biocontrol-based crop protection (Research Grant, Institutional Sponsorship)
Amount £37,282 (GBP)
Funding ID BB/X511985/1 
Organisation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2022 
End 03/2023
 
Description The stability of genetic constraints on pesticide resistance evolution
Amount 600,000 kr (SEK)
Funding ID CTS 20:63 
Organisation Carl Tryggers stiftelse för vetenskaplig forskning 
Sector Public
Country Sweden
Start 11/2021 
End 10/2023
 
Title resevol: Simulate Agricultural Production and Evolution of Pesticide Resistance. R package version 0.2.0.9. 
Description Duthie, A. B., and R. McKeon (2022). resevol: Simulate Agricultural Production and Evolution of Pesticide Resistance. R package version 0.2.0.9. https://bradduthie.github.io/resevol/ The resevol R package is a tool for simulating social-ecological individual-based models (IBMs) for the ecology and evolution of agricultural pest species. Simulations model a spatially explicit landscape broken down into one or more independent farms on which one of up to 10 crops can be grown and one of up to 10 pesticides can be applied. Crop and pesticide application can be rotated during a simulation at different spatial and temporal scales to simulate the effects of heterogeneity of pest environment. Haploid or diploid pest genomes are modelled explicitly with an arbitrary number of loci that map to any number of traits. This mapping of loci to traits can be set with a pre-specified trait correlation structure, which is found using an evolutionary algorithm run using the mine_gmatrix() function. Individual pest traits can affect movement, reproduction, feeding, pesticide tolerance, metabolism, and other individual characteristics. Simulations of pest populations dynamics run with the run_sim_farm() function can track individual pest locations, pedigree, behaviour, and trait evolution. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This package is being used by our research team to model the evolution of resistance to biopesticides in pest populations in landscapes where agricultural heterogeneity has been strategically manipulated. We will release a publication later in 2022. In addition, the package has been downloaded over 1300 times (as of 4/3/2022) for use by other researchers in this field. We anticipate this output providing a significant capability to the research community in general. 
URL https://cran.r-project.org/package=resevol
 
Description Bid for BBSRC-NERC call - Molecules to Landscapes: building interdisciplinary capabilities 
Organisation Fera Science Limited
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Building on our track record build up though these existing grants I have assembled a consortium from across academia and industry to put a bid into the above call. Our bid is titled: REMBIO: Resistance management for the new era of biocontrol-based crop protection.
Collaborator Contribution Partners bring expertise, especially in field trials and IPM specialisms, alongside industry contacts.
Impact This application is multi-disciplinary - it involves parasite biologists, genomics, evolutionary biologists, IPM experts, landscape modellers, and industry. We have produced a grant application which will be submitted March 24th 2022.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Bid for BBSRC-NERC call - Molecules to Landscapes: building interdisciplinary capabilities 
Organisation Forest Research
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Building on our track record build up though these existing grants I have assembled a consortium from across academia and industry to put a bid into the above call. Our bid is titled: REMBIO: Resistance management for the new era of biocontrol-based crop protection.
Collaborator Contribution Partners bring expertise, especially in field trials and IPM specialisms, alongside industry contacts.
Impact This application is multi-disciplinary - it involves parasite biologists, genomics, evolutionary biologists, IPM experts, landscape modellers, and industry. We have produced a grant application which will be submitted March 24th 2022.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Bid for BBSRC-NERC call - Molecules to Landscapes: building interdisciplinary capabilities 
Organisation Harper Adams University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Building on our track record build up though these existing grants I have assembled a consortium from across academia and industry to put a bid into the above call. Our bid is titled: REMBIO: Resistance management for the new era of biocontrol-based crop protection.
Collaborator Contribution Partners bring expertise, especially in field trials and IPM specialisms, alongside industry contacts.
Impact This application is multi-disciplinary - it involves parasite biologists, genomics, evolutionary biologists, IPM experts, landscape modellers, and industry. We have produced a grant application which will be submitted March 24th 2022.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Bid for BBSRC-NERC call - Molecules to Landscapes: building interdisciplinary capabilities 
Organisation James Hutton Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Building on our track record build up though these existing grants I have assembled a consortium from across academia and industry to put a bid into the above call. Our bid is titled: REMBIO: Resistance management for the new era of biocontrol-based crop protection.
Collaborator Contribution Partners bring expertise, especially in field trials and IPM specialisms, alongside industry contacts.
Impact This application is multi-disciplinary - it involves parasite biologists, genomics, evolutionary biologists, IPM experts, landscape modellers, and industry. We have produced a grant application which will be submitted March 24th 2022.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Bid for BBSRC-NERC call - Molecules to Landscapes: building interdisciplinary capabilities 
Organisation Liverpool John Moores University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Building on our track record build up though these existing grants I have assembled a consortium from across academia and industry to put a bid into the above call. Our bid is titled: REMBIO: Resistance management for the new era of biocontrol-based crop protection.
Collaborator Contribution Partners bring expertise, especially in field trials and IPM specialisms, alongside industry contacts.
Impact This application is multi-disciplinary - it involves parasite biologists, genomics, evolutionary biologists, IPM experts, landscape modellers, and industry. We have produced a grant application which will be submitted March 24th 2022.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Bid for BBSRC-NERC call - Molecules to Landscapes: building interdisciplinary capabilities 
Organisation Newcastle University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Building on our track record build up though these existing grants I have assembled a consortium from across academia and industry to put a bid into the above call. Our bid is titled: REMBIO: Resistance management for the new era of biocontrol-based crop protection.
Collaborator Contribution Partners bring expertise, especially in field trials and IPM specialisms, alongside industry contacts.
Impact This application is multi-disciplinary - it involves parasite biologists, genomics, evolutionary biologists, IPM experts, landscape modellers, and industry. We have produced a grant application which will be submitted March 24th 2022.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Bid for BBSRC-NERC call - Molecules to Landscapes: building interdisciplinary capabilities 
Organisation Rothamsted Research
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Building on our track record build up though these existing grants I have assembled a consortium from across academia and industry to put a bid into the above call. Our bid is titled: REMBIO: Resistance management for the new era of biocontrol-based crop protection.
Collaborator Contribution Partners bring expertise, especially in field trials and IPM specialisms, alongside industry contacts.
Impact This application is multi-disciplinary - it involves parasite biologists, genomics, evolutionary biologists, IPM experts, landscape modellers, and industry. We have produced a grant application which will be submitted March 24th 2022.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Bid for BBSRC-NERC call - Molecules to Landscapes: building interdisciplinary capabilities 
Organisation Scotland's Rural College
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Building on our track record build up though these existing grants I have assembled a consortium from across academia and industry to put a bid into the above call. Our bid is titled: REMBIO: Resistance management for the new era of biocontrol-based crop protection.
Collaborator Contribution Partners bring expertise, especially in field trials and IPM specialisms, alongside industry contacts.
Impact This application is multi-disciplinary - it involves parasite biologists, genomics, evolutionary biologists, IPM experts, landscape modellers, and industry. We have produced a grant application which will be submitted March 24th 2022.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Bid for BBSRC-NERC call - Molecules to Landscapes: building interdisciplinary capabilities 
Organisation University of Gothenburg
Country Sweden 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Building on our track record build up though these existing grants I have assembled a consortium from across academia and industry to put a bid into the above call. Our bid is titled: REMBIO: Resistance management for the new era of biocontrol-based crop protection.
Collaborator Contribution Partners bring expertise, especially in field trials and IPM specialisms, alongside industry contacts.
Impact This application is multi-disciplinary - it involves parasite biologists, genomics, evolutionary biologists, IPM experts, landscape modellers, and industry. We have produced a grant application which will be submitted March 24th 2022.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Bid for BBSRC-NERC call - Molecules to Landscapes: building interdisciplinary capabilities 
Organisation Wageningen University & Research
Country Netherlands 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Building on our track record build up though these existing grants I have assembled a consortium from across academia and industry to put a bid into the above call. Our bid is titled: REMBIO: Resistance management for the new era of biocontrol-based crop protection.
Collaborator Contribution Partners bring expertise, especially in field trials and IPM specialisms, alongside industry contacts.
Impact This application is multi-disciplinary - it involves parasite biologists, genomics, evolutionary biologists, IPM experts, landscape modellers, and industry. We have produced a grant application which will be submitted March 24th 2022.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Collaboration with Andermatt Biocontrol UK limited for biopesticide research 
Organisation Andermatt Biocontrol UK
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Andermatt have supplied us with insects for several years to support our biopesticide research. This has developed into a collaboration where we have tested Andermatt's new product for efficacy under laboratory conditions.
Collaborator Contribution Andermatt have supplied biopesticide free of charge and have contributed advice to study design and aims. We do not know the in-kind value of this material.
Impact New grant funding that is underpinned by this collaboration. AHDB/BBSRC Assessing the impacts of tank-mixing on biopesticide efficacy: Enabling the agricultural transition to net-zero through BBSRC's Farm Sustainability Fund.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Collaboration with Bioline Agrosciences for whitefly biocontrol research 
Organisation Bioline AgroSciences
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We are investigating the presence of genetic variation for susceptibility to parasitoid wasp infection (a biocontrol agent) in whitefly (horticultural pest). This work has expanded to include recent AHDB/BBSRC funded work to investigate the impact of tank mixing on biopesticide pest control efficacy. Bioline have continued to provide us with insect material to enable this collaboration.
Collaborator Contribution Our industry partners Bioline have attended collaborative meetings, provided insight and information and are supplying insects for the ongoing research project.
Impact This collaboration, started in 2021, has continued into 2022 and now supports a current AHDB/BBSRC research project as well as a 2022 BBSRC/NERC urgency grant application.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Developing ecologically sustainable biopesticides for cocoa smallholders in Ghana - Partnership with Ghana Cocoa Board for GCRF AgriFood Africa Innovation Awards 
Organisation Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana
Country Ghana 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We have partnered with the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, part of the Ghana Cocoa Board - the research wing of this major industrial partner. Ghana Cocoa Board manages the cocoa industry in Ghana. We have held online collaborative meetings and submitted a grant proposal to KTN for a GCRF AgriFood pump priming grant worth ~£40,000. We are still awaiting the outcome, pending GCRF review
Collaborator Contribution CRIG researchers have collaborated with us to share their knowledge of novel pest control interventions for cocoa, which intersect closely with our research activities.
Impact Grant Application. Note that the UKRI ODA cuts meant that this call was cancelled after the submission of proposals and no awards were made.
Start Year 2020
 
