What's the Buzz? Pest Control in a Connected World

A brief overview of some of the endemic pathogens found in the UK that the Rare and Imported Pathogens lab test for. The Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL) test for all kinds of weird and wonderful pathogens including the Plague, Ebola, Zika and Anthrax, but most, thankfully, aren’t found on UK shores. This presentation will go through some of the weird and wonderful pathogens that call the UK home.

The invasive species of the Yellow-Legged Hornet, also known as the Asian Hornet, arrived in France in 2004. Since then, it has seen a dramatic expansion across Europe, with its first incursion into the UK in 2016. In the last few years there has been a dramatic increase in detections in the UK. In this talk we look at why it is a threat, both to our vulnerable pollinator populations, wildlife and to ourselves. We then delve into how we respond to the threat and look at the measures we can take to try and control and prevent the spread of this invasive species, how the understanding of the organism’s biology informs our responses, and how technology developments can contribute to control.