GGBC seminar: Pathogen virulence evolution and why it matters for biocontrol-based crop protection

Farmers can protect crops against herbivorous insects by exploiting insect pathogens as ecologically sustainable biocontrol agents. However, exploitation of these pathogens for agricultural biocontrol takes them outside their natural ecological niche. Insect pathogens have evolved as a result of selection pressures that maximise their fitness, rather than necessarily maximising the traits that are optimal for effective biocontrol. Our research focuses on insect pathogenic fungi that are used as biological pesticides. I will reflect on our work considering how selection acts on fungal virulence and how biocontrol research can be used to test broader theories in host-parasite evolution.

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