NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Multimodal Animal Communication Ecology

传统化学农药广泛使用的时代已经结束。公众对有毒农药的持续和日益增长的使用的关注促使监管机构消除农药或限制其使用。 这反过来又导致许多害虫死灰复燃，而其他害虫则继续袭击粮食、纤维和人类，严重影响我们的健康和以自然资源为基础的经济。迫切需要改进虫害控制方法和化学农药的替代品。工业研究主席的更新建议是关于其中一些替代方案：昆虫（和一些脊椎动物）利用多模式觅食线索或通信信号来定位资源和相互通信。重点是发现复杂的，多模态和多成分的刺激，因为越来越多的证据表明，动物整合不同类型的信息。新的视觉、化学信息素、声波、红外线、生物磁性和静电觅食线索和通信信号的发现，以及它们之间的协同效应，将允许生产更有效的诱饵或驱避剂，并将促进针对特定目标的害虫控制的新策略的开发，从而：（1）通过管理疾病媒介昆虫和减少接触有毒杀虫剂来改善人类健康;（2）通过消除杀虫剂残留物来改善食品质量;（3）通过减少虫害影响提高作物产量和等级;（4）通过综合策略降低虫害防治成本;（5）通过保护益虫保护生物多样性。

The era of widespread use of conventional chemical pesticides has ended. Public concern over continued and growing use of toxic pesticides has prompted regulatory agencies to eliminate pesticides or restrict their use. This, in turn, has lead to the resurgence of many pests, while others continue their assault on food, fiber and people, severely affecting our health and natural resource-based economy. Improved pest control methods and alternatives to chemical pesticides are urgently needed. The renewal proposal of the Industrial Research Chair is about some of those alternatives: multimodal foraging cues or communication signals insects (and some vertebrates) utilize to locate resources and to communicate among themselves. The emphasis is on the discovery of complex, multimodal and multicomponent stimuli because increasing evidence indicates that animals integrate diverse types of information. The discovery of novel visual, semiochemical, sonic, infrared, biomagnetic, and electrostatic foraging cues and communication signals, and synergistic effects between them, would allow the production of more effective baits or repellents, and would facilitate the development of new tactics for target-specific pest control, thereby: (1) improving human health through management of disease-vectoring insects and through reduced exposure to toxic insecticides; (2) improving food quality through elimination of insecticide residue; (3) increasing crop yield and grade through reduced pest impact; (4) reducing costs for pest control through integrated tactics; and (5) preserving biodiversity through conservation of beneficial insects.