New strategies against mosquitoes and other pests.

South America is fighting a battle against tiger mosquitoes that transmit yellow fever, dengue fever and the Zika virus. In Central Europe, wine and fruit growers fear another year of massive crop failures due to a type of vinegar fly known as the spotted-wing drosophila. Since the success rate of conventional methods continues to fall, researchers are developing new species-specific strategies that keep pests under control without resorting to environmental toxins. Fraunhofer researchers in Gießen are developing new species-specific strategies that keep pests under control without resorting to environmental toxins. Schetelig is an expert on the sterile insect technique, or SIT, in which the mass release of sterile males decimates the population of insect pests. With his team of researchers at the LOEWE Center for Insect Biotechnology & Bioresources, which is sponsored by the German state of Hesse, Schetelig is developing methods that increase the effectiveness of the sterile insect technique and allow it to be transferred to other insect pests. continue