EBCL - EBCL Staff

- Study on the comparison of the evolutionary patterns of the Heart-podded hoary cress, Lepidium draba L. ssp. draba sp. (Brassicaceae), a weed noxious to cattle and well established in rangelands, and croplands of the USA and Canada and one of its natural enemies, the collar gall weevil, Ceutorhynchus assimilis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

- Phylogeography of the Black swallow-wort, Vincetoxicum nigrum (L.) Moench. and the pale swallow-wort, Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleo.) Barb. (Asclepiadaceae), both invasive in natural areas and abandoned pastures in USA.

- Phylogeography of the Wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae), a chronic pest of wheat in North American Great plains in USA.

- Post-release monitoring of Trichoderma asperellum strains, used as microbial control agents against Phytophthora megakarya, the major causal agent of Black pod disease on cocoa in Cameroon. I coordinate an international collaborative research project on integrating biological control into IPM of Black Pod disease in Cameroon involving IRAD, Cameroon, USDA-ARS-EBCL, CIRAD, France and Cameroon, Masterfoods-US, USDA-ARS-SBML, USA (ARS specific cooperative agreement n°58-4012-1-F123).

Areas of Scientific Interest:

The primary goals of my research are to find out which genotypes of the pest or weed are invading, from where they originated from, which genotype (s) of the biocontrol agent candidates will match the main genotypes of the targets introduced in USA. This is a multidisciplinary research which includes comparative phylogeography, population structure study, molecular systematics, molecular monitoring and molecular diagnosis.

Emphasis is placed on the comparison of the population genetic structures of interacting insect hosts and parasitoids, weeds and herbivores, plant pathogens and mycoparasites. Ultimately, this inform us about the population ecology of both partners, but also the factors influencing the co - or evolutionary interaction.

Institutional and Academic service:

Member of the committee of the Complexe International de Lutte Biologique Agropolis (CILBA) since 2000.
Member of the organizing and scientific committees for the 12th International Symposium on the Biological Control of Weeds, at present.

Languages:

English and French