Research Interests:

My research interested centre on the development of combined use of entomopathogenic nematodes and fungi to improve insect pest control. My research covers several areas including:

• Exploitation of synergy between nematode and fungi.
• Underlying mechanisms of synergy between biocontrol agents.
• Fungal infection processes, host defence mechanisms and host-parasite interactions.
• Use of volatiles, to enhance the effectiveness of biocontrol agents for the management of a variety of insect pests of agricultural importance.
• Development of Metarhizium for the control of insect vector species that transmit disease to livestock (e.g. Bluetongue disease, African horse sickness disease).
• Use of attractant/deterrent for control of both agricultural insect pests and insect vector species.

Our work has appeared (among others) on:

European Commission, Env DG

European Commission, Env DG

British Ecological Society

Garden Organic

WalesOnline

Uni's organic pest control find (BBC Radio Wales)

Ecologist

Sophimanía (Portuguese newspaper)

Selected Publications:

Ansari, M.A. and T.M. Butt (2011). Effect of potting media on the efficacy and dispersal of entomopathogenic nematodes for the control of black vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Biological Control, 58: 310-318. PDF

Ansari, M.A and Butt, T.M. (2011). Effect of successive subculturing on stability, virulence, conidial yield, germination, and shelf life of entomopathogenic fungi . Journal of Applied Microbiology, 110: 1460-1469. PDF

Ansari, M. A., Carpenter, S., Schulte, E-J., Pope, E.C., Butt, T.M. (2011). Entomopathogenic fungus as a biological control for an important vector of   livestock disease: the Culicoides biting midge. PLoS ONE. 10.1371/journal.pone.0016108.

Ansari, M.A., Shah, F.A., Butt, T.M. (2010). The entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema kraussei and Metarhizium anisopliae work synergistically in controlling overwintering larvae of the black vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus, in strawberries growbags. Biocontrol Science and Technology, 20: 99-105. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Carpenter, S., Butt, T.M. (2010). Susceptibility of Culicoides biting midges larvae to the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae: prospects for Bluetonge Vector control. Acta Tropica, 113: 1-6. PDF

Shah, F.A., Ansari, M.A., Watkins, J., Phelps, Z., Cross, J. & Butt, T.M. (2009). Influence of commercial fungicides on the germination, growth and virulence of four species of entomopathogenic fungi. Biocontrol Science & Technology, 19: 743-753. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Hussain, M.A., Moens, M. (2009). Formulation and application of entomopathogenic nematode-infected cadavers for control of Hoplia philanthus in turf. Pest Management Science, 65: 367-374. PDF

Ansari, M.A. & Butt, T.M. (2009). Identification of pathogenic strains of entomopathogenic nematodes and fungi for wireworm control. Crop Protection, 28: 269-272. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Shah, F.A., Butt, T.M. (2008). Combined use of entomopathogenic nematodes and Metarhizium anisopliae as a new approach for black vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) control. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 129: 340-247. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Adhikari, B. Ali, F. & Moens, M. (2008). Susceptibility of Hoplia philanthus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) larvae and pupae to entomopathogenic nematodes (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae, Heterorhabditidae). Biological Control, 47, 315-321. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Brownbridge, M., Shah, F.A., Butt, T.M. (2008). Efficacy of entomopathogenic fungi against soil-dwelling life stages of western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in plant growing media. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 127: 80-87. PDF

Ansari, M. A, Shah, F. A. & Butt, T.M. (2008). Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (Heterorhabditidae: Rhabditida) from UK. Nematology, 10: 289-291. PDF

Shah, F.A., Gaffney, M., Ansari, M.A., Prasad, M., Butt, T.M. (2008). Neem seed cake enhances the efficacy of the insect pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae for the control of black vine weevil, Otiorhynuchs sulcatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Biological Control, 44: 111-115. PDF

Ansari, M.A, Shah, F. A., Whittaker, M., Prasad, M., Butt, T.M. (2007). Control of western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) pupae with Metarhizium anisopliae in peat and peat alternative growing media. Biological Control 40: 293-297. PDF

