My name is Franklin Nyabuga, a postdoctoral researcher at the Pheromone Group – Lund University since 1st March 2013. I come from Kenya, a tropical country of many contrasts where both good and bad insects co-exist.
I am broadly interested in species interactions and persistence. What makes insects so successful (or not). My previous research entailed evolution of host resistance, mating systems and on the use of molecular tools to study biodiversity and gene flow. I have predominantly worked on insect-insect interactions and will be expanding on this to include plants as hosts. Preceding this position, I used pheromone lures to monitor beetles and moths in forest and grassland habitats, and molecular markers to determine genetic diversity and dispersal. In this new position, we aim to develop efficient and sustainable environmental friendly methods of monitoring and control of seed eating weevils (Apion spp.) in clover fields. The first line is to understand the biology of these weevil species and identify their semiochemicals (sex pheromones and host plant volatiles). I will investigate whether there is preference for different species of clover by the various species of weevils among other aspects…
