ASCII · Ameliorating the Sustainable Control of Invasive Insects

The general aim of this project is to promote the integration of new practices (derived from fundamental research in biology, genetics & biological control) for promoting the sustainable control of two invasive pests the tomato leafminer Tuta absoluta and the spotted wing fly Drosophila suzukii by:(i)strengthening the links between researchers from several disciplines, needed to conduct top-quality programs of sustainable control(ii)integrating updated techniques for characterizing the populations of each pest and natural enemy(iii)refining methods for monitoring and detecting different stages of each pest and natural enemy(iv)assessing target and non-target effects from pesticides(v)characterizing the semiochemicals regulating tritrophic interactions in selected cropping systems(vi)supporting and training researchers/growers/advisors in invaded and to-be-invaded countriesASCII will support the development of sustainable control programs against two invasive pests by making possible durable collaboration between partners working against the same crop pests, each partner participating with its own expertise and helping visiting partners in familiarizing with different techniques and approaches finalized to the sustainable control of target pest.The impact of ASCII can be summarized as follows: improving research collaborations for the development of techniques in crop protection; improving communication and exchange of expertise, methods and ideas through the creation of stable and durable networks of single researchers and research teams; enhancing the sustainable control against 2 pestscurrently invading Europe.The strong link between each partner and local farmers and stakeholders guarantees the immediate resonance of the results representing the modern concept of research that is devoted to the solution of practical problems in agriculture. The resources from the European network ENDURE will be taken advantage of.