The way natural enemies interact with one another and respond to the density of the target pest and alternative prey determines their efficacy in biological control efforts.
Research in CEA entomology aims to find compatible mixes of natural enemies that engage in synergistic interaction and result in complementary predation on pest populations in CEA crops. Our goal is to find compatible natural enemies that do not engage in intraguild predation and improve the overall impact of biocontrol pressure on the pest population.
Our program uses extensive manipulative cage experiments and molecular screenings of natural enemies to select candidate species for augmentative release in CEA.
