250079 Biological Control of Pests

Detaljer
Institut for Jordbrug og Økologi
English titleBiological Control of Pests
Tidligst mulig placeringBachelor 3. år til Kandidat 2. år
VarighedEn blok
 
Pointværdi7.5 (ECTS)
KursustypeFælleskursus
 
EksamenSluteksamen

mundtlig eksamen

Praktisk eksamen


Alle hjælpemidler tilladt

Beskrivelse af eksamen: The exam will consist of Individual oral presentation of a short report on experimental work. Each student will be asked questions directly related to the report and questions related to the the overall curriculum of the course

bestået/ikke bestået, intern censur
 
Forudsætninger for indstilling til eksamenCompletition of report for oral presentation
 
Rammer for undervisning
 
BlokplaceringBlock 2
Ugestruktur: B
 
UndervisningssprogEngelsk
 
Anbefalede forudsætninger240011 Dyrs og planters diversitet
The course is planned for both KU LIFE students, students from other faculties and foreign students. Therefore, the recommended prerequisites as written as named courses can be difficult to specify.
 
Begrænset deltagerantalMax 20 participants due to laboratory facilities
 
Kursusindhold
General part:

The course will include all four strategies for biological control of pests: classical, inoculation, inundation, and conservation

The major groups of organisms used in biological control will be presented: their ecology, life cycles, mechanisms of action etc. Organisms considered include predators, parasitoids, microorganisms, nematodes, vertebrates

Methods for isolation and selection of biological control organisms as well as application methods will be discussed.

Also included are monitoring populations and activity levels of biological control agents following application to the crop and release into the environment.

Other key words include:

Natural regulation of pests
Risk assessment of biological control organisms, legislation and BCA registration.
Ethical aspects and public acceptance.
Cases on practical application of biological control within agriculture, horticulture, forestry, husbandry, urban environment and other managed landscapes.


Experimental part

The students will perform a limited set of experiments related to biological control. Examples are:

* Characterization of insect pathenic fungi
* Insect prey and insect predator interactions (behaviour etc)
* Action of insect parasitic nematodes
* Bio-assays using microorganisms for biological control

A limited treatment of data and discussion in relation to relevant literature will be included in the student report
 
Undervisningsform
The teaching and learning methods will include: Lectures: overview of strategies, organisms involved, history of biocontrol, methodologies Theoretical exercises involving: discussion of orginal scientific literature with emphasis on conceptual elements and case studies Practicals: limited experimental work in teams, by selecting from a set of options. The experiments should be performed by setting up hypothesis for discussion. The options include for example: Interaction between predator and prey, natural occurence of insect pathogenic fungi and nematodes, bio-assays using microorganisms, characterization of biocontrol organisms, bioimaging of infection processes. Colloquia: The participants decide with the main teacher about content and form of colloquia. Excursion: one field sampling excursion to find and diagnose natural enemies of pests (mainly arthropods) Supervision: each team in the laboratory will be supervised concerning methodology, data collection and treatment and discussion Preparation: for theoretical excercises, colloquia and practicals, preparation in term of literature reading is needed.
 
Målbeskrivelse
Knowledge
After completition of the course the students should be able to:

* Can describe and understand the strategies used in biological control
* Know about about can describe the main types of organisms used for or of potential interest for biological control
* Describe methods used for diagnostics, isolation, characterization, bio-assays and field experiments of relevance for biological control

Skills

* Ability to select an organism for biological control in a specified system
* Ability to select relevant methods to study the interactions between biocontrol organism, target host and environment
* Ability to analyse and decide about potential risks using biological control both in a specified system and in a more general context
* Ability to use scientific literature to discuss own data


Competences

* Ability to transfer the knowledge into other decision processes about multitrophic interactions of ecological relevance
* Ability to perform and analyse experimental work including two or three organisms
* Ability to transfer the knowledge into other decision processes involving cross diciplinary elements, for example: biology, managed systems, and ethics


 
Litteraturhenvisninger
Hajek, A., 2004: Natural enemies. Cambridge University Press

Kompendium material/photocopies of scientific articles

Manuals for practicals
 
Kursusansvarlig
Jørgen Eilenberg, jei@life.ku.dk, Institut for Jordbrug og Økologi/Faggruppe Zoologi, Tlf: 35332692
 
Studienævn
Studienævn NSN
 
Kursusbeskrivelsesomfang
forelæsninger18
teoretiske øvelser20
praktiske øvelser60
forberedelse75
eksamen4
kollokvier10
ekskursioner8
vejledning10

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