REACT at TEAM 2024 in Mauritius
19 April 2024
From April 14th to 18th, 2024, the 5th TEAM (Tephritid Workers of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East) gathering went down at the Maritim Crystal Beach Hotel in Belle Mare, Republic of Mauritius.
The event was put together by the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security of Mauritius. Dr. Preeaduth Sookar and Mrs. Nausheen Patel from the Entomology Division of the Ministry led the local organizing team, with support from the TEAM Steering Committee chaired by Dr. Aruna Manrakhan (Citrus Research International, South Africa). Planning for this event kicked off in 2022 and ramped up in the last six months. The main focus of the gathering was “Food Security – Securing our fruit for healthy consumption.”
REACT was prominently represented at the meeting with Preeaduth Sookar Prof. Dr. Marc F. Schetelig and Helene Delatte as keynote speakers. Aruna Manrakhan was chairing the Scientific Committee including REACT members Marc de Meyer, Antonios Avgoustinos, and Francesca Scolari.
It was the first time since 2016 that fruit fly researchers, students, and policymakers from different regions got together in person, as the previous TEAM meeting (4th TEAM meeting, 2020, La Grande Motte, France) had to be held virtually due to COVID19 restrictions. The 5th TEAM gathering saw 126 participants attending in person, with another 28 joining virtually. Representatives from 34 countries were present. The program spanned three days, featuring oral and poster presentations and discussions covering various aspects of fruit fly research. Speakers had the option to present in person or virtually, resulting in 50 oral presentations and 54 posterrs.
Three plenary speakers opened the daily programs with in-depth presentations on conservation of the island biodiversitywithin the context of invasive species (F. Vincent, Mauritius), ecological and genomic investigations on the expansion of Bactrocera dorsalis in the Indian Ocean islands (H. Delatte, La Réunion), and genetic breakthroughs to the advancement of SIT (M. Schetelig, Germany). During the third day a separate discussion was also organized on area wide IPM. On the fourth day, a visit to the SIT facilities of the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security at Reduit was organized, followed by excursions to different parts of the island. In all, the meeting was perceived as being very successful by all members who attended and the local organizers were congratulated with their accomplishment.
On the fourth day, participants visited the SIT facilities of the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security at Reduit, followed by excursions around the island. Overall, the meeting was deemed a success by all attendees, with the local organizers receiving praise for their efforts. The abstracts of the 5th TEAM gathering, along with links to the presented posters and a photo gallery from the event, are accessible on a dedicated website, which will remain active for a year post-event. The proceedings of the gathering will be published in a special issue of the Journal of Applied Entomology, inviting papers presented at the 5th TEAM meeting. While the venue for the next TEAM meeting (scheduled for 2028) hasn’t been decided yet, TEAM members have been encouraged to submit bids.
Link: Conference Website
