From islands to landscapes: Integrating genomic and advanced eco-geographic tools in area-wide tsetse control
9 affiliations
- 1Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, United States of America
- 2Insect Pest Control Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria
- 3INTERTRYP, CIRAD, IRD, and University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
- 4INTERTRYP, CIRAD, Nairobi, Kenya
- 5International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Nairobi, Kenya
- 6Department of Biology, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda
- 7Spatial Ecology, Penn, United Kingdom
- 8Animal Production and Health Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy
- 9Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
Abstract
Tsetse (Diptera: Glossinidae) are the exclusive cyclical vector of human and animal African trypanosomoses and continue to threaten health and agricultural productivity across sub-Saharan Africa. Area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) strategies provide a coordinated framework for combining tools such as the sterile insect technique (SIT), insecticide-treated targets and cattle, and others. This review examines the success and challenges of AW-IPM in tsetse control and advances in population genetics, species distribution modeling, and landscape genetics that improve identification of candidate populations for optimized AW-IPM design. We introduce the Coordinated Research Project (CRP) “Tsetse Population Genetics,” supported by the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre, which aims to develop standardized tools and data to guide SIT within integrated control strategies. We identify key gaps in evidence for population isolation and reinvasion risk and propose an integrated, decision-ready framework. The framework combines updated species distribution models with scalable genomic tools to generate connectivity maps and, where feasible, source–sink dynamics, to prioritize intervention sites and distinguish post-control reinvasion from true elimination. Author summary: Tsetse flies transmit the parasites that cause sleeping sickness in people and African animal trypanosomosis in livestock. Although the number of human cases has declined substantially, these diseases still threaten health, food security, and rural livelihoods across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Control programs using area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM), including tools such as the sterile insect technique and insecticide-based methods, have achieved important successes. However, long-term success depends on whether local tsetse populations are truly isolated or can be reinvaded from surrounding areas.
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BibTeX
@article{saarman2026from,
title = {{From islands to landscapes: Integrating genomic and advanced eco-geographic tools in area-wide tsetse control}},
author = {Norah Saarman and Chantel Janet De Beer and Philippe Solano and Antoine Barreaux and Geoffrey Gimonneau and Sophie Ravel and Robert Opiro and Giuseppe Amatulli and Giuliano Cecchi and Serap Aksoy and Brian Weiss and Kostas Bourtzis and Adly M. M. Abd-Alla},
journal = {PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pntd.0014752},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0014752},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - From islands to landscapes: Integrating genomic and advanced eco-geographic tools in area-wide tsetse control
AU - Norah Saarman
AU - Chantel Janet De Beer
AU - Philippe Solano
AU - Antoine Barreaux
AU - Geoffrey Gimonneau
AU - Sophie Ravel
AU - Robert Opiro
AU - Giuseppe Amatulli
AU - Giuliano Cecchi
AU - Serap Aksoy
AU - Brian Weiss
AU - Kostas Bourtzis
AU - Adly M. M. Abd-Alla
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
DO - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0014752
UR - https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0014752
AB - Tsetse (Diptera: Glossinidae) are the exclusive cyclical vector of human and animal African trypanosomoses and continue to threaten health and agricultural productivity across sub-Saharan Africa. Area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) strategies provide a coordinated framework for combining tools such as the sterile insect technique (SIT), insecticide-treated targets and cattle, and others. This review examines the success and challenges of AW-IPM in tsetse control and advances in population genetics, species distribution modeling, and landscape genetics that improve identification of candidate populations for optimized AW-IPM design. We introduce the Coordinated Research Project (CRP) “Tsetse Population Genetics,” supported by the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre, which aims to develop standardized tools and data to guide SIT within integrated control strategies. We identify key gaps in evidence for population isolation and reinvasion risk and propose an integrated, decision-ready framework. The framework combines updated species distribution models with scalable genomic tools to generate connectivity maps and, where feasible, source–sink dynamics, to prioritize intervention sites and distinguish post-control reinvasion from true elimination. Author summary: Tsetse flies transmit the parasites that cause sleeping sickness in people and African animal trypanosomosis in livestock. Although the number of human cases has declined substantially, these diseases still threaten health, food security, and rural livelihoods across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Control programs using area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM), including tools such as the sterile insect technique and insecticide-based methods, have achieved important successes. However, long-term success depends on whether local tsetse populations are truly isolated or can be reinvaded from surrounding areas.
SN - 1935-2735
ER -