Research projects

Macadamia is the sole native Australian plant cultivated and globally traded. The Australian macadamia industry, the country's second-largest nut industry, faces productivity challenges due to insect pests. Predominantly grown along the eastern seaboard o...

The overall objective of this project is to catalogue and critically review innovations in detection methods and emerging biological and cultural control methods for the Varroa mite (Varroa destructor). This has become critically important now that the Va...

Industrial hemp has an exciting future, with global industrial hemp market expected to reach $18.6 billion by 2027. However, pest management in hemp is challenging, because little is known about the invertebrate communities in hemp and pest control option...

For their survival, corals rely on their symbiosis with single celled microalgae. The microalgae provide most of the coral’s nutrition via translocation of photosynthates and also play a crucial part in the thermal tolerance of corals. It is however...

The fall armyworm (FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda) is a very damaging pest of horticultural and grain crops that can proliferate in vast numbers, devastating production, and can disperse rapidly over massive distances.  Native to the Americas, FAW h...