Insect Pest Resistance: Novel Approach for Detection, and Effective Resistance Management Strategies

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Renata Bažok, Faculty of Agriculture, from the University of Zagreb in Croatia in this exciting guest lecture at NC State. 

Lecture Overview:

The production of the most important arable (maize and potato) and perennial crops (apple) in Croatia are endangered by many insect pests, of which the most important are the western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) (WCR), Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say) (CPB) and Codling moth (Cydia pomonella L.) (CM). These three pests have shown resistance to insecticides and/or to management strategies. Therefore there is a need for effective resistance monitoring programs that are capable of early detection of resistance and allow the implementation of insect resistance management (IRM) strategies in a timely manner.

Resistance is usually detected through bioassays, biochemical or molecular methods. The need for validated methods of resistance detection in agricultural pests is an imperative. It has been shown that metric properties of insects established by geometric morphometric techniques (i.e., shape analysis) are the first physical characters to change in an organism as they are under the influence of both environmental and genetic factors what makes morphometrics an ideal technique to detect and monitor resistant variants.

Croatian Science Foundation is funding the project entitled MONPERES in which the novel approach for the detection of pest resistance is investigated. The first results proving that morphometric traits could be used for the detection of WCR resistance will be discussed and the plans for future research will be presented.

Download printable PDF Flyer here. 

Biographical Sketch:

Renata Bažok is full professor working 23 years in high education. She is Vice Dean for International Relations at Faculty of Agriculture. She was coordinator of the specialist study program in Plant Medicine and undergraduate study program in Plant Protection. She coordinates graduate study program in Plant Medicine. She was on 3 specializations granted by USDA/ARS, Cochran and Fullbright fellowship. She was involved in two TEMPUS projects and she coordinated one TEMPUS project (544595-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-HR-TEMPUS-JPHES). She was investigator in two USDA/CRO projects and in several national scientific projects. She was principal investigator in 3 national scientific projects, and National Training Coordinator of the FAO Project (GTFS/RER/017/ITA). She coordinates one structural project financed jointly by EU and Croatia (IPA 2007/HR/16IPO/001-040511) and one project aimed to developing human potentials in plant medicine (ESF project). Her R&D competences are applied entomology, integrated pest management, plant protection, phytopharmacy. Under her mentorship five students completed their dissertations. Currently she is mentoring three PhD students. From 1993 she conducted research on integrated control of Colorado potato beetle, wireworms, sugar beet pests, oilseed rape pests, western corn rootworm and other maize pests. Her publication record ranges from 90 referred journal articles and # 100 miscellaneous. List of her publications is available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Renata_Baok/contributions