NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Multimodal Animal Communication Ecology

尽管现代杀虫剂在控制害虫类群方面发挥了关键作用，但许多昆虫已经产生了抗药性。此外，公众对持续增长的农药使用的担忧促使监管机构限制农药的使用，这导致许多害虫的死灰复燃。其他害虫继续袭击人类、牲畜、粮食和纤维，严重影响我们的健康和以自然资源为基础的经济。迫切需要替代性和更综合的虫害防治战略。主席的更新建议是关于其中的一些替代方案：昆虫、蜱虫、蜘蛛和啮齿动物用来交流的多模态通信信号，以及这些分类群用来定位资源的多模态觅食线索。重点是发现多模态和多成分的通信信号和觅食线索，因为越来越多的证据表明，脊椎动物和无脊椎动物都整合了不同类型的信息。新的视觉、符号化学、声音、红外、生物磁性和静电通信信号和觅食线索的发现，以及它们之间的协同作用，将有助于开发更有效的引诱剂和驱虫剂，以及针对特定目标的害虫控制的新策略。第四届主席任期将针对对牲畜造成严重痛苦的具有挑战性的害虫群体（角蝇和马蝇），携带致病病原体（蚊子、蜱虫、啮齿动物），或只是逃脱有效控制的害虫群体（蓟马、蜘蛛螨）。

Although modern pesticides play a key role in controlling pest taxa, many insects have developed pesticideresistance. Moreover, public concern over continued and growing use of pesticides has prompted regulatoryagencies to restrict their use which has lead to the resurgence of many pests. Other pests continue their assaulton people, livestock, food and fiber, severely affecting our health and natural resource-based economies.Alternative and more integrated pest control strategies are urgently needed. The renewal proposal of the Chairis about some of those alternatives: multi-modal communication signals that insects, ticks, spiders and rodentsutilize to communicate, and multi-modal foraging cues that these taxa exploit to locate resources. Theemphasis is on the discovery of multi-modal and multi-component communication signals and foraging cuesbecause - increasingly - evidence indicates that both vertebrates and invertebrates integrate diverse types ofinformation. The discovery of novel visual, semiochemical, sonic, infrared, bio-magnetic and electrostaticcommunication signals and foraging cues, and synergisms between them, would allow the development ofmore effective attractants and repellents, and new tactics for target-specific pest control. The 4th Chair-termwill target challenging pest groups that inflict severe pain on livestock (horn & stable flies), carrydisease-causing pathogens (mosquitoes, ticks, rodents), or simply have escaped effective control (thrips,spidermites).