17 November 2004 Up from the 'Grassface' for Royal Society Fellowship

Recognition by the Royal Society of New Zealand with one of its 12 new Fellowships announced today (17 Nov.) is a "lovely pinnacle" in the working life of Lincoln University ecologist Professor Steve Wratten.

Professor of Ecology at Lincoln since 1996 and a staff member since 1993, Steve says he hopes the Fellowship is more an acknowledgement of the importance of the sort of field he works in, than it is of him personally.

"Ecology is a tremendously relevant area for a country like New Zealand with its economy so heavily dependent on land-based production.

"Down at the grassface, for example, plant and insect interactions are fundamental to agriculture, and the same applies in horticulture and viticulture."

The author or co-author of six books, more than 60 book chapters and reviews, and over 230 research papers, Professor Wratten is internationally known for his work on the ecological basis for the biological control of agricultural, horticultural and viticultural pests.

He is a past winner of a Lincoln University Special Achievement Award for Excellence in Research and his expertise in his field was also recognised with appointment to a Personal Chair in Ecology.

In Britain in the 1980s he was a member of the first group in the world to DNA "fingerprint" individual aphids and weevils.

Lincoln University's Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Dr Chris Kirk, says the University is delighted that Professor Wratten has been recognised and honoured with election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

"It reinforces Lincoln University's long-standing record of excellence in land-based research programmes and their downstream impact on the New Zealand economy," he says.

 
Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand