RR (Raghavendra Reddy) Manda, MSc

Raghavendra Reddy Manda is a Scientist in the Crop Health team within the Business Unit Greenhouse Horticulture & Flower Bulbs at Wageningen University & Research. His research focuses on advancing sustainable Integrated Pest Management through the systematic screening, efficacy evaluation, and strategic establishment of arthropod predators. By optimizing complex ecological interactions within greenhouse food webs, his work aims to enhance the effectiveness and stability of biological control in greenhouse horticulture.

Effective biological control requires more than introducing natural enemies into greenhouses; it depends on creating conditions that support their establishment. Providing resources such as alternative food, refuges, and breeding sites ensures that natural enemies, especially generalists, remain active before pest outbreaks occur. A central strategy is the preventive establishment of natural enemy populations, often described as a “standing army”, in which natural enemies are already present and able to suppress pests before they reach damaging levels.

Biodiversity among natural enemies enhances pest suppression, particularly when species occupy complementary feeding niches. By targeting different pest species, life stages, or spatial locations, diverse communities improve control through the sampling effect, which increases the likelihood of including highly effective species, and through species complementarity, in which predators exploit resources in distinct yet complementary ways.

However, increased diversity can also lead to intraguild predation, where predators attack one another. This may weaken pest control when dominant species consume smaller but highly effective biological control agents. Therefore, resilient biological control programs require careful study and management of interactions among key natural enemies to maximize pest suppression while minimizing unintended ecological disruptions.

Projects

• Biological Control of Invasive Stink Bugs in Dutch Greenhouses.
• Establishment of Generalist Predators in Greenhouse Horticulture.

Education & Supervision

• MSc Thesis Entomology (ENT80424, ENT80436)
• MSc Internship Entomology (ENT70224, ENT70424)
• MSc Research Practice Entomology (ENT79224, ENT79324)
• Insects as Food and Feed (ENT21306)

Ancillary Activities

• National Board Member, Graduate School for Production Ecology & Resource Conservation (PE&RC), The Netherlands (Nov 2025 – Present).
• Chair, National PE&RC PhD Council (Nov 2025 – Present). Previously: Head of the Career Committee (Jan – Nov 2025); Deputy Head (Sep – Dec 2024); General Member (May – Aug 2024).
• Vice Chair, Wageningen Doctoral Council (Nov 2025 – Present). Previously: Communications Officer (Jan – Oct 2025); General Member (Jun – Dec 2024).
• Secretary (Oct 2024 – Present), International Organisation for Biological and Integrated Control (IOBC-WPRS), Working Group: Integrated Control in Protected Crops, Temperate Climate Meeting 2026, The Netherlands.