Topic: Technical support
Dates : 1 June 2026 – 31 December 2026
CBGP managers : A. Estoup & M. Gautier

Florian Bondil will provide technical support for experimental programmes focusing on the evolutionary ecology of invasive insect pests of agricultural importance, in particular the Asian ladybird Harmonia axyridis and the spotted wing fruit fly Drosophila suzukii. The aim of these programmes is to gain a better understanding of how these species adapt to their biotic and abiotic environment (through micro-evolutionary or plastic processes), with a view to proposing and evaluating sustainable methods for managing their populations. An increasing number of these programmes are based on an experimental approach requiring the maintenance of insect rearing colonies and the measurement of certain characteristics and life history traits (phenotyping).

Florian will be responsible for maintaining experimental insect lines and managing the associated logistics (preparation of culture media, controlled cross-breeding). He will be in charge of monitoring experimental set-ups in controlled or semi-controlled environments and characterising phenotypes (survival, fertility, response to temperature, host choice, behavioural traits, etc.). Finally, he will contribute to research programmes aimed at establishing the functional validation of the genetic determinants of certain phenotypes, by measuring the phenotype of individuals that have been subjected to an injection of siRNA, a technique that reduces or blocks gene expression.