Dr. MAENO Kotaro, Senior Researcher in the Crop, Livestock and Environment and Division has been selected as one of the recipients of the 19th (FY2022) Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Prize.
The research achievement for which the prize was awarded is "Development of Control Techniques for the Desert Locust in Africa”. The citation for the award is as follows:
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Dr. Maeno's research focuses on elucidating the mechanisms of desert locust outbreaks, which cause significant damage to crops mainly in Africa, and on their control. When desert locusts grow in large number and reach a high density at a certain location, they transform into a so-called “gregarious” phase with relatively long wings, and migrate long distances to another location, where the outbreak is repeated. Dr. Maeno discovered that male and female desert locusts in the gregarious phase live in separate groups. Just before oviposition, the females fly to the male colony to mate, and after mating, they lay eggs in the ground in large groups at night. These discovery has been highly evaluated as it may lead to the development of pest control technology that dramatically reduces the amount of pesticide spraying. Dr. Maeno has also clarified the details of the thermoregulatory mechanism of this insect pest, and has contributed to the development of technology to improve the accuracy of predicting mass outbreaks by integrating behavioral information during thermoregulation and ground surface temperature information from satellites. The award also cited the fact that this series of research was carried out through nine years of field surveys and experiments in the Sahara Desert.
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The JSPS Prize is awarded to young researchers with creativity and outstanding research ability to honor them from the early stages of their careers and to motivate and support their research development, in order to raise the level of scientific research in Japan to the world’s highest standard.
The award ceremony is scheduled to be held around February 2023 at the Japan Academy Building (Taito-ku, Tokyo).
URL：https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-jsps-prize/data/awards/19th_JSPSprize_…