Description Exploiting pathogen diversity to develop a next generation of enhanced sustainable biopesticides - Innovate UK grant application 
Organisation Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International
Department CABI Kenya
Country Kenya 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Using the track record I have developed as a result of these recent grants I led development of a consortium to bid for a grant from Innovate UK / GCRF through the Agritech Catalyst Round 10 call. This grant seeks to develop improved horticultural biopesticides for the Kenyan / African market. The grant is worth £999,897 in total FEC. The decision on this application is still awaited. These industry-research links in Kenya will be valuable into the future.
Collaborator Contribution Joint Innovate UK grant application.
Impact Innovate UK / GCRF grant application through the Agritech Catalyst Round 10 call Note that the UKRI ODA cuts meant that this call was cancelled after the submission of proposals and no awards were made.
Start Year 2020
 
Description Exploiting pathogen diversity to develop a next generation of enhanced sustainable biopesticides - Innovate UK grant application 
Organisation Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Using the track record I have developed as a result of these recent grants I led development of a consortium to bid for a grant from Innovate UK / GCRF through the Agritech Catalyst Round 10 call. This grant seeks to develop improved horticultural biopesticides for the Kenyan / African market. The grant is worth £999,897 in total FEC. The decision on this application is still awaited. These industry-research links in Kenya will be valuable into the future.
Collaborator Contribution Joint Innovate UK grant application.
Impact Innovate UK / GCRF grant application through the Agritech Catalyst Round 10 call Note that the UKRI ODA cuts meant that this call was cancelled after the submission of proposals and no awards were made.
Start Year 2020
 
