Pest insects can be detrimental to the health of agricultural crops and plants. However, widely spraying insecticides can have harmful unintended repercussions for farmers and pollinating insects. Dr. Christelle Guédot, Assistant Professor of Entomology at University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) studies the biology, behavior, and chemical ecology of both pests and pollinators in order to improve overall agricultural production management strategies for fruit growers. She integrates these insects as an ecosystem in order to target specific pests, while protecting pollinators that are important in agriculture.

Dr. Guédot is working to improve pest management while protecting pollinators in sustainable agriculture and ecosystems. As an ecologist of both managed and wild pollinators, she simultaneously works with pest insects—including perennial and invasive species—and identifies their interaction with fruit crops. Her research looks at insects’ chemical and visual cues used to locate their host or food, identifying which chemicals trigger responses in insects and affect their behavior toward plants. 

Dr. Guédot’s multidisciplinary team includes a postdoctoral student, a technician, graduate students, and part-time student helpers. Together, they collaborate with colleagues from UW and researchers in the U.S., France, and Canada, providing improved, sustainable, and ecologically sound management strategies for farmers to grow their crops, while protecting pollinators. 

Current research includes:

• Host Plant Resistance for Perennial Pests - Dr. Guédot and her team are identifying host plant resistance variables to known pests. They’re looking at varieties of different plants—such as specific crop varieties of grapes and cranberries—to identify differences in the susceptibility of cultivars within plant species. They want to see which varieties may be naturally more resistant to the particular common pests they’re studying. Dr. Guédot and her team largely work on an invasive drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, aiming to understand its phenology, reproductive potential, overwintering capacity, and how landscape affects infestation levels. They are looking at host susceptibility in order to assess how this fly develops on different crops, such as aronia, cold climate grapes, and tart cherry.
• Understanding the Chemical Ecology of Insects and Plants - Dr. Guédot and her team are identifying chemicals—both insect- or plant-produced—that mediate interactions between a plant and an insect, or between two insects (e.g. sex pheromones). By looking at these natural chemicals, they can identify how plants modify insect behavior upon interaction. They can then explore how these chemicals can be used for pest management. Plants produce different chemicals, some of which attracts female pests that lay eggs on a crop’s fruit or leaves. By identifying those plant-produced chemicals, Dr. Guédot and her team can use them for management strategies, such as “attract and kill,” in which a female insect is attracted to an artificial point source that has a small amount of insecticide that only kills the intended pest. Or—after identifying the female sex pheromones—a male pest can be tricked so that he cannot find a female and reproduce. Generally, pests and pollinators are attracted to different chemicals at different times. By understanding plant-produced chemicals, these alternate management strategies can be designed to remove pests, while keeping pollinators away from insecticides. Dr. Guédot and her team want to prevent the wide broadcasting of insecticides, providing a sustainable way of reducing the effects of pesticides and, in turn, protecting pollinators.
• Identifying New Prevention Strategies for Invasive Species - Dr. Guédot and her team are interested in developing new management strategies— for example using chemical attractants and repellents—to minimize damage and increase safety of workers from invasive pests, such as wasps in vineyards. Because they are looking at new invasive species with no historical biological background or previous management practices, Dr. Guédot and her team must define the basic biology, hosts, timing, and overall activity of these invasive species. By identifying how these new pests behave toward plants, they can design innovative strategies to help growers manage their crops sustainably.
• Improving Management of Pollinators - Dr. Guédot and her team are working to educate fruit growers in ways to minimize the impact current management practices have on commercial crops and the environment. They want to identify ways to reduce the use of pesticides in order to protect pollinators, and educate growers to improve insect management efforts. Specifically, Dr. Guédot and her team are looking at the impact of fungicides on bee health, identifying how the bees forage and developing ways to manage pollinators in a commercial crop, which will result in improved pollination practices. They also plan to look at wild pollinators in order to promote wild pollination health.