Mathematical models for host-parasitoid interactions and biological control of Drosophila suzukii

Place: Seminar Room "-1" -  Department of Mathematics - Via Sommarive 14 - Povo - Trento
Hour: 10.00 a.m.

• Ferdinand Pfab

Abstract:
Parasitoids are usually insects which develop inside or attached to a host. They differ from normal parasites in that they finally kill their host. Besides having intriguing life strategies, some parasitoid species are used for controlling pest species in agriculture. Understanding their population dynamics is thus important and mathematical models can be useful for that. I will present such models and speak about the possible use of parasitoids for controlling the invasive fruit fly Drosophila suzukii, which is recently dealing serious damage to the production of small fruit in the province of Trento and other parts of the world.

Supervisor: Andrea Pugliese