Our research on controlling and monitoring fruit fly populations
Fruitfly biosecurity
The School of Natural Sciences' staff are members of a large collaborative group engaged in research on controlling and monitoring fruit fly populations. The main aim of the project is to strengthen Australia’s biosecurity through the management of Queensland fruit fly (Qfly) through the sterile insect technique (SIT), but other fruit fly species and other control mechanisms are also being investigated.
Australia has been heavily reliant on synthetic, primarily organophosphate, insecticides to protect crops, but these are now banned for many uses. Environmentally benign alternatives are needed urgently. The School's chemists are developing new, more effective, lure compounds that can be used to draw the flies away from the fruit, trap and kill them. They are also investigating the pheromone profile of fruit flies to better understand the relationships between pheromones of different species and differences in pheromone profiles of wild and cultured fruit flies.
Substantial funding has come through an agreement between Horticulture Innovation Australia (HIA) and Macquarie University, to the value of $20.5 million over five years, which is in addition to other HIA grants worth in the order of $3 million. Other funding has come through the establishment of an Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Fruit Fly Biosecurity Innovation ($3.7 million).
Other partners include:
- New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research (NZPFR)
- New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI)
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
- Queensland University of Technology
- Western Sydney University
- Queensland Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (QDAFF)
- Ecogrow Environmental Pty Ltd