Stephen D. Wratten

Professor Wratten is a world-leading researcher in agro-ecology, with a focus on the biological control of pests. He is a proponent of using crop and non-crop plants to provide SNAP – Shelter, Nectar, Alternative food and Pollen – to natural enemies of pests. This approach restores and enhances ecosystem services or 'nature's services' in agriculture, thereby improving the environment and enhancing biological control of pests. He has pioneered the use of non-native and endemic New Zealand plant species in agriculture to enhance insect pest control and in this way reduce insecticide use. The methods developed by his team and trialled in the Waipara wine-growing region in Canterbury, New Zealand are now in use in every vineyard region in New Zealand and Australia, as well as regions of the United States and Europe. Professor Wratten has published more about 400 journal articles, 8 books, 90 book chapters, and has supervised more than 80 PhD students to completion. He has published papers in high-profile journals, including Nature, Ecology, Ecology Letters and Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. In 2014, he was named among the top 10 authors in the centenary editorial of the international journal Annals of Applied Biology (doi: 10.1111/aab.12093). Prof Wratten has contributed 38 papers to this journal since its inception. He is an exceptional communicator of science and is frequently invited to speak at international conferences and workshops. He also writes for print media in New Zealand, and has a regular column in The Press, a daily newspaper with the largest circulation in the South Island.