Short CV
Dr. ir Tim Belien is a research scientist in entomology at the Research Centre for Fruit Growing (pcfruit npa) in Belgium (http://www.pcfruit.be/en). After obtaining his PhD at the faculty of Bioscience Engineering at the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) in 2006, he became the head of the Zoology Department at pcfruit npa in 2008. Pcfruit npa is located in the heart of the fruit growing area of Belgium and covers applied scientific research, demonstration activities to growers, co-development programs with various kinds of industries and services for fruit growers. The research activities of his department focus on the development and improvement of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies in pome fruit (apple/pear), stone fruit (cherries) as well as strawberries and ligneous small fruits. Together with his team, Tim has intensely been working on population dynamics (including modelling) of pear psyllids (Cacopsylla pyri) as well as beneficial arthropods in pear orchards. Other key research topics involve the integrated control of aphids (in apple and also other fruit crops, including extensive studies of host-parasitoid networks), thrips (optimizing the impact of predators in different strawberry growing systems) and spider mites (investigating factors influencing predatory mites presence, species complex and prey-predator interactions in apple orchards). Apart from their pest status, sucking insects are also a main research subject due to their potential vectoring capacity (e.g. phytoplasmas, Little cherry virus). Since 2011, a major research area of his department has been the biology, phenology and integrated control of invasive species like Drosophila suzukii and stink bugs (Pentatomidae).
In 2008 Tim joined the IOBC WG “Integrated Protection in Fruit Crops” and in 2016 he became the convenor of the SG “Pome fruit arthropods” taking over from L. Adriana Escudero-Colomar.