Shah F.A., Ansari, M.A., Prasad, M., Butt, T.M. (2007).  Evaluation of black vine weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) control strategies using Metarhizium anisopliae with sublethal doses of insecticides in disparate horticultural growing media. Biological Control 40: 246-252. PDF

Ansari, M. A., Waeyenberge, L., Moens, M. (2007). Natural occurrence of Steinernema carpocapsae, Weiser, 1955 (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae) in Belgian turf and its virulence to Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Russian Journal of Nematology, 15: 21-24. Free Access

Ansari, M. A., Casteels, H., Tirry, L. & Moens, M. (2006). Biology of Hoplia philanthus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), a new and severe pest in Belgian turf. Environmental Entomology 35: 1500-1507. Free Access

Ansari, M.A., Shah, F.A., Tirry, L., Moens, M. (2006). Field trials against Hoplia philanthus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) with a combination of an entomopathogenic nematode and the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae CLO 53. Biological Control 39: 453-459. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Ali F. & Moens, M. (2006). Compared virulence of the Belgian isolate of Steinernema glaseri (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae) and the type population of S. scarabaei to white grub species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Nematology 8: 787-791. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Tirry, L., Moens, M. (2005). Antagonistic between entomopathogenic fungi and bacterial symbionts of entomopathogenic nematodes. BioControl 50: 465-475. Free Access

Ansari M. A., Waeyenberge, L. & Moens, M. (2005). First record of Steinernema glaseri Steiner, 1929 (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae) from Belgium: a natural pathogen of Hoplia philanthus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Nematology 7: 953-956. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Tirry, L., Moens, M. (2004). Interaction between Metarhizium anisopliae CLO 53 and entomopathogenic nematodes for control of Hoplia philanthus. Biological Control 31: 172-180. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Tirry, L., Vestergaard, S., Moens, M. (2004). Selection of a highly virulent fungal isolate, Metarhizium anisopliae CLO 53, for controlling Hoplia philanthus. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 85: 89-96. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Sharma, S.B. Douaik, A. Mhase, N.L., Patel, B.A., Patel, D.J. (2004). Tolerance of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) lines to Meloidogyne javanica. Genetic Resource and Crop Evolution 51: 449-453. Free Access

Ansari, M.A., Tirry, L. & Moens, M. (2003). Entomopathogenic nematodes and their symbiotic bacteria for the biological control of Hoplia philantus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Biological Control 28: 111-117. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Long, P.K., Moens, M. (2003). Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (Heterorhabditidae: Rhabditida), parasitic in natural population of white grubs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Belgium. Russian Journal of Nematology 11: 57-59. PDF

Ansari, M.A., Sharma, S.B., Douaik, A., Gopalakrishnan, S., Rupela, O.P. (2002). Effect of culture filtrates of Pseudomonas sp., Trichoderma sp. and Aspergillus awamori on hatching of Meloidogyne javanica eggs. International Journal of Nematology 12: 131-136.

Sharma, S.B., Reddy, L.J., Bramel, P.J., Ansari, M.A. (2002). Resistance to Meloidogyne javanica Race 3 in the Arachis gene pool. Nematol. Medit. 30: 221-225.

Hussaini, S.S., Ansari, M.A., Ahmad, W., Subbotin, S.A. (2001). Identification of some Steinernema populations from India by RFLP analysis of the ITS region of rDNA. International Journal of Nematology 10: 73-76.

Sharma, S.B., Ansari, M.A., Varaprasad, K.S., Singh, A.K. & Reddy L. J. (1999). Resistance to Meloidogyne javanica in wild Arachis species. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 46: 557-568. Free Access

Sharma, S.B., Siddiqi, M.R., Rahaman, P.F., Ali, S.S., Ansari, M. A. (1998). Description of Heterodera swarupi n. sp. (Nematodea: Heteroderinae), a parasite of chickpea in India. International Journal of Nematology 8: 111-116.