Diversity and mass production of slug-parasitic nematodes

The slug-parasitic nematode, Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita, was made commercially available as a biological control agent in 1994 under the trade name of Nemaslug. The product is sold as infective dauer juvenile nematodes bound to Calcium montmorillonite clay or finely powered vermiculite, to produce a water-dispensable formulation. Retail sales for this product are approximately £1 million in Europe. However, the price of Nemaslug is still considerably greater than its chemical competitors. Therefore one of the main objectives of this thesis was to investigate the mechanisms and environmental parameters involved with dauer juvenile formation, in order to improve mass production methods. Another objective was to examine new retail markets out with Europe, as it is generally not possible to sell P. hermaphrodita in countries in which it is not indigenous. This was achieved by collecting slugs from areas around the world where they are known to be important economic pests (i.e. USA and South Africa), and examining them for the presence of internal nematode parasites. Information from nematode strain collections were then used to investigate the role of parasite release in the invasion of European slugs in to the USA, the diversity and distribution of terrestrial slugs and their associated nematode parasites, and the phylogenetic relationship of slug-parasitic nematodes.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo