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Dr Sarah Mansfield

Research interests

My research interests focus on the ecology and behaviour of insect parasitoids and predators in relation to biological control of agricultural pests, with emphasis on non-target effects of biological control agents, parasitoid-host interactions and intraguild predation.

Current research projects include IPM of elephant weevil borer and cocoa pod borer, improved management of GM refuges in cotton, biological control of thaumastocorids on eucalypts, and improving uptake of biological control by Australian growers.

Background

Sarah Mansfield completed her Bachelor of Science in 1994 and her Master of Science (First Class Honours) in 1996 at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She did her PhD in Entomology at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 2000. From 2001-2003 she was a Post-doctoral Fellow with CSIRO Entomology, based at the Australian Cotton Research Institute in Narrabri, NSW. She was a Research Entomologist with Forest Research in Rotorua, NZ, from 2004-2005. She accepted a lectureship in Agricultural Entomology at the University of Sydney in 2005 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2010.

Recent publications

  • Mansfield, S, Murray, TJ & Withers, TM. (2011) Will the accidental introduction of Neopolycystus insectifurax improve biological control of the eucalyptus tortoise beetle, Paropsis charybdis, in New Zealand?
  • Murray, TJ, Withers, TM & Mansfield, S. (2010) Choice versus no-choice test interpretation, and the role of biology and behavior in parasitoid host specificity tests. Biological Control 52: 153-159.
  • Maguranyi, SK, Webb, CE, Mansfield, S & Russell, RC. (2009) Are commercially available essential oils from Australian native plants repellent to mosquitoes? Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 25: 292-300.
  • Berndt, LA, Withers, TM, Mansfield, S & Hoare, RJB. (2009) Non-target species selection for host range testing of Cotesia urabae. New Zealand Plant Protection 62: 168-173.
  • Shamshad, A, Clift, AD & Mansfield, S. (2009) Effect of compost and casing treatments of insecticides against the sciarid Bradysia ocellaris (Comstock) (Diptera: Sciaridae) and on the total yield of cultivated mushrooms, Agaricus bisporus Imbach. Pest Management Science 65: 375-380.
  • Childs, IJ, Gunning, RV & Mansfield, S. (2009) Evidence for a permanent population of silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), in western Sydney. Australian Journal of Entomology 48: 247-250.
  • Noack, AE, Kaapro, J, Bartimote-Aufflick K, Mansfield, S & Rose, HA. (2009) Efficacy of imidacloprid in the control of Thaumastocoris peregrinus on Eucalyptus scoparia in Sydney, Australia. Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 35 (4): 192-196.
  • Shamshad, A, Clift, AD & Mansfield, S. (2009) The effect of tibia morphology on vector competency of mushroom sciarid flies. Journal of Applied Entomology 133: 484-490.
  • Shamshad, A, Clift, AD & Mansfield, S. (2009) Host-parasite interaction between cultivated mushroom, Agaricus bisporus hybrid strain Sylvan A15, and the mycoparasite Verticillium fungicola, a causal agent of dry bubble disease. Australasian Plant Pathology 38: 74-78.
  • Eziah, VY, Rose, HA, Clift, AD & Mansfield, S. (2008) Susceptibility of four field populations of the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) to six insecticides in the Sydney region, New South Wales, Australia. Australian Journal of Entomology 47: 355-360.

Contact

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