Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) is a promising approach to develop new chemicals. However, well-elaborated tools to guide selection of SSbD alternatives that fullfill the desired and essential function in a given application are missing. In this proposal, we will focus on Persistent, Mobile and Toxic chemicals, as they pose a risk to the watercycle and human and ecological health. This TOSS project will develop integrated tools to select and produce SSbD alternatives for PMTs, will gain experience with putting SSbD in practice including active contributions of different stakeholders, and will formulate lessons for industry, academic research and policy.

Plant hairs, trichomes, play crucial roles in plant resistance by obstructing movements of small herbivores or by producing anti-herbivore toxins. In cultivated tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) trichome density is one of the main factors correlated with resistance to herbivores. However, the downside is that biological control of tomato pests is troublesome since natural enemies, like predatory mites, also suffer from these trichomes. We propose to test tomato trichome-mutants for their resistance to several herbivores and pathogens as well as their accessibility for predatory mites. We have tomato accessions (S. lycopersicum, S. habrochaites and a cross) with different types and densities of trichomes. These accessions will be exposed to key tomato pests, i.e. spider mites, tomato russet mites, whiteflies and thrips, which can be controlled by predatory mites on non-tomato crops, and two foliar tomato pathogens, Pseudomonas syringae and Xanthomonas campestris. We will test how successful these pests are in building up a population on the tomato accessions. Subsequently, we will assess to which extent these accessions are able to display their key defences i.e. we will assess defense gene expression, enzyme activity and metabolite accumulation. Finally, we will challenge key-pest-infested accessions with four species of predatory mites known to control the key pests on crops not densely occupied by trichomes, i.e. Phytoseiulus persimilis, P. longipes, Amblydromalus limonicus and Amblyseius swirskii, to test which of these shows improved performance on infested tomato-mutants compared to infested wild-type plants. These results will be used to improve the balance between trichome-based resistance and biological control.

A major goal in biology is to accurately predict the ecological and evolutionary responses of biological populations to environmental change. To achieve this, it is crucial to understand how the life history of individual organisms responds to environmental change. Current modelling approaches are based on relationships between life history processes and environmental factors that are phenomenological and are therefore poor at predicting the future state of a population, especially in novel conditions. I propose to develop and test a mechanistic approach to predict the eco-evolutionary population consequences of environmental change by combining dynamic energy budget theory with structured population modelling. Unlike current approaches, this framework does not rely on a phenomenological description of a system but is process-based because food availability governs and sets natural limits to trait and population dynamics via constraints on energy allocation into maintenance, growth and reproduction. My current research focuses on investigating links between ecological and evolutionary processes in changing environments and I will build on this experience to develop this predictive theory. I will test the ability of this theory to predict population responses to environmental change in the lab and in the field using two model systems: bulb mites (Rhizoglyphus robini) and water-filled tree hole mites (Naiadacarus arboricola). These species are highly suited for this work as they are closely related but opposites in terms of their life history and habitat requirements. I will focus on how environmental perturbations (e.g. warming, harvesting, changes in food availability) influence their ecology (population size and structure) and evolution of physiological traits (and their knock-on effects on expression of alternative reproductive phenotypes and dispersal morphology), and the dynamics of the whole community. The results will help unify ecological and evolutionary processes, provide novel insight into the dynamics of biological systems, and provide better tools to mitigate the consequences of anthropogenic environmental change.

Overweight and tooth decay are commonly co-occurring conditions in children, especially from families at a low socio-economic position. This impacts their health later in life and increases health inequalities. In this project together with all stakeholders, we 1) will acquire knowledge on the interplay between lifestyle, environment and microbiota during the first 1000 days of life; 2) will learn how to provide care that fits the needs and the complex daily reality of the children and their families; and 3) based on this knowledge we will co-create effective interventions for the prevention of overweight and tooth decay.