UR 1115 Plants and Cropping Systems in Horticulture (Plantes et Systèmes de culture Horticoles), Team 3: Conservation Biological Control (CBC)

email : ludivine.laffon@inrae.fr

Education

Since Dec. 2020: PhD candidate – Avignon, INRAE (PSH) and IMBE (IRPNC)

2020: Master degree, “From Agronomy to Agroecology” – AgroParisTech, Paris Saclay

2017: B.Sc, “Ingénierie pour l'environnement”- Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse

Research topics

My thesis aims to better understand the effects of vegetation diversity on biological control services. I mainly investigate the role of wildflowers, and to a lesser extent, that of aromatic plants.

My case study is Mediterranean apple orchards. I focused on two main apple pests, the codling moth (Cydia pomonella) and the rosy apple aphid (Dysaphis plantagineae), and two groups of their natural enemies depending on floral resources: hoverflies and hymenopteran parasitoids.

I aim to (i) describe the spontaneous vegetation of apple orchards, (ii) characterize the interactions between wildflowers, parasitoid wasps and hoverflies, and (iii) assess the cascading effects on insect pests and associated damage.

We carried out botanical and entomological surveys in commercial and experimental orchards. These surveys are combined with molecular biological analyses (barcoding and metabarcoding).

My PhD is funded by INRAE (SPE department), and by the Region Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. Fieldwork was partially funded by the 2P3P (SFR Tersys) project.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9CGteCK2Og

Supervisors

Pierre Franck (INRAE, PSH), Armin Bischoff (IMBE) and Françoise Lescourret (INRAE, PSH).

Publication

Laffon L, Bischoff A, Gautier H, Gilles F, Gomez L, Lescourret F, Franck P. Conservation Biological Control of Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella): Effects of Two Aromatic Plants, Basil (Ocimum basilicum) and French Marigolds (Tagetes patula). Insects. 2022 Oct 6;13(10):908. doi: 10.3390/insects13100908. PMID: 36292856; PMCID: PMC9604220.