Description du projet
Une nouvelle application pour surveiller les invasions de scarabées japonais en Europe
Le scarabée japonais (Popillia japonica), l’un des insectes les plus envahissants sévissant en Amérique du Nord, constitue une menace majeure pour des centaines d’espèces végétales. Ce redoutable nuisible, affectant l’agriculture, l’horticulture, les pelouses et les paysages, présente également un risque pour la santé des plantes en Europe. Introduit accidentellement en Europe continentale en 2014, il peut se déplacer rapidement et proliférer sous des climats très variés. Le projet IPM-Popillia, financé par l’UE, fournira des instruments de surveillance rapides et fiables ainsi qu’un outil de science citoyenne basé sur une application pour maximiser l’implication et la sensibilisation du public à l’égard de ce nuisible envahissant. Une IPM-Toolbox (boîte à outils de lutte intégrée contre les organismes nuisibles) respectueuse de l’environnement proposera des méthodes de lutte contre les scarabées japonais à la fois à l’intérieur et en lisière de la zone actuellement infestée.
Objectif
The Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, is one of the worst invasive pests of North America. Costs to control the pest in the US exceed $450 million per year. P. japonica was detected near Milano in 2014, and is now starting to spread in Europe. It is an enormous threat to Europe, since (1) it can feed on more than 300 host plants, including many important crops, (2) it is a good flyer and can be relocated via movement of goods and people, (3) climate suitability puts at risk an area ranging from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, and from the Mediterranean to Great Britain and Southern Scandinavia. EFSA and the JRC of the European Commission nominated P. japonica a candidate high priority pest in the EU in the new EU Plant health Law.
IPM-Popillia has the aim to counteract this invasion. The project will provide fast and reliable monitoring tools, including an app-based citizen science approach to rise public awareness. Its main deliverable will be an IPM-Toolbox for control of P. japonica, relying exclusively on environmentally friendly control measures. Several teams of the consortium will collaborate in the core of the recent outbreak area, doing practical research in an European environment that can be applied immediatedly. The ambition of IPM-Popillia is to show that it is possible to control the new pest, and meet the requirements of quarantine regulations, and at the same time respect the environment and the principles of the sustainable use directive.
IPM-Popillia will provide an integrated pest management strategy against P. japonica at a very early timepoint of the invasion process. So far, the new pest is still confined to one single and comparatively small area of about 6’000 square kilometres on mainland Europe. This timeliness is exceptional when compared to previous invasions into Europe, and will significantly enhance chances for successful containment, provided that the starting signal is given NOW.
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RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinateur
3003 Bern
Suisse