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Description
Over the last century, common and German wasps have invaded and established throughout the country. We have a million hectares of honeydew beech forest where wasps reach the highest densities known anywhere in the world. These wasps exert a major toll on our biodiversity.
In this talk Professor Phil Lester will discuss the potential of new gene editing technologies for wasp and pest control.
What are the barriers to its use and how safe is gene editing? How far along the track are we towards using it? And would it effectively control wasps if we did genetically modify these pests?
Speaker Bios
Professor Lester is a Professor of Ecology and Entomology in the School of Biological Sciences, where his research is in the population dynamics and ecology of social insects.