Current Projects
Gnatwork
Funded by the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) as part of the BBSRC’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
https://www.gnatwork.ac.uk/
Gnatwork (2017-2021) aims to create and maintain a community of researchers based on shared technical difficulties across biting midges, sandflies and blackflies. Through pump-prime funding of small-scale studies and hosting of annual training workshops, Gnatwork aims to create a more resilient research base for these three neglected vector groups. Prof Cheke participated in workshops in Bangladesh during 2018 and in Brazil in 2019.
Modelling multi-scale pest control systems with hormesis and homeostatic transitions.
Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC). 2018 – 2022.
With the development of pesticide resistance, a paradoxical phenomenon often occurs whereby the stronger the control measures the more serious are subsequent outbreaks of pest populations. Thus, pest populations may achieve higher steady states than before the control measures, analogous to hormesis outcomes in drug toxicology. Therefore, improper control measures against pests (including both agricultural pests and vectors of diseases such as mosquitoes) may lead to severe outbreaks rather than the desired control. In order to restrain the evolution of pesticide resistance and avoid such paradoxical effects happening, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms and dynamics of pest resistance development and ascertain the threshold conditions for the occurrence of paradoxical results. So, in this project, dynamic equations of the evolution of pest populations inducing resistance and the evolution of genetic resistance are being devised. Mathematical methods will be used to analyse the process of Wolbachia matrilineal inheritance and cellular affinity in mosquitoes, study new methods of modelling pest populations with discrete generations and their control and develop a multi-scale system with equations combining descriptions of pest populations and their genetic evolution. Together with mathematical modelling and analyses of experimental data, statistical and numerical analysis, the dynamic behaviour of the multi-scale system will be studied and the internal relations associated with the development of pest resistance analyzed together with the time, the intensity and effectiveness of implemented pest control strategies in relation to the key factors controlling the above relations. The ultimate aim is to design optimal pest control strategies by determining the parameter space which permits successful control by avoiding paradoxical pest resurgences (Tang et al. 2019).
Recently Completed Project
Taking the bite out of wetlands; managing mosquitoes and the socio-ecological value of wetlands for well-being
Funded by the NERC Valuing Nature Health and Wellbeing programme (2016-2019), in collaboration with Cranfield University, Forest Research, Public Health England, University of Brighton and University of Bristol.
www.wetlandlife.org | @wetlandlife
Interest in the health and well-being impacts of wetlands has increased in the UK, in the context of both short and long term responses to extreme weather events and climate change. This is reflected in the UK Wetland Vision that identifies a need to make wetlands more relevant to people's lives by better understanding and harnessing the benefits provided by naturally functioning rivers and wetlands. Expansion of wetlands can bring many benefits, but it can also increase potential for mosquito-borne disease. There is a lack of knowledge about the consequences of wetland expansion for disease risk. This knowledge gap opens up space for speculation in the press and media about the perceived problems of 'killer' mosquitoes spreading across England, which can in turn fuel community unease and opposition to wetland creation and expansion. A key concern of the project was, therefore, to develop ecological interventions and guidance for diverse end-users to minimise mosquito-related problems, framed within and facilitated by a broader understanding of wetland value as impacted by mosquitoes. The potential contribution of wetland development to social and economic wellbeing envisaged in the UK Wetland Vision could be severely constrained by a failure to adequately address the risks imposed by mosquitoes and biting insects.
The overall aim of this project was to show how positive socio-cultural and ecological values of wetlands can be maximised for well-being and negative attitudes reduced. Management interventions for use by Public Health England and general guidelines were developed to limit the damaging effects of mosquito populations and enhance appreciation of the ecological value of mosquitoes in wetland ecosystems. The project has increased understanding of wetland environments to demonstrate how ecological interventions embedded in a broader understanding of wetland valuation can deliver well-being benefits to a broad range of stakeholders. There were four main objectives: 1) Development of a new conceptual place-based ecosystem services and well-being framework for understanding the impact of interventions and wetland values. 2) Exploration of the value of wetlands and mosquitoes in twelve case study locations. 3) Production of guidelines for valuing wetlands and managing mosquito populations to enhance the value of British wetlands for well-being. 4) Production of a place-based narrative on the socio-cultural, economic and ecological value of wetlands in British Society in the early years of the 21st Century.
Together with Prof G. Gibson and Dr F. Hawkes, Prof Cheke participated in ecological surveys at six of the 12 study sites to determine which mosquito species are breeding in the areas and where and when different species occur as adults. Particular attention has been paid to suspected invasive species which pose potential threats as vectors of emerging diseases such as West Nile virus and a handbook for assessing the suitability of wetlands for mosquitoes has been published (Hawkes et al. 2020). A spin-off from the project was the finding that blackflies, some of medical and veterinary importance, were also being caught in the mosquito traps.