As part of a team from the University of Stirling, we offered support to a Safeguard and BioAgora workshop at the science-policy interface. In collaboration with Brad Duthie and Nils Bunnefeld, we developed a workshop tool in the form of a game. The aim was to create a game-based dialogue among stakeholders on the integrated assessment of European policy interventions. Specifically, these interventions were top-ranked by experts for their ability to improve pollinator abundance and diversity (in line with sustainability goals).

Over the course of two months, we designed the game together, and I developed those ideas into a web application (more technical details are provided below). I parameterised the game with findings from a Safeguard expert elicitation under the guidance of Adam Vanbergen of INRAE.

A preliminary workshop conducted in December 2024 at the European Land Owners Conference informed a round of development changes to the game prior to the data collection workshop, which took place in September 2025 with support from the Institute for European Environmental Policy.

An integrated assessment of policy interventions for pollinators: a game-based dialogue (Report Excerpt)

Auriane Flottes de Pouzols⁴, C. Rose McKeon², Evelyn Underwood⁴, Adam J. Vanbergen^1,3, Brad Duthie² & Nils Bunnefeld² (2025).

This workshop created a space for a game-based dialogue. Participants were able to explore the intersection of policy and scientific evidence in responding to the pressures facing pollinators. Stakeholders from policy, business, NGOs and researchers played out in virtual landscapes various pollinator management interventions in agricultural, urban, and nature conservation contexts. The game revealed the expected impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being, as assessed by Safeguard pollinator experts. [...]

After a lively gaming session, participants were invited to share their experiences and provide feedback. The discussion, moderated by Evelyn Underwood (IEEP), revealed a range of insightful observations about the game’s design, purpose, and impact.

Participants responded to the opportunity to explore policy scenarios in a dynamic and participatory format. The game stimulated in-depth discussion on a wide range of environmental policy dimensions, including the role of evidence-based decision-making, the scale and design of policy interventions, and the trade-offs between ecological and socio-economic outcomes. Many participants asked detailed questions about the science behind the game, including the underlying evidence, parameterisation, and expert assessment process. This indicated a strong level of critical engagement and curiosity, highlighting the game’s potential to support dialogue across diverse stakeholder groups. [...]

(The full report is available here.)

Technical Details

The game we developed was mainly written in TypeScript on the Angular framework, with some R and JSON utilised to populate the game with real data, and an API written in PHP. The game codebase is publicly available on GitHub.

C. Rose McKeon, Marie Joy B. Beltran, Mia C. McGowan, Rebecca Boulton.

Published in: Current Opinion in Insect Science, Feb 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2026.101485

Abstract

In contrast to chemical pest control, biological control (biocontrol) is generally considered evolutionarily stable, with pests rarely evolving resistance to agents such as parasitoid wasps. In 1997, Holt & Hochberg outlined five principles to explain this pattern. Here, we review post-1997 case studies where resistance has contributed to the breakdown of parasitoid-based biocontrol. We evaluate how these examples align with or challenge Holt & Hochberg’s framework and propose updates to reflect new findings. While resistance remains rare, reported cases suggest that breakdowns are more likely when pests possess greater standing genetic variation than their parasitoid enemies. We argue that long-term stability depends not just on host constraints but also on the potential for parasitoid virulence to evolve. Finally, we offer practical recommendations for biocontrol practitioners and regulators to minimise the risk of resistance evolution in parasitoid-based systems.  

Highlights

• Unlike chemical control, pests rarely evolve resistance to biocontrol agents. 
• Mismatches in genetic variation between host/parasitoid can explain exceptions. 
• Maintaining genetic variation in parasitoids impedes resistance evolution in pests. 
• Using multiple parasitoid strains/species can minimise resistance evolution.  
• Heterogeneous landscapes weaken and vary selection on resistant genotypes.  

Diana E. Valero, C. Rose McKeon, Luc Bussière, Natália Corniani, Yelitza C. Colmenarez, Isla Hosgson, Rosie Mangan, Ricardo A. Polanczyk, Matthew Tinsley & Nils Bunnefeld (2025)

Abstract

Research games provide a promising avenue for studying social-ecological systems because they can capture complexity and reflect multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. However, there are few methodological studies on the design, validation and implementation of research games. This paper focuses on the development and implementation of an online multi-player game representing the social-ecological system underlying farmers’ decision-making. We detail three key aspects of spatially explicit game development: design, validation and game sessions. Our approach provides new integration of social science ecology and practice knowledge using informed-design elements, and demonstrates mediated fieldwork with community mobilizers and personal smartphones. We also provide practical suggestions for scaling-up games to increase the number and diversity of participants and the spatial scale of social-ecological research.

