University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna BOKU

The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences is a teaching and research centre for renewable resources that are necessary for human life. The aim of BOKU is to make a significant contribution to the conservation and protection of resources for future generations by combining natural sciences, engineering and economics in order to develop ecologically and economically sustainable management options for natural resources through interdisciplinary cooperation and to ensure a harmonious cultural landscape.
The Institute of Plant Protection focuses on the health of cultivated plants and thus on our present and future livelihoods. In the conflict-ridden area where environmental and biodiversity conservation goals must be balanced against the demand for safe and sufficient food supplies, we research sustainable solutions with practical implementation perspectives in crop protection. Basic research focuses on interactions between pathogens or parasites in their host and non-host plants, and on the ecology of pests and beneficials. In the area of applied plant protection, we focus on crop production problems in annual crops, viticulture and horticulture, in order to find general solutions to current plant protection problems. The weed ecology group focuses on the positive and negative effects (ecosystem (dis)services) of weed communities and, irrespective of the different types of crop production, we offer.

Role in the project

The Weed Ecology Research Group focuses on investigating the effects of different management practices on weed community composition, diversity, density and proportion of noxious weeds. The current research project "Detection dogs hunting for poisonous plants in arable fields" contributes to the COST action by sharing management and weed community data and evaluating an innovative approach to toxic weed detection using trained detection dogs for the noxious toxic weed species Senecio.

Role in the project

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