Description Exploiting pathogen diversity to develop a next generation of enhanced sustainable biopesticides - Innovate UK grant application 
Organisation Dudutech
Country Kenya 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Using the track record I have developed as a result of these recent grants I led development of a consortium to bid for a grant from Innovate UK / GCRF through the Agritech Catalyst Round 10 call. This grant seeks to develop improved horticultural biopesticides for the Kenyan / African market. The grant is worth £999,897 in total FEC. The decision on this application is still awaited. These industry-research links in Kenya will be valuable into the future.
Collaborator Contribution Joint Innovate UK grant application.
Impact Innovate UK / GCRF grant application through the Agritech Catalyst Round 10 call Note that the UKRI ODA cuts meant that this call was cancelled after the submission of proposals and no awards were made.
Start Year 2020
 
Description International Mentoring Partnership Programme (IMPP) 
Organisation Sao Paulo State University
Country Brazil 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Several members of the team engaged heavily in the first IMPP iteration which was initiated by Stirling and UNESP in June 2019, including two mentors (Luc Bussière and Leonardo Fraceto) and two mentees (Rosie Mangan and Alexander Duthie). This is an ongoing programme that pairs early career scientists in Stirling and UNESP with more senior colleagues at the partner institution for the purpose of career development and international exchange.
Collaborator Contribution In addition to ENDORSE team members, another 14 scientists participated in the inaugural programme. All participants were paired with another scientist from the other country.
Impact Reciprocal visits to Brazil for Stirling participants are planned for the next year or so, which may involve presentations by travelling scientists one various UNESP campuses.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Sustainable biopesticide use in Kenyan horticulture 
Organisation University of Nairobi
Country Kenya 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We initiated a collaboration with Dr. George Ong'amo last year that brings our expertise in biopesticides, insect pathology and evolutionary biology to Kenya in order to explore applications of the evolutionarily sustainable pest control approach we developed in our BBSRC funded research.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. George Ong'amo and his Kenyan team provide strong skills in the field ecology of insect crop pests, and facilitate interactions with key stakeholders in the Kenyan horticulture research and pest control sectors.
Impact NA; outputs still pending.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Wageningen - Zurich - Stirling - Sustainable futures for biocontrol 
Organisation ETH Zurich
Country Switzerland 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We held a workshop and other exchange visits to discuss future EU research grant calls.
Collaborator Contribution We held a workshop and other exchange visits to discuss future EU research grant calls.
Impact We have new ideas for further grant funding applications
Start Year 2022
 
Description Wageningen - Zurich - Stirling - Sustainable futures for biocontrol 
Organisation Wageningen University & Research
Country Netherlands 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We held a workshop and other exchange visits to discuss future EU research grant calls.
Collaborator Contribution We held a workshop and other exchange visits to discuss future EU research grant calls.
Impact We have new ideas for further grant funding applications
Start Year 2022
 
Title ENDORSE Behavioural Games 
Description An online multi-player game built in Wordpress, which is accompanied by a set of questionnaires embedded in the same site. This allows us to conduct behavioural games remotely which was necessitated by the pandemic. 
Type Of Technology Webtool/Application 
Year Produced 2021 
Impact Impacts are ongoing, and will both help in educating students and stakeholders as well as enabling research on factors affecting cooperation. The URL below is preliminary; the games will soon be moved to a permanent location on the University of Stirling servers. 
URL http://endorse.rosemckeon.uk
 
Title Plants vs Pests 
Description Behavioural game to explore the role of equity in cooperative decision making about pest control measures among agricultural stakeholders 
Type Of Technology Webtool/Application 
Year Produced 2023 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact Engagement with agritech businesses and farmers in Brazil 
URL https://plantvspest.shinyapps.io/Agriculture_game-main/
 
Description A TV interview: Rosie Mangan 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Media interview for TV in response to publishing a new paper
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description A conference presentation by Brad Duthie: British Ecological Society 2022 - resevol: an R package for spatially explicit models of pesticide resistance given evolving pest genomes 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Conference talk to publicise new research package - discussions for collaboration
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/events/bes-annual-meeting-2022/
 
