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. International Arthropod Biocontrol SymposiumThe 1st International Symposium on Biological Control of Arthropods [see BNI 22(1), 14N (March 2001)] has been rescheduled for 13-18 January 2002, and will be held at the same venue as planned for last September. At the time of preparing this issue (October 2001), re-registration was well advanced, with the majority of registered participants planning to attend. The organizers have made every effort to contact all of these, and extend their thanks to all for their patience and understanding. BNI will include a report from the meeting in a future issue. Contact: Roy Van Driesche International Weed Biocontrol CongressThe XI Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds, the next in this pivotal meetings series, will be held in Canberra, Australia on 27 April - 2 May 2003, with an emphasis on the importance of ecology as the underpinning discipline for biological control Proposed themes, which will have a keynote speaker and several oral contributions together with poster presentations, are:
The Congress Committee is chaired by Mark Lonsdale, with David Briese as Treasurer. Contact: Congress
Secretary, 3rd IOBC International SymposiumThe Role of Genetics and Evolution in Biological Control is the title of the 3rd International Symposium of the Inter-national Organization for Biological Control of Noxious Animals and Plants (IOBC). Co-organized with CILBA (Complexe International de Lutte Biologique Agropolis), it will be held on 14-16 October 2002 in Montpellier, France. The last decade of the 20th century brought major change, with revolutionary advances in molecular biology that opened vast new areas for basic and applied research. This has provided new issues for classical, augmentative and conservation approaches to biological control. For example: (1) How and when can molecular genetics be used to trace the origin of target pests in classical biological control? (2) What will be the genetic consequences of releasing trans-genic or non-transgenic biological control agents? (3) How compatible are transgenic crops and natural enemies in conservation biological control? The Symposium will address recent developments in genetics and evolutionary biology, and their relevance to biological control, and the organizers have invited leading genetic ecologists and biological control researchers to speak on these topics. The Symposium's aims are to acquaint biological control workers with the latest advances in genomics and molecular biology and to explore ways in which these advances can be put to practical use in biological control. The aims will be addressed under the following themes:
Contact: Mireille Montes de
Oca, IOBC Water Hyacinth MeetingThe 3rd IOBC Global Working Group Meeting for the Biological and Integrated Control of Water Hyacinth will take place in Entebbe, Uganda on 27-29 August 2002, organized by the Biological Control Unit of the Namulonge Agricultural and Animal Production Research Institute (NAARI) of Uganda. This workshop proposes to facilitate the dissemination of recent research into the biological and integrated control of water hyacinth and to identify areas that may lead to improved control. It also aims to establish closer links between researchers and water hyacinth managers. Contacts: Dr James Ogwang, Dr Martin Hill, Newsletter from BangaloreThe newsletter from the Project Directorate of Biological Control Bangalore gives a brief update on activities and highlights research activities and achievements. In the latest issue*, a short report is given on planning for international collaboration on biological control. A report on training conducted, publications issued, and workshops, seminars and exhibitions organized is included, together with a list of distinguished visitors to PDBC. *Biocontrol Newsletter 2001. Vol. XI, No. 1. PDBC, Bangalore, India, 4 pp. Copies can be obtained from
the publisher: Project Directorate of Biological Control (ICAR), Indian Potato Biocontrol BibliographyAmong the world's food crops, potatoes rank fifth in tonnage. In 1996-7, India emerged as the third largest producer of potatoes in the world with a total production of 25 million tonnes and an average yield of 19.2 t/ha. A number of pests, both in fields and stores, attack potato and are responsible for reducing yield. Of these, about 80 pests have been reported from India. The current plant protection techniques are mainly pesticide-based, which, in spite of their indisputable merits in increasing crop production, have a number of adverse side effects. In the changing scenario of pest management, an integrated approach is advocated, where predators, parasitoids and diseases of pests along with other safe and environmentally sound methods of pest control play a dominant role. It was, therefore, felt imperative to consolidate the entire work done on biocontrol of potato pests in India. This bibliography* will be of interest to scientists, students and research workers, project funding agencies and others. *Singh, S.P.; Joshi, S. (eds)
(2001) Copies of can be obtained
from: Biocontrol in HindiThe Project Directorate of Biological Control, Bangalore organized scientific seminars in Hindi on the 14th of every month from September 1999 to September 2000 in connection with the National Language ('Raj Bhasha - Hindi) Golden Jubilee Celebrations. The seminars covered many aspects of the biological control of crop pests and weeds. A book* comprising 14 chapters has now been published based on the seminars, and will be of immense help on the specialized topic of biological control to readers of Hindi. Singh, S.P. (2001) Copies can be obtained
from: New Leafminer WebsiteA new Philippines-based
leafminer webpage has been launched to assist local technicians and
farmers, and enhance interactions between scientists around the globe.
Please browse through the site at: Although developed as a primer focusing on leafminers of vegetables in the Cordillera Region, and dealing with species identified from there, much of the information has a wider relevance. It covers reasons for the increased importance of these pests, life cycles, host plants and damage caused, together with management options. There is also an international directory of relevant expert individuals and organizations and a bibliography. A science comic on leafminer for farmers and technicians and a video film on leafminer can be opened in Microsoft PowerPoint. Contact: Dr R.C. Joshi, New IPM WebsiteThe new 'sp-IPM 2001'
website of the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research) Systemwide Program on Integrated Pest Management is up and
running at: The sp-IPM is a complex multi-centre, multi-stakeholder initiative, so this well-designed site is particularly useful for explaining how the programme operates and the involvement of its different stakeholders. Also invaluable are the project pages themselves, which provide a wealth of well-organized detail covering the rationale for the work, partner involvement, activities undertaken and progress so far - and lots of pictures! Hot Potato Research On-lineThe new Global Potato News
website at: It hosts also Potato Research Online, which provides email alerts of key potato research news. The latest development is a bi-monthly emailed research-focused newsletter, the first appearing in November 2001 with some 40 articles on all aspects of potato research. A veritable feast! Contact: Lukie Pieterse, EPPO Potato GuidelinesGiven all the articles on potatoes in this issue, it seems a good time to include a note about the new EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization) Guidelines On Good Plant Protection Practice for potatoes*. Published in English and French, they cover methods for controlling pests (including pathogens and weeds) of primarily ware potatoes. Each pest problem is outlined, and the strategy for dealing with it is described, including details, where applicable, of control methods and timing of interventions, together with constraints such as pesticide resistance. Pests covered include: Phytophthora infestans (late blight), Alternaria solani (early blight), Thanatephorus cucumeris (black scurf and stem canker), Verticillium dahliae (verticillium wilt), storage diseases, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Colorado beetle), aphids, Phthorimaea opercullela (potato tuber moth), soil Coleoptera (Agriotis spp. wireworms and Melolontha spp. whitegrubs), noctuids (cutworms), the mirid Lygoris pabulinus, leafhoppers (Empoasca vitis, E. solani and Eupteryx atropunctata), Globodera spp. (potato cyst nematodes), slugs and weeds. The use of desiccants as haulm killers and sprout suppressants is also covered. The guidelines, part of an EPPO programme to prepare such guidelines for all major crops of the EPPO region, should be read in conjunction with EPPO Standard PP 2/1(1) Principles of Good Plant Protection Practice. |
