Plant-insect relationships from the ecosystem to the molecular level
Applied Entomolgy
Plants in the field are surrounded by myriads of insects. These insects use their flight capacity in search of food, mates and shelter or nests, and locate these crucial resources guided by chemical and physical stimuli. In agroecosystems, feeding herbivores compete with man for food, a highly critical aspect in view of the increasing global food shortage and the urgent demand for sufficient and healthy human nutrition. We investigate insect-plant relationships, in particular as a basis for more sustainable crop and pest management. Bottom-up approaches aim at strengthening the plant’s defense, leading to more resistant genotypes or to the exploitation of useful biotic or abiotic environmental influences. Top-down approaches aim at enhancing efficacy of natural antagonists such as parasitoid wasps that can be mass-reared in reliable quality and released in biological control programs.
Key research topics with herbivore pest insects, parasitoids and native bees include dispersal behavior of insects in agroecosystems, chemically and physically mediated relationships, and multitrophic interactions between crop plants and insects.
Research topics
Dispersal behavior
Chemical and physical ecology
Multitrophic interactions
Interdisciplinary
Crop science
Plant physiology
Organic chemistry
Molecular biology