Description A conference presentation by Danielle Mackenzie to Association of Applied Biologists IPM Meeting: Fungal biopesticide impacts on non-target insects 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was the first presentation of our new data on how fungal biopesticide isolates affect non-target beneficial insects that may provide important ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. There was useful discussion afterwards prompting new analysis options and suggesting further work to follow up.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description A conference presentation by Luc Bussiere: Population Demographics and Modelling - Title: Pathogen Induced Selection, Evolution and Population Dynamic In Diverse Landscapes 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact International workshop to explore cross-disciplinary opportunities for research advancement in various fields studying population dynamics.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description A conference presentation by Matthew Tinsley: BSP Parasites Online Meeting 2021 - What insect resistance against fungal biopesticides can teach us about G x E in host-pathogen interactions 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was a conference talk for an online society meeting (BSP).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description A conference presentation by Matthew Tinsley: Royal Entomological Society ENTO 22 - Variable diets shape the evolution of insect resistance to pathogens used in biocontrol 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A conference talk at an international conference in the UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.royensoc.co.uk/event/ento22/
 
Description A conference presentation by Matthew Tinsley: Royal Entomological Society ENTO 23 - How does parasite co-infection influence the virulence experienced by insect hosts? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was an academic conference presentation highlighting work that came as s spinout from these UKRI projects. It developed into fruitful collaboration discussions, including with new collaborators from Brazil.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description A conference presentation by Rose McKeon: British Ecological Society 2022 - The environmental sensitivity of biopesticide resistance genes in Helicoverpa armigera 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presentation of new results analysis and discussions for development of research activities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/events/bes-annual-meeting-2022/
 
Description A conference presentation by Rosie Mangan to Association of Applied Biologists IPM Meeting: Fluctuating selection and enhancing diversity to overcome insecticide resistance evolution 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was a conference presentation giving an update on our work. The audience provided useful feedback on our study to shape publication options.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description A research talk by Matthew Tinsley to Aberdeen Entomological Club: Managing the potential for insect pests to evolve resistance against pathogens used as agricultural biopesticides 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact I delivered a research seminar on our grant funded outcomes. This led to useful discussions from the audience and has facilitated a new interdisciplinary collaboration (grant application) with one audience member.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.facebook.com/AberdeenEntomologicalClub/
 
Description An invited talk by Matthew Tinsley at the Entomological Society of America annual meeting: Title: Challenges for the use of biopesticides in IPM 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact An invited talk to fit a theme session on 'Advances and Challenges for an Evolving Agriculture: From Synthetic Chemicals to Greener Tools'. This conference session involved speakers from academia, industry and policy makers. The session involved a formal discussion between panel members and the audience about the leading challenges to IPM in agriculture.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Behavioural Games Session in Bio209 at the University of Gothenburg 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact Dr. Diana Valero Lopez and Dr. Luc Bussière facilitated a workshop in which students from the undergraduate course in Behavioural Biology played the ENDORSE online behavioural games during a session on the evolution of cooperation. The games made for a nice illustration of the tragedy of the commons while showcasing how ongoing research can exploit games to study human behaviour.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Bussière Zoology Seminar December 2021 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact This was a presentation for the Zoology Seminar Series coordinated by the dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Conference Talk - CABI-IOBC Latin America - Ricardo Polanczyk 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This meeting was a conference bringing a mix of academic and development sector workers together for a research update meeting.
The talk title was: Importance of microbial pest control for sustainable agriculture / Importancia do controle microbiano de pragas para a agricultura sustentavel
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Dr. Rosie Mangan Presentation at the 2019 Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology in Turku, Finland 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Dr. Rosie Mangan presented our work at a special Symposium on Human-Induced Evolution at the 2019 Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology in Turku, Finland. The research talk generated much discussion and an engaging series of questions and answers with evolutionary biology researchers in attendance. It also sparked the interest of the editors of scientific journals for possible publication routes.
The included link provides a video archive of the session in which Rosie presented.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.rajulive.fi/streams/session6-thursday-morning/
 
