Biocontrol News and Information
CABI Publishing


December 1997, Volume 18 No. 4

Announcements

Are you producing a newsletter, holding a meeting, running an organization or rearing a natural enemy that you want other biocontrol workers to know about? Send us the details and we will announce it in BNI.

IIBC International Training Course

The fifth annual International Training Course on Biological Control of Arthropod Pests and Weeds will take place on 13 July - 7 August 1998 at the International Institute of Biological Control (IIBC), Silwood Park, Ascot, UK.

Course Aims

Participants on this four-week intensive course will learn:

  • the principles of biological pest control as the core component of an IPM programme
  • how to conserve native predators and parasites in farmers' fields
  • how to introduce natural enemies from the native habitat of exotic pests
  • how to culture arthropod and microbial biological control agents for field release

The course is structured around practical skills sessions including field and laboratory experiments, group work and informal lectures, with an emphasis on `hands on' training. It includes methods and case studies from tropical and temperate agricultural, forestry and biodiversity conservation ecosystems. Participants should ideally have a first degree in agriculture or biological sciences and/or practical field exper-ience in this area. The course is suited to agricultural researchers and exten-sionists, including crop protection staff who wish to broaden their knowledge of pest management. It is also relevant to staff from forestry and conservation departments and from non-governmental agencies involved in farming or forestry programmes.

Course fees, including self-catering accommodation, are £3000. For further details and an application form, please contact: Stephanie Williamson, Training and Information Officer, IIBC, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berks. SL5 7TA, UK

Tel: +44 1344 872999

Fax: +44 1344 875007

E-mail: s.williamson@CABI.org

Biological Control of Tropical Weeds

An intensive two-week course is offered by the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Pest Management (CTPM) in Brisbane, Australia from 23 March to 3 April 1998.

The course aims to give participants a balanced understanding of the theory of weed biological control and practical exposure to the procedures followed in programmes. The course will benefit agriculturalists, nature conservationists, entomologists and those concerned with policy or management issues associated with biological control of weeds.

Applicants should have a degree in agriculture or a related discipline and two years' appropriate work experience. The course will be taught in English. Applicants should seek funding (full fee Au$ 3500) from their employer and/or funding agencies in their region. Limited funding may be available from Australian aid agencies.

For further details please contact: Short Course Coordinator, CRC for Tropical Pest Management, Gehrmann Laboratories, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld. 4072, Australia

Tel: +61 7 3365 1851

Fax: +61 7 3365 1855

E-mail: Courses@ctpm.uq.edu.au

Forest Insect Biocontrol

The USDA Forest Service are offering free copies of a report dealing with the biological control of forest pests in the southern USA*. A companion volume covering the northeastern and north central regions of the USA was announced in the last issue of BNI [18(3)].

Almost all North American releases of classical biological control agents of pests of trees have been made either into Canada with subsequent move-ment into the northern USA, or directly into the northern USA, and almost all the agents have been imported from Europe. There seems to have been more study of the native and adventive biological control agents in the northern part of the country, and not only have there been fewer releases of introduced natural enemies in the southern USA, but also the distribution of natural enemies there is relatively poorly known.

This publication deals with the classical biological control of 119 species of pest insects of trees in the southern USA. It considers resident natural enemies, as well as past attempts and future possibilities for biological control. The natural enemies dealt with are almost exclusively insects, both predators and parasitoids. For each pest, information is given on its taxonomy, its (native or exotic) origin and current distribution in the southern USA, resident natural enemies recorded from it, and a condensed history of biological control together with suggestions for potential agents or where they might be sought.

Two particular issues are addressed: first, the possibility that agents which failed to establish in the North might be more adapted to conditions in the South and therefore able to establish there; and second, some indigenous pests of the southern USA are also native to the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America, and few attempts so far have been made to obtain natural enemies from these areas.

*Frank, J. H.; Foltz, J. L. (1997) Classical biological control of pest insects of trees in the southern United States: a review and recommendations. Morgantown, West Virginia; USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Enterprise Team-96-20, 78 pp.

For a free copy of this publication write to: Dr John L. Foltz, Entomology and Nematology Department, Univer-sity of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0630, USA or Dr Richard C. Reardon, USDA Forest Service, 180 Canfield Street, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA.

Return to Contents of PEST CABWeb®