Biotechnologies in pest wasp control: taking the sting out of pest management for Māori businesses?

Figures & data

Table 1. List of Participants.

Table 2. Likert Ranking Exercise 1: Mean and median of all participants’ rankings of which “pests are of concern or disturbance to participant’s business” (−4 least concerned to +4 most concerned).

LRE1	Mean	Median	Std Dev
Wasps	1.00	1	2.06
Stoats	−0.22	0	2.86
Possums	−0.56	−1	2.40
Rats	0.22	1	1.99
Cats	−1.11	−1	2.42
Rabbits	−1.33	−3	2.69
Great white butterfly	−0.67	−1	2.55
Other A	2.00	3	2.55
Other B	1.00	0	3.08

Table 3. Likert Ranking Exercise 2: Mean and median of participants’ ranking of pest management tools in Aotearoa, from “least acceptable” (−4) to “potential to adopt” (+4).

LRE2	Mean	Median	Std Dev
Do nothing	−2.67	−4	1.73
Manual extraction	−1.00	−2	2.83
Non-species-specific poison	0.22	1	3.19
Species-specific poison e.g. Vespex	2.44	3	1.81
Trojan-mite	−0.78	0	2.44
RNAi	−0.33	−1	2.35
Gene drive	1.11	1	1.76
Trojan female	−0.78	−1	2.22
Pheromone lure	1.67	2	1.50

Table 4. Participant responses in relation to the five novel biotechnological controls alongside a thematic analysis.

Biotechnology	Theme	Negative statements	Positive statements
Pheromone	Insufficient, in-use	“We’ve had that for years” – (Kākā).	“Can I write ‘if organic’ [referring to LRE2]” – (Tūī)
Trojan Mite	Concern, logistical issues, unfavorable	“What’s to say that disease might not mutate into something else we can’t control” – (Kārearea)	“Probably the Trojan [unspecified] treatment. So, if we can get in and control the breeding going forward” – (Kererū)
RNAi	Least discussed, cost	“RNA is purported to be relatively cheap, and I put, is that the driver?” – (Tūī)	“I don’t know enough about them, but the RNA interference or gene drive seem to me to be clever” – (Kākā)
Trojan Female technique	Risk, inaccuracy, impractical, expensive	“You would have to be extremely sure that whatever genetic manipulation that had gone on within that Trojan was not going to affect anything off target” – (Kākā)	“The Trojan female is interesting but … it would be very expensive and the same with the Trojan mite” – (Kākā)
Gene Drive	Unknown impact, risk, slow uptake, concern, convenient	Concerned with what the “ … potential harm something like this would have” – (Mōhua)	“I don’t know what the ramification to the sector would be, but if the technology was aimed at reducing or eliminating the wasp issue, then that would be the end of thought process as far as we were concerned” – (Pūkeko)