December 1997, Volume 18 No. 4

Conference Reports

Society For Invertebrate Pathology

The Society for Invertebrate Pathology (SIP) held the 30th Annual Meeting at Banff, Canada, on 22-29 August 1997. Some 350-400 delegates attended, mainly from North America and Japan.

The programme was divided into a number of groups. Symposia were held on a range of topics that included insect midgut physiology, formulation and production of fungal pathogens and viruses in their natural hosts. Contributed papers were on bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes and protozoa; events were dominated by the first two while the last two were noticeably reduced from previous years. In addition there were extensive Poster sessions and meetings of various divisions, such as the microbial control division, bacteria division, etc.

The state of development of different agents was reflected by the nature of the sessions. Practical control with pathogens is well established with the use of Bacillus thuringiensis and many of the bacteria presentations examined fundamental aspects such as mode of action. There have been marked advances with fungi in recent years and many of the presentations related to practical field use, major trials, formulation and application.

The Symposium on Ecological Applications in Microbial Control received marked attention. Talks demonstrated clear benefits of theoretical and applied studies on the ecology of disease, moving microbial control models away from the conventional chemical control model of pest suppression. Increased under-standing is highlighting many of the often unmeasured ways in which microbial control techniques reduce pest attack, often through sub-lethal effects. Instead of being modelled on the performance of chemicals, the particular attributes and advantages of microbial control are being demonstrated.

The conference gave an indication of the range of interests of the SIP and also areas related to pest control where insufficient work is being done. There was only one presentation on control of animal ectoparasites (none on endoparasites) and, in an era of integrated pest management, disturb-ingly little on conservation of endemic populations of pathogens or on interactions with other major control agents such as parasitoids.

The next SIP Meeting is to be held in Sapporo, Japan, 23-28 August 1988.