Improving the design and implementation of spore traps

We’re looking for a student with a background in electronics engineering, mechatronics, software, or a related field. Experience in machine learning is desirable. You should be interested in and ready to learn about sensor technology, machine learning, and computational modeling. Most importantly, you should be excited to apply your technical skills and develop interdisciplinary research expertise.

About the project

Fungi are a major biosecurity concern because they cause a wide variety of plant diseases that threaten agricultural productivity, market access, and natural ecosystems. The surveillance of fungal pathogens is an essential part of Australia’s biosecurity efforts. However, airborne fungal spores are especially challenging to monitor due to the small size of the spores, their wind-driven dispersal over long distances, and the low concentration of the spores relative to the vast volume of the air that can carry them. 

A spore trap is a device designed to capture spores from the air for subsequent analysis. When deployed in the field, a spore trap can be used to monitor the abundance and diversity of fungal pathogens that are present in the surrounding environment. Existing research has developed a variety of designs for spore traps, ranging from low-cost passive devices through to sophisticated high-volume automatic samplers. 

These traps have been used for many years in studying the epidemiology of plant diseases. However, there has been less effort directed towards the efficient and effective application of spore traps for biosecurity surveillance. Significant questions remain about the optimal design of the traps, when and where to deploy them, the limits of detection, whether certain taxa are more or less likely to be detected, and the sensitivity of the design to various operational and weather conditions. 

If a device is to be used for biosecurity, then there needs to be robust scientific evidence about its ability to reliably determine the presence or absence of the pathogen in airborne biota.  

Aim: The project aims to improve our understanding of how to use spore traps for biosecurity. The project will explore a variety of trap designs and investigate the best way to deploy them. Ultimately, the project will work towards ground-truthing the effectiveness of the trap itself as well as the effectiveness of a surveillance system consisting of a network of traps. The project will contribute towards the evidence base needed to support the real-world deployment of a spore-trap based biosecurity surveillance program. 

Approach: Depending on student interest, there are several possible directions. The project will include some combination of the following activities. 

• Review existing research on spore traps, the various trap designs that have been reported, and previous research about their use in surveillance systems, with a particular focus on the potential uses for biosecurity. 
• Design or refine new traps, including innovative electrical or mechanical aspects, depending upon the student’s interest. Potential approaches include the development of low-cost electronics or capture techniques within the trap and/or optimising the mechanical design using computational fluid dynamics and wind tunnel testing.  
• Use the experimental data to develop models using machine learning or other methods to support the optimal placement of traps to capture the most information, considering local weather conditions, seasonal variation, the availability of host plants, topography or landscape scale dynamics and logistical constraints in the deployment strategy. 
• Extend trap design applications to examine mobile (moving) trapping across landscapes, especially in context of responsive surveillance for biosecurity.  
• Develop methods to assess the accuracy of spore trap surveillance and apply these to build an evidence base to inform surveillance efforts across Australia. 

The specific research directions will be developed depending on the student’s interests and background knowledge. 

As a PhD student in the ARC Training Centre in Plant Biosecurity, you’ll join a collaborative research partnership between three universities and over 20 partner organisations, funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Express your interest by 22 January 2025 by completing the form on our website: https://plantbiosecuritycentre.edu.au/improving-the-design-and-implementation-of-spore-traps/