Biocontrol and Natural Products (BANP)

BIPESCO - Biocontrol of Important Soil Dwelling Pests by Improving the Efficacy of Insect Pathogenic Fungi

RAFBCA - Risk Assessment of Fungal Biological Control Agents

INBIOSOIL - Innovative Biological Products for Soil Pest Control

LWEC BIPESCO - Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Initiative

DelPHE - Development Partnerships in Higher Education

IMPACT - Integrated Management of Forest Pests Addressing Climate Trends

• Professor Tariq Butt
• Professor Dan Eastwood
• Dr Jim Bull
• Professor Rory Wilson
• Dr Bethany Greenfield

Agrisense is the world's leading manufacturer of insect monitoring products.

Bord na Móna Horticulture caters for three distinct horticulture markets – home gardeners, retailers and professional. We produce and market peat-based growing media products for professional horticultural growers, for retail suppliers and for hobby gardeners. A large part of our business is in supplying these products to export markets.

CERTIS Europe develops and provides crop protection solutions for growers.

Fargro Ltd is a horticultural distributor based in Littlehampton, West Sussex. We are a leading distributor and supplier of exclusive horticultural products including agrochemicals, niche hardware and machinery products which we supply directly to growers.

Greenerpol Ltd is a UK based manufacturer of bio-compostable single-use disposable cutlery. We offer a wide range of products including in both economy and premium grades.

Lisk and Jones Consultancy provide help in new technology evaluation and development in the field of bio-pesticides.

Maelor Forest Nurseries Limited is independently owned and produces an extensive range of commercial forestry, marketing approximately 20 million trees a year to customers throughout the UK and Europe. We are a wholesale nursery producing bare root trees and shrubs suitable for forestry, Christmas trees, hedging and native woodland planting.

Neem Biotech was established in 1998 and is based in Cardiff, Wales. We engage in research and development for the discovery of unique, safe, natural compounds that have therapeutic properties in human and animal health or applications in agriculture and aquaculture.

Novozymes is the world leader in biological solutions. The company's headquarters are in Bagsværd outside Copenhagen, Denmark employing approximately 6,485 people. The company has operations in a number of countries around the world, including China, India, Brazil, Argentina, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.

Puffin Produce is the largest supplier of Welsh produce in Wales supplying a wide variety of potatoes and seasonal vegetables to multiple major retailers and wholesalers.

Sentomol Pest Management Solutions provides a consultancy service for anyone involved in detecting, catching or controlling insect pests through the use of pheromones and other attractants. Markets we cover include Animal Health, Horticulture, Forestry, Agriculture, Amenity, Stored Product Protection, Public Health and Home & Garden.

Suterra offers a range of bio-rational commercial pest monitoring and control products for the industrial and retail home and garden markets, which are used on a daily basis to monitor and control pest populations.

Tilhill Forestry is the UK’s leading forestry and timber harvesting company, we offer a broad range of market leading professional consultancy and contracting services to woodland and forestry owners. Established more than 60 years ago, Tilhill is a national company operating from a network of offices throughout Great Britain.

• Dr Ivan Dubovisky, Senior Researcher, Institut of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science, Russia

Current interests: Insect humoral and cellular immunity, encapsulation, ROS, mechanisms of insect’s resistance to bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis and fungi, microevolution, antioxidant and detoxific systems and genes expressions.

• Professor Selcuk Hazir, Adnan Mendered University, Faculty of Science, Aykin, Turkey

Biography: I was born in Adana-Turkey in 1966 and graduated from Hacettepe University, Department of Biology in 1991. I did my PhD with Dr Harry K. Kaya in the Nematology Department at the University of California Davis, USA. I have been working at Adnan Menderes University, Biology Department since 2005 as a full-time professor. My research area is Biological control of insect pests with entomopathogenic nematodes. More specifically I study on (1) various application strategies to increase entomopathogenic nematode efficiency in the field conditions, (2) natural enemies of entomopathogenic nematodes and the role of Scavenger Deterrent Factor (SDF) produced by symbiotic bacteria of EPNs.

