Biopesticide success with locust infestation

Green Muscle™ is a biopesticide that's proving successful against locusts in Africa. It consists of the spores of the Metarhizium anisopliae fungus, and is sprayed as a mineral oil suspension. Developed out of the LUBILOSA project, it is now produced by Biological Control Products (BCP) in South Africa and SenBio in Senegal. It has not as yet been approved for use in the United States.

BOOKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:

• Biological control: a global perspective - case studies from around the world


• Control of pests and weeds by natural enemies: an introduction to biological control


• Convention on biological diversity and product commercialisation in development assistance projects: a case study of LUBILOSA


• Exploitation of microorganisms


• "Fungal parasites of insects and nematodes" in Fungal biology


• Impact of science on African agriculture and food security


• Use of microbes for control and eradication of invasive arthropods

DOCUMENTS:

• Consultancy on entomopathology: strain selection on the fungal pathogen, Metarhizium anisopliae, for biocontrol of groundnut chafers: Myanmar, 1 August-5 September 1991


• Current status of Metarhizium anisopliae var. majus to control Oryctes rhinoceros in the Philippines, November 1991

JOURNALS:

• BioControl (was, Entomophaga)


• BioControl Science and Technology


• Biological Control


• Environmental Entomology


• Focus on Biopesticides PLUS


• Journal of Biopesticides

NEWS:

• Biopesticide developed by CABI averts locust disaster in Eastern Africa
  

Locust swarms and serotonin

Original article:

Anstey, M.L., Rogers, S.M., Ott, S.R., Burrows, M., & Simpson, S.J. (30 January 2009). Serotonin mediates behavioral gregarization underlying swarm formation in desert locusts. Science 323 (5914): 627-630. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1165939]

• Includes links to a longer commentary (Perspectives) and shorter commentary (ScienceNow), an author interview podcast and podcast transcript
  

You may also be interested in:

• Green Muscle, a fungal biopesticide for control of grasshoppers and locusts in Africa - chapter in "Biological control: a global perspective"
• Locust: the devastating rise and mysterious disappearance of the insect that shaped the American frontier
• Locusts - chapter in "Agrometeorology related to extreme events"
• Serotonin system- chapter in "The neuromodulators"
• Biology of aggression - serotonin addressed throughout

[Photo by niv. License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic. http://www.flickr.com/photos/antichrist/34263361]