This project contributes to the strategic direction of the Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity (CRCNPB) by undertaking research that seeks to fill critical gaps in the knowledge of the ecology and epidemiology of emergency plant pests that underpins decision making in biosecurity. It will help increase the level of preparedness for potential emergency plant pest incursions, by providing a PhD graduate trained in aspects of biosecurity.

What is the biosecurity problem?

The high cost of surveillance and uncertainty that surrounds the establishment of containment zones.

The main outputs of this project are to?

• determine the role host distribution plays in incidence and spread and compare lettuce aphid to other species to determine whether there is a generic basis to dispersal
   
• quantify the seasonal flight patterns and contrast with what is known for other aphid species in Australia
   
• estimate the probability and extent of inter-host movement and compare lettuce aphid to other species to determine whether there are generic rules 
   
• write a suite of papers that contribute to the literature in the area of landscape ecological processes, and 
   
• deliver a PhD graduate with skills in quantifying and predicting dispersal patterns of small insects.
   

Who will be the end-users of your research?

End users will be biosecurity agencies, Plant Health Australia (PHA), universities, government agencies and crop consultants.

Craig Feutrill (in purple shirt) demonstrating the mobile eight metre suction trap to the entomology group at Waite campus, University of Adelaide.