• Professor Andrea Vilanskas, Institute  of Phytopathology and Applied Zoology, Justus-Liebig University of Giessen, Germany

• Dr Richard Samuels

• FERA
• Forest Research
• DEFRA
• Welsh Government
• Scottish Government
• ESRC
• Forestry Commission

Fungal and Arthropod Functional Genomics Lab, Swansea University

• Dr Ivan Dubovisky, Senior Researcher, Institut of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science, Russia
• Professor Selcuk Hazir, Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Science, Aykin, Turkey
• Professor Andrea Vilanskas, Institute  of Phytopathology and Applied Zoology, Justus-Liebig University of Giessen, Germany
• Dr Richard Samuels

BIO319 Biological Control of Invertebrate Pests

This module presents an overview of the socio-economic impact of major invertebrate pests and the challenges of developing environmentally friendly methods of control which reduce or eliminate dependency on conventional synthetic chemical pesticides. The module is appropriate to a wide range of students. It looks at (in particular) life cycles of major invertebrate pests (of crops plus vectors of human and animal diseases), microbial and microbial biological control agents and strategies to integrate these agents into complex pest management programmes. The module also considers factors which drive the development of biological control agents as well as the problems in developing these agents including the risks they pose. It also involves instruction on preparing a report and in solving analytical questions (as problem-solving is claimed to be a strength of Bioscience graduates). The material is presented in lectures and as required reading in the set text.

Shah F. A., Ansari, M.A., Prasad, M., Butt, T.M., 2007. Evaluation of black vine weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) control strategies using Metarhizium anisopliae with sublethal doses of insecticides in disparate horticultural growing media. Biol. Control, 40: 246-252.

Ansari, M. A , Shah, F. A., Whittaker, M., Prasad, M., Butt, T.M., 2007. Control of western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) pupae with Metarhizium anisopliae in peat and peat alternative growing media. Biological Control 40: 293-297.

Shah, F.A. Prasad, M. & Butt, T.M 2007. A novel method for the quantitative assessment of the percolation of Metarhizium anisopliae conidia through horticultural growing media. Biocontrol (in press)

Alkhaibari, Abeer M.., Lord, Alex M.., Maffeis, Thierry., Bull, James C.., Olivares, Fabio L.., Samuels, Richard I.. & Butt, Tariq M.. (2018). Highly specific host-pathogen interactions influence Metarhizium brunneum blastospore virulence against Culex quinquefasciatus larvae. Virulence 9(1), 1449-1467.

https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43523 doi:10.1080/21505594.2018.1509665

Paula, Adriano R.., Silva, Leila E. I.., Ribeiro, Anderson., Butt, Tariq M.., Silva, Carlos P.. & Samuels, Richard I.. (2018). Improving the delivery and efficiency of fungus-impregnated cloths for control of adult Aedes aegypti using a synthetic attractive lure. Parasites & Vectors 11(1)

https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa40029 doi:10.1186/s13071-018-2871-z

Aydın, Tuğçe., Branco, Manuela., Güven, Özlem., Gonçalves, Hugo., Lima, Arlindo., Karaca, İsmail. & Butt, Tariq. (2018). Significant mortality of eggs and young larvae of two pine processionary moth species due to the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum. Biocontrol Science and Technology, 1-15.

https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa38967 doi:10.1080/09583157.2018.1447084

Alkhaibari, Abeer M.., Maffeis, Thierry., Bull, James C.. & Butt, Tariq M.. (2018). The combined use of the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium brunneum , and the mosquito predator, Toxorhynchites brevipalpis, for control of mosquito larvae: Is this a risky biocontrol strategy?. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 153, 38-50.

https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa38512 doi:10.1016/j.jip.2018.02.003

Sönmez, Emine., Demir, İsmail., Bull, James C.., Butt, Tariq M.. & Demirbağ, Zihni. (2017). Pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa, Lepidoptera: Thaumetopoeidae) larvae are highly susceptible to the entomopathogenic fungi Metarhizium brunneum and Beauveria bassiana. Biocontrol Science and Technology 27(10), 1168-1179.

https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa36196 doi:10.1080/09583157.2017.1387643

More at https://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/science/biosciences/t.butt/#publications=is-expanded

Find out more about our research into mycoinsecticides and mycoherbicides at Swansea University.