Geoffrey Gurr

Distinguished Professor Geoffrey Gurr

Insect Ecologist

Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences

Biography

Professor Gurr is well known internationally for his work on applied insect ecology and developing ecologically-based strategies to harmonise agriculture with the environment. Following doctoral training at Imperial College and the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge, his work over the last three decades has spanned biological control of insect pests, plant defence, insect-vectored plant pathogens, chemical and molecular ecology. His chief contribution has been to develop strategies for promoting the activity of natural enemies of pests and simultaneously delivering other ecosystem services that build resilience in farming systems. These methods are used on increasing numbers of farms in Australia and overseas. In China, for example, the use of companion crops beside rice crops to attract beneficial insects that control pests has become nationally-recommended policy. Reflecting the real-world impact of his research, he won Engagement Australia’s excellence award for Outstanding Research Engagement in 2020. Such work has been the subject of two of the three books for which he was senior editor and many of his more than 200 scientific papers that include Nature Plants, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, PNAS and Annual Review of Entomology.

Research
  • Applied insect-plant ecology
  • Biological control of pests
  • Biodiversity and ecosystem services
  • Sustainable agriculture
  • Insect vector-phytoplasma-plant interactions
  • Developing country cropping systems
Publications
Full publications list on CRO

Recent Publications

  • Lu, H., Wilson, B., Zhang, H., Woruba, S. B., Feng, B., Johnson, A. C., Komolong, B., Kuniata, L., Yang, G., & Gurr, G. M. (2024). Detection and identification of Bogia coconut syndrome phytoplasma from seed-associated tissues and seedlings of coconut (Cocos nucifera) and betel nut (Areca catechu). Scientific Reports, 14(1), 11542. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-61916-4
  • Zhu, X., Li, J., He, A., Gurr, G. M., You, M., & You, S. (2024). Developmental Shifts in the Microbiome of a Cosmopolitan Pest: Unraveling the Role of Wolbachia and Dominant Bacteria. Insects, 15(2), Article 132. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects15020132
  • Sobhy, I. S., Gurr, G. M., & Hefin Jones, T. (2024). Induced plant resistance and its influence on natural enemy use of plant-derived foods. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 101218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2024.101218
  • Barrow, R., Perera, N., Weston, P., Weston, L. A., & Gurr, G. (2024). Field evaluation of electrophysiologically-active dung volatiles as chemical lures for trapping of dung beetles. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 584. Article 584. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-50079-3
  • Gurr, G. M., Liu, J., & Pogrebna, G. (2024). Harnessing artificial intelligence for analysing the impacts of nectar and pollen feeding in conservation biological control. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 62, Article 101176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2024.101176