Research interests
Michelle specialises in the minimisation of pesticide use in fruit horticulture, improving pollination in fruit crops and incorporating modern fruit growing practices with Integrated Pest Management. The former includes research on improving pest monitoring by developing semiochemical manipulation of insects, optimising the use of biological control agents and enhancing and fostering local landscape ecology to provide the ecosystem service of pest control.
Her pollination research focuses on the delivery of insect pollinators to fruit crops through identification of key species and enhancement of habitat in and around crops, including wildflower and nesting resource establishment. She leads research on invasive pest species, such as, Drosophila suzukii, Halyomorpha halys and Anthonomus sp. and is a taxonomic specialist of Collembola, Araneae and fruit crop fauna.
She communicates research to growers and agronomists and presents papers at national and international conferences. She also authors best practice guidelines and factsheets for pest control in fruit crops and edits books and papers in specialist areas of fruit entomology and is Convenor of the Expert Group: "Integrated Protection of Fruit Crops"
Research projects
- EU Interreg North Sea Region (2019-2023) Benefitting ecosystems through evaluation of food supplies for pollination to open up knowledge for end users (BEESPOKE)
- Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme (2022-2024) Development of pheromones for innovative management of forest bug, an emerging pest of orchards in England: FORBUG 10027494
- AgroBioCONNECT – ERA-NET (2023-2026) Connections in the landscape. Role of landscape complexity in agroecosystem sustainability
- BBSRC Priority (2023) Pheromone of Apple Sawfly: New Tool for Management of a Re-emerging Pest
- BBSRC Feasibility (2023-25) Innovative Push-Pull Control of Spotted Wing Drosophila, an Invasive Pest of Fruit Crops (SWDP-P)
- BBSRC Priority (2023) Arable: Yellow Wheat Blossom Midge - an emergent threat to UK wheat production
- British Apples and Pears Ltd. (2023) Opportunities for Integrated Pest and Disease Management in Apples and Pears: Tackling British Apple and Pears Ltd. Priorities: PAPPLe
Publications
Recent publications
- Fountain, M. and Pope, T. (ed.), Advances in monitoring of native and invasive insect pests of crops, Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, 2023, Cambridge, UK (ISBN: 978 1 80146 107 8;).
- Mateos-Fierro Z, Garratt M, Fountain MT, Ashbrook K; Westbury D (2023) The potential of wildflower strips to enhance pollination services in sweet cherry orchards grown under polytunnels. Journal of Applied Ecology.
- Garratt, Michael; Fountain, Michelle T; Kinneen, Lois; Mitschunas, Nadine; Truslove, Louise; Xavier, Celina; Jenner, Nigel; Ashdown, Caroline; Brittain, Claire; Butcher, Charnee; Sutton, Peter; O'Connor, Rory; Carvell, Claire; Breeze, Tom; Pywell, Richard; Redhead, John; McKerchar, Megan; Edwards, Mike; Nowakowski, Marek; Potts, Simon (2023) Addressing pollination deficits in orchard crops through habitat management for wild pollinators. Ecological Applications
- Buck, N; Fountain, MT; Potts, SG; Bishop, J; Garratt, MPD (2023) The effects of non-crop habitat on Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) abundance in fruit systems: a meta-analysis. Agricultural and Forest Entomology
- Tsiolis K., Potts S.G., Garratt M., Tilston E.L., Burman J., Rintoul-Hynes N.L.J., Fountain M.T. (2022) The importance of soil and vegetation characteristics for establishing ground-nesting bee aggregations. Journal of Pollination Ecology, 32, 186–200