Published in: Society & Natural Resources, pp. 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011691

Duthie A.B., Mangan R., McKeon C.R., Tinsley M.C. & Bussière L.F. (2023)

Abstract

The evolution of pesticide resistance is a widespread problem with potentially severe consequences for global food security. We introduce the resevol R package, which simulates individual-based models of pests with evolving genomes that produce complex, polygenic, and covarying traits affecting pest life history and pesticide resistance. Simulations are modelled on a spatially-explicit and highly customisable landscape in which crop and pesticide application and rotation can vary, making the package a highly flexible tool for both general and tactical models of pest management and resistance evolution. We present the key features of the resevol package and demonstrate its use for a simple example simulating pests with two covarying traits. The resevol R package is open source under GNU Public License. All source code and documentation are available on GitHub.

Published in: PLOS Computational Biology, 19 (12), p. e1011691. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011691

The writeup for this research is in progress. It has not yet been submitted for peer review, or published as a preprint.

We investigated the genetic complexity of fungal pathogen resistance in a major crop pest and compared the genetic architecture of resistance to two distinct species of fungal pathogen. We also examined whether the underlying genetic differences that contribute to resistance were sensitive to host resource availability.

Summary

Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) 2nd instar larvae from 103 outbred families were raised on a natural diet of either maize or soy, and exposed to either entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana (Bb1363), Metarhizium anisopliae (Ma425), or a control exposure in a factorial experiment design.

Larvae from each pathogen treatment replicate were put in rank order of susceptibility, and DNA from the most and least susceptible larvae, as well as randomly selected controls, was pooled for whole-genome sequencing. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were tested for association with low pathogen susceptibility.

Comparison of the locations of candidate SNPs across all four host plant and pathogen treatments revealed the complex nature of fungal pathogen resistance and the importance of genotype by environment interactions (GxE) - SNPs associated with resistance to a given fungal pathogen on one host plant were not the same as those associated with resistance to either pathogen on the other plant.

Genome-doubling readily occurs in flowering plants (angiosperms) and is linked with speciation as well as major innovations (seeds and flowers). Beneficial traits (increased flower size and number) are often expressed by the resulting polyploid species, making them useful crops as well as increasing their invasive potential. However, after a century of research, the forces that drive polyploid evolution are still unclear. The primary mechanism of formation by gametic nonreduction creates an inherent negative selection pressure by the interaction of triploid sterility and pollen-swamping. I ask whether the combined cost of these emergent properties can be quantified by using an individual-based modelling approach. Specifically, I investigate whether increasing the rate of nonreduction is sufficient to give evolving polyploids enough of an advantage that they can reach stable fixation. Modelling this system revealed that in order to ultimately outcompete their diploid progenitors (as well as the sterile offspring that interploidy matings create), the rate of nonreduction had to exceed the natural rate 27-fold. Extinction probability above this rate was 0.686, and fixation of polyploidy was extremely unstable. The rate of nonreduction required to achieve stable fixation was 83-fold greater than the natural rate. Extinction probability reached 0.719, and the probability of attaining stable fixation was 0.070. These findings support the idea that polyploidy most often leads to evolutionary 'dead-ends'. They also indicate that the strength of triploid sterility must be drastically reduced, or some other beneficial adaptation would be required in order for polyploidy to evolve and persist.

Available on GitHub:

• An individual-based model, written as an R package sploidy, that simulates the evolution of polyploidy in flowering plants.
• The scripts and data output by running the model, parameterised to simulate the life-cycle of Erythranthe guttata (formerly: Mimulus guttatus).
• The thesis itself, which explains the model, and all the files that went into creating that final document.
• A tagged version of the model in the state in which it was used to inform my thesis (v0.2.2).

Working with Dr C.E. Timothy Paine, then the Biology Programme Director at the University of Stirling, we overhauled the undergraduate Population and Community Ecology module. In previous years, pupils had been given R scripts to run. I took those R scripts and used Shiny to make the models interactive, making the module far more accessible to students. Whereas there used to be a large focus on R programming skills, the teaching post-app development became more focused on ecological model mechanics and theory - leaving the R skills to be taught in the R module.

I utilised my experience with web development to give the Shiny apps a responsive layout and make the tools compatible with mobile devices. Student feedback regarding these improvements to the course has been incredibly positive.