A beetle to fight allergenic Ambrosia plant
Hardly any other plant is as allergenic as Ambrosia. But now there is a glimmer of hope – thanks to an accidentally introduced beetle. A study, in which the University of Fribourg was a participant, has shown that a natural enemy of the weed can relieve more than two million European allergy sufferers of their symptoms.
The results stem from a collaborative research effort of several research teams/institutes. Among them Urs Schaffner CABI Bioscience and last author and Swiss Plant Science Web member Prof. Heinz Müller-Schärer and his team at the Department of Biology of the University of Fribourg.
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University of Fribourg, research news
Reference publication
Urs Schaffner, Sandro Steinbach, Yan Sun, Carsten A. Skjøth, Letty A. de Weger, Suzanne T. Lommen, Benno A. Augustinus, Maira Bonini, Gerhard Karrer, Branko Šikoparija, Michel Thibaudon & Heinz Müller-Schärer
Biological weed control to relieve millions from Ambrosia allergies in Europe
Nature Communications volume 11, Article number: 1745 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15586-1