Description Dr. Rosie Mangan Presentation at the 2020 Irish Ecological Association Ecology and Evolution Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact The Irish Ecological Association: 3rd Ecology and Evolution Ireland Conference 8th January 2020.
Speaker: Rosie Mangan
Authors: Rosie Mangan, Matthew Tinsley, Luc Bussiere. University of Stirling
Title: Fluctuating selection and enhancing diversity to overcome insecticide resistance evolution
The talk spurred discussion and debate, and audience members approached Rosie for more information.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Engagement activities and interviews in 5 Brazilian States: São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Goias, Tocantins, Parana 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The CAB Intl Brazil team lead interaction and workshops with farmers' groups to discuss insecticide resistance and get information about farmers' experience on IPM in 5 Brazilian States: São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Goias, Tocantins, Parana
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description GCRF Networking Meeting at Stirling University 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was a workshop to promote collaborative research opportunities between Stirling University and researchers in India, specifically those involved in Plant Protection and Plant Breeding. Dr. Matthew Tinsley presented our work, which led to discussions on the potential for on-farm culturing of fungal entomopathogens on Indian farms. Discussions of possible future funding bids are ongoing.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description IOBC-NTRS webinar: A talk by Luc Bussiere: The Paradox of Stasis and Evolutionary Sustainable Pest Control 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact This was an online webinar (talk) delivered to the International Organization for Biological Control, Neotropical Regional Section (principally researchers based in Latin America). There was a fruitful Q&A after the session.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description IOBC-NTRS webinar: A talk by Matthew Tinsley: Impacts of co-infection on pathogen virulence: implications for crop protection with biopesticides 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was an online webinar (talk) delivered to the International Organization for Biological Control, Neotropical Regional Section (principally researchers based in Latin America). There was a fruitful Q&A after the session, which culminated in an invitation to participate in co-supervision of a Brazilian PhD student's research project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Industry online talk - Bionat Company - talk by Ricardo Polanczyk 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Delivery of an online talk entitled - Compatibility of chemical defenses and microbial products / Compatibilidade de defensive quimicos e produtos microbianos
This talk was part of industry liaison work to raise awareness of sustainable pest control practices in IPM.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Industry online talk - Bionat Company - talk by Ricardo Polanczyk 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Online talk delivered to industry entitled Application of Bacillus thuringiensis in the control of caterpillars / Aplicacao de Bacillus thuringiensis no controle de lagartas.
The talk aimed to increase awareness of IPM and facilitate further industry - academic collaboration.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Institutional seminar UNAM by Dr. Ricardo Polanczyk: "Approaches to improve biopesticide use in IPM systems" 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact This seminar was part of a special monthly series and was disseminated electronically to many branch campuses as well as the local audience. Following the seminar, Dr. Polanczyk received many questions and engaged in prolonged discussions about the relevance of our approach for agriculture across Latin America. Ongoing discussions are underway to collaborate with UNAM scientists on future work.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Interview in Irish Times of Dr. Rosie Mangan 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The interview concerned Rosie's returning to work in science after a brain injury, which she suffered in Brazil while conducting her postdoctoral research with the ENDORSE project. The piece was intended to raise awareness about brain injuries in general, while also shedding light on the challenges and prospects for recovery. Rosie's story is inspiring, and while obviously this aspect of outreach was never an intended output of our research, it is nice that her perseverance and courage might inspire others who have been affected by traumatic injuries. In addition, the interview ended with a brief comment about resistance evolution, which is likely to have reached a large audience.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/i-knew-something-was-desperately-wrong-with-me-because-i-cou...
 
Description Invited seminar presentation, University of Sussex 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Luc Bussiere gave a seminar in the University of Sussex titled, "Exploiting theory on mate choice evolution to make agricultural landscapes more sustainable". The talk was attended by just under 50 participants, and provoked substantial discussion afterwards and in postgraduate discussion groups. Postgrads were also encouraged to comment on Twitter, and many did so.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Latin American Biological Control Symposium, Chile, October 2019 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presentation by Dr. Yelitza Colmenarez of the Endorse project objectives and main topics at the Latin American Biological Control Symposium- Chile, October 2019. Discussed with key participants the importance of managing insect resistance to pesticides and advocated use of alternative methods of control, such as Biological Control. This is a topic of wide interest in all of Latin America. As a result of the participation in Chile, I got invited to present the project in more detail and to work as part of the Organizer and scientific Committee of the 1st SYMPOSIUM OF RESISTANCE TO INSECTICIDES AND ACARICIDES, which will happen in Brazil, in June 2020.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Luc Bussière Invited Presentation, GGBC Annual Meeting 2021 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact This was an invited presentation (10 mins) on our ongoing research presented to the Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, a network of scientists in government, industry, non-government organisations and academia that deals with issues concerning biodiversity in a broad context
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Meetings with Embrapa Soy Bean, October 2019 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Dr. Yelitza Colmenarez and CABI Brazil Team lead discussions with target people from Embrapa Soy Bean about the importance of the ENDORSE project, its objective and main activities to be implemented in Brazil, October 2019.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Participation in Postgraduate Course on the Evolution of Resistance in Agricultural Systems, SLU 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Luc Bussière was invited to participate as an instructor in this postgraduate course, organised by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). Over two days, participants heard talk from active scientists studying the phenomenon of resistance evolution, and reflected on the state of research and areas for future progress.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Presentation at Society of Invertebrate Pathology Conference / International Organisation for Biological Control 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Dr. Matthew Tinsley presented our work in a symposium on fungi as biocontrol agents. The presentation led to links with new scientific colleagues, and led to networking opportunities in Africa that will be exploited for future research plans and bids.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://www.sipweb.org/docs/abstract-program2019Valencia.pdf
 
