11th International Symposium on Fruit Flies of Economic Importance (ISFFEI), Sydney
Students and coordinators of the project DISPEST participated to the 11th International Symposium on Fruit Flies of Economic Importance (ISFFEI, 13-8/11/2022) in Sydney, Australia, Macquarie University.
A joint mission supported by the Belgian Directorate-General for Development Cooperation, allowed the participation of researchers from the Eduardo Mondlane University (EMU, Mozambique), Citrus Research International (CRI, South Africa), Stellenbosch University (SU, South Africa) and the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA, Belgium).
Updates about the ongoing research in DISPEST were provided by Lore Esselens (RMCA), who is describing the population genomic structure of Ceratitis rosa and C. quilicii (Diptera, Tephritidae) in southern Africa, and by Seth Tsatsu (CRI), who monitored distributions and population dynamics of these two agricultural pests in South Africa. Integrated population genetic and distributional data will be modelled considering landscape connectivity to generate predictions of the most likely dispersal pathways of C. rosa and C. quilicii.
This approach will help evaluating the risks that C. rosa and C. quilicii pose to different crops and horticultural industries in southern Africa.