Written by SNWA Monday, 01 January 2007 23:15
Meet Rick “Bugboy” Horbury, Entomologist & Research Technician
I work with tiny insects, which is why my nickname is "Bugboy"! A typical day in my job depends a lot on the time of year. Either way I will be working with aphids which are a major economic pest of agriculture - not to mention your Mum`s roses! Aphids are a plant sucking insect and through their feeding behaviour can transmit virus and disease to plants.
Aphids are generally "host specific" which means they will only feed on certain plants or types of plants. This means that the aphids you see feeding on your Mum`s roses won`t be the same as those on the lemon tree in the backyard or ones found in a wheat crop.
My work looks at aphids that cause economic damage to agriculture. We are currently looking at better ways to manage or control a cropping system to minimise their sometimes devastating impact. So a typical day through the agricultural growing season is likely to see me driving out to one of my field trials in the Wheatbelt.
Currently I am running trials looking at the impacts of insecticide treatments on aphid migration and virus transmission. The past couple of years have seen me looking at Oat Aphid in wheat crops and Green Peach Aphid in Canola. When the growing season ends around September I pack up all my field trials and spend the summer months conducting laboratory and glasshouse experiments, as well as a lot of time on the microscope sorting through all the samples from the field trials to interpret how it all went.
Getting out in the field is always great, especially during a good winter where everything is lush and green and the wildflowers come out in full bloom. It`s also pretty cool to know that the work you`re doing may ultimately benefit the environment by reducing the amount of insecticides that farmers are required to use.
The worst part is when it rains in the field and you just have to keep working, or waiting for the rain to come so the season breaks so you can get back out in the field. Somehow it`s always to do with the rain!
If you’re interested in becoming an entomologist or research technician, study hard but most importantly try to get some hands on skills - this applies to any job really. Volunteer for work experience if you can get it. Other skills are handy, such as photography and a dive ticket if you`re interested in stuff like marine work. Actual skills are just as valuable - if not more valuable - than just a degree or diploma as you will be competing against lots of people with similar qualifications. It`s the extra skills that will help get you to an interview.
Career pathways:
I managed to score a one-off traineeship for 18 months straight out of school in 1993 with CSIRO Fisheries and also did an Associate Diploma in Applied Science part-time at TAFE, completing my studies in 1996. I moved to the WA Museum for a while and have been working with CSIRO Entomology for 10 years now.
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