Andrew LaFlair

Greenhouses are becoming an increasingly abundant infrastructure within the Greater Essex County Region. They are of great importance to the Canadian economy, however, many pest species find greenhouses an ideal environment to establish on due to the abundance of resources and lack of predation. Tuta absoluta is an invasive leaf mining pest on tomato crops. Originating from South America, it has rapidly spread throughout the Mediterranean and there is great potential for it to enter Canada. My research is set out to survey local areas within the region. Searching known predatory families of insects to discover a preventive biological control that naturally predates T.absoluta, thus avoiding the use of exotic species. Once discovered the species will be analyzed for it's potential to be reared within a tomato greenhouse environment and it's functionality as predator against multiple greenhouse pests. With a hope in the future for a new biological control to be available to growers in the field of agriculture.