Adam is a specialist in development of sustainable pest control strategies that minimise environmental impact.
Research interests
Adam works on the development of the sterile insect technique to control key agricultural and horticultural pests, a synthetic semiochemical push-pull approach to control pest mirids in soft fruits, targeted mass-trapping of Drosophila suzukii in wild refuges to reduce numbers migrating into neighbouring soft fruit crops, bait sprays to improve control of D. suzukii. Research updates are regularly communicated to growers and agronomists at meetings and conferences.
Current research
Title: Soft Pest SF 174 - improving integrated pest management in soft fruit crops
Duration: 2020-2023
Funder: AHDB
Title: New sustainable solution to save healthy fruit from spotted wing drosophila: STOP-SPOT
Duration: 2021-2023
Funder: Innovate UK
Recent publications
Ralph Noble, Adam Walker, Charles Whitfield, Adrian Harris, Andreja Dobrovin-Pennington, Michelle T. Fountain. (2021). Minimising insecticides for control of spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) in soft fruit using bait sprays. Journal of Applied Entomology.
Michelle T Fountain, Greg Deakin, Dudley Farman, David Hall, Chantelle Jay, Bethan Shaw, Adam Walker. (2021). An effective ‘push–pull’ control strategy for European tarnished plant bug, Lygus rugulipennis (Heteroptera: Miridae), in strawberry using synthetic semiochemicals. Pest Management Science, 77: 2747-2755
Tim Harvey-Samuel, Xuejiao Xu, Erica Lovett, Tarig Dafa'alla, Adam Walker, Victoria C Norman, Ruth Carter, Joss Teal, Luxziyah Akilan, Philip T Leftwich, Christine M Reitmayer, Hamid A Siddiqui, Luke Alphey. (2021). Engineered expression of the invertebrate-specific scorpion toxin AaHIT reduces adult longevity and female fecundity in the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella. Pest Management Science, 77: 3154-3164.
Shelton, A., Long, S., Walker, A., Bolton M., Collins, H., Revuelta, L., Johnson, L., Warner, S., Morrison, N. (2020). Evaluation of the first field release of a genetically- engineered, self-limiting agricultural insect and its crop protection potential. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Zhou, L., Alphey, N., Walker, A., Travers, L., Hasan, F., Morrison, N., Bonsall, M., Raymond, B. (2017). Combining the high‐dose/refuge strategy and self‐limiting transgenic insects in resistance management—a test in experimental mesocosms. Evolutionary Applications, 11: 727-738.