Turning Up the Heat on Pest Insect Reproduction: Optimising Thermal Control in Dry Food Storage Facilities

Stored product insect pests seriously damage global food production, especially in developing countries. Chemical methods to control these pests are either becoming regulated due to health concerns or environmental damage or have become less effective as resistance evolves. New methods of pest management are therefore urgently sought. Thermal control is being increasingly used, when 60oC temperatures are applied to kill insects in contained facilities. However, this can be energetically expensive and cause collateral damage. The project will examine how less extreme temperatures can be used to control key pests through thermal sensitivities within reproduction, enabling more economically effective management. Lab experiments will be used to study how different thermal regimes with different insect populations influence reproduction, recovery, survival and potential to infest in some key stored product pests, scaling findings up to larger storage facilities.