IOBC-APRS Symposium held at the Australian Entomological Society Conference in Canberra, Australia 28 Sep – 1 Oct 2014
The 50th anniversary annual meeting of the Australian Entomology Society was held in Canberra from 28 Sep to 1 Oct 2014 and what a meeting it was!
IOBC-APRS hosted a symposium 'Biocontrol in the Asia Pacific Region: highlights from the last 50 years and emerging issues for the future' with 14 excellent presentations including keynotes from Andy Sheppard, Stephen Goldson and Mark Hoddle. The conference committee allocated us the 'Shine Dome' for most of Tuesday (the best day) and by serendipity we followed straight after May Berenbaum's crowd drawing plenary. The talks were excellent and covered a range of topics over regions across our Asia Pacific section. We were able to make two IOBC Young Scientist Conference Awards to our members, Gurion Ang (University of Queensland) and Shengyong Wu (Chinese Academly of Agricultural Sciences) who gave excellent presentations in our symposium.
In addition to the actual symposium, IOBC- APRS hosted a dinner for its members (11 members attended the conference) and other presenters and this was a most convivial affair. On the Wednesday, we were able to hold our first physical Committee meeting with Barbara, Mark, Leigh and Bill being in Canberra and skyping through to Ronny in New Zealand. Some on the committee met for the first time at this conference. To top it off, one member, Don Sands, was honoured as foundation member of AES and another, Gurion Ang, was elected as a director to join the AES' board. Gurion, who was awarded one of our IOBC Young Scientist Conference Awards, also won the best student talk prize. From an IOBC perspective it was a most enjoyable and successful event.
The programme for the IOBC-APRS Symposium
Download Programme (pdf)
| Speaker* | Affiliation | Title | |
| Andy Sheppard | CSIRO Biodiversity, Australia | 100 years of continually successful weed biological control in Australia |  |
| Barbara Barratt and Bill Palmer |
AgResearch, NZ QDAFF, Australia |
IOBC Global and the Asia and Pacific Regional Section (APRS) | |
| Stephen Goldson | AgResearch, NZ | Exotic pests and biological control in New Zealand broadacre pasture; success hoisted by its own petard? | |
| Mark McNeill et al. | AgResearch, NZ | Biological control of exotic pasture weevils in New Zealand agriculture: learning from experience to inform the future | |
| Leigh Pilkington | NSW Department of Primary Industries, Australia | Biological control past, present and future in the greenhouse industry? | |
| Barbara Barratt | AgResearch, NZ | The Convention on Biological Diversity 'Access and Benefit-Sharing' protocol: will it obstruct biological control? | |
| Mark Hoddle | University of California, Riverside, USA | Biocontrol of Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter in French Polynesia: a major success in the South Pacific | |
| Matthew Purcell et al. | CSIRO Biosecurity, Australia | The role of gall-formers as biological control agents of the broad-leaved paperbark tree, Melaleuca quinguenervia | |
| David Hunter | BASF, Australia | The use of the fungus Metarhizium acridum to control locusts and grasshoppers | |
| Don Sands | Hon. Fellow, CSIRO, Australia | Rising threats from Arundo donax: Australian contribution to a successful US project | |
| Gurion Ang** | University of Queensland, Australia | Trichogramma chilonis Ishii: A potential biological control agent of Crocidolomia pavonana in Samoa | |
| Jacqui Todd | Plant and Food Research, NZ AgResearch, NZ |
Selection of non-target species for risk assessment of biological control agents: Testing a decision support system | |
| Tao Wang | University of Adelaide, Australia | The effects of temperature on the development and mortality of Eretmocerus warrae (Nauman & Schmidt) | |
| Shengyong Wu** | Institute of Plant Protection, Beijing, China | Evaluation of entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana on predatory mites and biological control of Frankliniella occidentalis | |
| Yi Feng | University of Adelaide, Australia | Towards biological control of a generalist insect herbivore: the activities of generalist parasitoids are segregated between crop and adjacent non-crop habitats | |
* See presentations for full list of co-authors ** IOBC Young Scientist Conference Awardees
Conference website: http://www.aesconferences.com.au/2014-conference
