Eavesdrop On Experts

It’s estimated that there are 5.5 million insect species on Earth, says Phil Batterham, Professor Emeritus at the School of BioSciences and the Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne. “Those that are pests may number in hundreds, so it’s a minority of insects that cause damage in agriculture. “In fact, many insects are beneficial and really vital to us and to ecosystems.” Professor Batterham’s research looks at the interaction of chemical insecticides with pest insects and beneficial ones, like bees. “If you spray a fly with insecticide it dies quite rapidly because it binds to a target protein in the brain. So, many insecticides aren’t really pest-specific at all because they also bind to proteins in the brains of non-pest insects.” Professor Batterham’s work aims to understand these insecticide interactions so as to underpin the development of more effective and sustainable control strategies that have a reduced environmental impact. “A former PhD student Felipe Martelli examined low-dose impacts of