Program Overview

Program Overview

The University of Copenhagen offers a course in Applied Insect Ecology and Biological Control. This course is part of the MSc Programme in Agriculture, MSc Programme in Environment and Development, and MSc Programme in Global Environment and Development.

Course Description

The course focuses on the management of insect pest populations, requiring an ecologically based knowledge and understanding of their biology, lifecycles, and interactions with host plants and natural enemies. Climate and cropping practices affect these interactions and the resulting management strategy.

Topics Covered

• Strategies of biological control against insect and mite pests.
• Applied insect-plant ecology and the influence of abiotic factors and agricultural practices on crop pests and their natural enemies.
• Natural enemy groups: predators, parasitoids, microorganisms, nematodes, and their ecology.
• Isolation and selection of biological control organisms, and commercially available organisms for biological control.
• Prevention of attacks and manipulation of pest insects and their natural enemies through crop management and enhancement of functional biodiversity in cropping systems.
• Monitoring and forecasting methodologies of pest populations.
• Cases of practical application within agriculture, horticulture, and other managed landscapes.
• Barriers, challenges, and risks of using biological control strategies.

Experimental Work

Students will perform a limited set of experiments related to biological control, including reporting on results. Examples of experiments include:

• Insect-prey and insect-predator interactions.
• The effect of temperature/diet/host plant on insect herbivores or predators.
• Bio-assays using microorganisms for biological control.

Learning Outcome

After the course, students should be able to:

Knowledge:

• Describe and understand the strategies used in insect pest management and biological control.
• Describe the main methods to prevent and control insect attacks.
• Characterize the main types of organisms used for biological control.
• Describe the principles and methods of monitoring insect pests of crops.
• Describe methods used for diagnostics, isolation, characterization, laboratory bio-assays, and field experiments.

Skills:

• Ability to select an organism and strategy for biological control in a specified system.
• Ability to select relevant methods to study interactions between natural enemies, target prey/host, and environment, and analyze results.
• Analyze and process monitoring data to develop and communicate a decision background for growers.
• Ability to identify and analyze potential risks when using biological control agents or other management methods.

Competences:

• Explain the major concepts of insect pest management.
• Explain and discuss effects of crop production systems on populations of pests, natural enemies, and other insects.
• Ability to combine knowledge from different disciplines into decision processes considering multitrophic interactions of ecological relevance.

Teaching and Learning Methods

The teaching and learning methods include lectures, theoretical exercises, discussion of original scientific literature, and practical exercises.

Literature

• Hajek AE, Eilenberg J. Natural enemies: an introduction to biological control. 2 ed. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
• Including scientific articles, book chapters, and manuals for experimental parts.

Recommended Prerequisites

Basic knowledge about ecology, applied entomology, and microbiology is advised. Academic qualifications equivalent to a BSc degree are recommended.

Exam

• Type of assessment: Oral examination, 20 min.
• The exam is individual, and students are provided a list of main topics two weeks before the exam day.
• Students must prepare a 10 min presentation for each of the topics.
• The presentation includes perspectives of parts of experimental and theoretical exercises, and it will be followed by questions directly related to the topic and within the overall curriculum of the course.

Course Details

• Course number: NPLK18001U
• ECTS: 7.5 ECTS
• Programme level: Full Degree Master
• Duration: 1 block
• Placement: Block 2
• Schedule group: B
• Capacity: 40
• Study board: Study Board of Natural Resources, Environment and Animal Science
• Contracting department: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences
• Contracting faculty: Faculty of Science
• Course Coordinator: Stine Kramer Jacobsen
• Teacher: Nicolai Vitt Meyling (co-responsible teacher)