The major output from this trip was to disseminate my latest research results to peers by presenting a spoken paper entitled "Frequency and characteristics of alleles conferring resistance to the Bt toxin Cry2Ab in populations of the low profile target pest Helicoverpa punctigera". In this talk I presented the first information on Cry2Ab resistance in H. punctigera in a context that complimented a prior presentation by Rod Mahon on Cry2Ab resistance in H. armigera. These presentations were attended by leading experts throughout the world in the field of Bt resistance, and were well received. Since returning from South Africa I have written some of this work into a scientific paper that is currently in internal review within CSIRO.

The talks that I attended in the symposia on “Pesticides, Resistance and Transgenics” gave an international overview of the latest thinking in this field. Many of the presentations were review papers rather than disseminations of empirical data. Stimulated largely by a recent controversial paper by Tabashnik et al.2, there was considerable discussion about the definition of resistance and the merits of different approaches for measuring it. A couple of presenters noted that the significant workload involved with performing F2/F1 screens precluded them from being a preferred method, and highlighted the potential danger of focusing on one gene(s) using the F1 tests while neglecting others. However, the feedback from these people after our talks was positive and complimentary of our approach, and acknowledged the appropriateness of the method for our situation.