Description Presentation by Dr. Ricardo Polanczyk at IUPAC 2019 in Ghent, Belgium 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Dr. Polanczyk presented work on using encapsulated particles along with fungi as part of integrated pest management, and included some material on the BBSRC/FAPESP-funded work. The audience (primarily nanotechnology experts) reported interest in how technology might be used to further enhance environmental heterogeneity.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.iupac2019.be/
 
Description Presentation during the IOBC-NTRS Webinar in July 2020 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Dr. Yelitza Colmenarez presented the project during a web-conference for the International Organisation on Biological Control. The conference was well attended, with a total of 185 participants from different countries in Latin America. There was a good level of interest in the project, and audience members reported changing their views on approaches to pesticide resistance management.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Rosie Mangan presentation, Royal Entomological Society- Scottish Regional Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Speaker: Rosie Mangan
Authors: Rosie Mangan, Matthew Tinsley, Luc Bussiere. University of Stirling
Fluctuating selection and enhancing diversity to overcome insecticide resistance evolution
The talk spurred interest in new approaches to manage insecticide resistance evolution.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Seminar presentation at Rhodes University, South Africa, by Dr. Rosie Mangan in May 2019: Harnessing ecological and evolutionary science to manage resistance evolution in agricultural pests 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Invited by Martin Hill, the director of The Centre for Biological Control and Head of Entomology, Dr. Rosie Mangan presented preliminary findings from our work on evolutionarily sustainable biocontrol, including results of quantitative genetic experiments from Stirling and practical experiments at UNESP. The talk was followed by numerous questions and discussions. Rosie was also invited to speak with PhD and Masters students regarding their research on biological control of South Africa's most significant agricultural pests and advised on medium to long insect immunity experiments the students were conducting. This occasion also lead to meetings with the research staff and research associates of the Centre of Biological Control to discuss future collaborative possibilities involving the application of our principles to South African agricultural systems and possible routes of funding to begin the projects
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Siconbiol 2019 Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presentation by Dr. Yelitza Colmenarez of the Endorse project objectives and main topics at Siconbiol 2019 and Publicity of the Endorse project in the Siconbiol 2019 conference App used by participants of the events. After the presentations, different people were interested to get to know the results at the field level in Brazil. I told them that we will produce a report at the end of the project and that we only have preliminary results.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://siconbiol.com.br/
 
Description Stakeholder engagement visit to Brazil 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact We visited Brazil to communicate the results of our research to a range of industry (and other) stakeholders. We held meetings with companies making biocontrol products, with farm companies and with policy practitioners. We gave talks to present our research findings and we held discussion meetings to brief organisations on the risks of pest resistance to biocontrol agents, and to discuss future opportunities for collaborative work.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Workshop on Evolution of Quantitative Resistance Traits in Pests, UNESP Jaboticabal, Brazil 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact I led a postgraduate course (a "discipline") for MSc and PhD students over three days that covered a review of genetic theory, the nature of selection and response in complex continuous traits, and the implications for this theory on managing resistance to biopesticides. Participants prepared oral presentations on topics related to the subject, and we engaged in discussion on the best ways to improve the evolutionary sustainability of pest control.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019