Interview FFN#39

Aristidis P. Economopoulos

Professor emeritus, Department of Biology, Elementary school at the village and

University of , the city of Hania , high school in Athens,

Biographical abstract, based on an interview ques- university at the Highest Agricultural tionnaire issued by the editors of FFN School of Athens ( now Agricultural Uni- versity), then 26 months in the army, and finally a PhD from the University of Califor- nia at Berkeley, 1967-1970. Research at “Demokritos” National Research Center in Athens, 1965-1967 and 1970-1985, at IAEA Seibersdorf Laboratory ,Vienna, Aus- tria, 1985-1990, and at the , , Crete, 1991- 2006 . Since then emeritus professor of the same uni- Aris (Fall 2019) versity. Most of my research was with the Fruit Flies of Economic Importance and in particular with the olive fruit fly and the Mediterranean fruit fly. During my Berke- orn just before the Second World War in B ley days : Vietnam War, Mario Savio Free Northern Greece. With the outbreak of the war my Speech Movement, Ernesto Che Guevara, father, an army officer, was transferred to the fron- Black Panthers, and The Children of Pirae- tiers while my mother with my older brother and us by Manos Hatzidakis, a concert by Mikis myself moved to a village of Western Crete , 30 km Theodorakis, Joan Baez and Neil Am- southeast of Hania, capital city of Crete at that time. strong’s Moon Walk as well. It was the native village of my mother where my My first contact with insects was in my grandfather was the village orthodox priest and Cretan village mentioned above, named possessed a house and fields with olive trees and Fres, where I was annoyed by mosqui- vineyards. My first memories start from this village, toes, certain parts of Crete had at when at the age of 2 years and 3 months, May that time, houseflies and wasps, while as 1941, with opened-wide eyes and ears I was watch- all kids I had fun playing around with soil ing and hearing from a hill together with other vil- beetles and torturing cicadas. In the same lage children the uproar of over a thousand Ger- period I witnessed for the first time the man war planes bombarding first and dropping application of modern insecticides for thousands of parachutists thereafter over the Hania mass extinction of insects. It was during and its airport areas. The village was occupied and the first post war years when the whole we were chased from our house which became the coastal plain of Hania, cities and villages German commander headquarters. included, was sprayed by airplanes with

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DDT against mosquitoes for malaria control. I came back to take the insecticide and the bus

will never forget that not only mosquitoes but to the village they almost killed me because houseflies and different other insect species all nobody could stand the foul smell. Of course disappeared for a long time. It was the begin- the chemical effect to the insects was worse.

ning of “Silent Spring”. Recently I have discov- Following university and the Greek army I ered an issue of the most prestigious Greek was exploring the possibility for work at a newspaper “Kathimerini”, which means “Daily”, research laboratory as junior research assis- th of 28 June 1950. It houses a big advertise for tant and eventually follow graduate studies. DDT with an emphatic note : “ It kills every- It was then when a new Laboratory had been thing”. My second contact with insect mass kill- operated at the “Demokritos” Nuclear Cen- ing was during the last two summers of my uni- ter, headed by Dr. Minos Tzanakakis an ento- versity studies. At that time every summer from mologist with PhD from Berkeley. The labora- May/June till September/October, the Greek tory was partly financed by USDA to work on Ministry of Agriculture was organizing area- olive fly control with SIT to reduce or elimi- wide aerial or ground cover or bait spraying nate massive insecticidal spraying over vast with organophosphorous insecticides over the areas which had led to extended environ- olive tree belt of Greece, i.e. the southern half mental pollution and frequent toxic residues of the country, to control the olive fruit fly. Alt- into table olives and oil. I discussed my par- hough farmers were paying part of the expense ticipation with Tzanakakis who, following ex- in olive oil at the oil mill, the control operation amination of my previous activities and cur- was a kind of subsidy for the olive belt poor riculum in entomology, hired me as research farmers. Advanced students of the Greek agri- assistant making clear at the same time that cultural universities were hired during these pe- a PhD from a prestigious Department of En- riods to run the spraying campaign over areas of tomology would be a prerequisite for further about 10 villages each, i.e. up to half a million career at “Demokritos”. The same was made olive trees. Among other side effects of the area clear by the scientific director of -wide spraying was the heavy olive tree infesta- “Demokritos” at that time, a prominent phys- tion with black fungus due to mass extinction of icist Themistoklis Kanellopoulos. This led to parasitoids killing the scale insects which were successful exams with the Greek State Schol- producing honey-due on which the devastating arships Foundation and eventually graduate fungus was developing. A funny event hap- studies at Berkeley. Tzanakakis guided me to pened in my first year of participation in this quality entomological research and success- olive fly control campaign. I had taken from the ful career and I consider him as my basic sci- central stores of the anti-olive fly operation in entific mentor. At Berkeley I was fortunate to the city of Hania a package of a “fenthion” for- be student and collaborate with excellent mulation which was foul smelling. I left the pack scientists in Entomology. Among the many, at a coffee shop from where the bus to the cen- Harold Gordon and John Casida, the first su- tral village of my area started its trip. When I

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pervised my thesis on chemosterilands and dis- ry of “Demokritos” , with 7 PhDs, each one cussed and guided me in my graduate research leading his own project section, and one steps while the second was an excellent friend and BSc and about 15 technical personnel with research consultant and instructor. I consider both its basic mandate been to apply SIT against of them important guides and mentors for my sub- the olive fly. This was the main effort for sequent entomological career. the decade of 1970-1982. Based on a ra- The sterility technique to eradicate or manage ther effective artificial rearing, though ex- destructive populations of insect species affecting pensive, and γ-ray sterilization developed agricultural produce and human health is a bril- by Tzanakakis and his colleagues Economo- liant control strategy of no environmental contam- poulos and Tsitsipis (alphabetically) in the ination. Nevertheless it is a much demanding first years of the laboratory, 1963-1967, methodology because its basic prerequisite for mass-rearing was further developed and success is the necessity for the mass reared steri- field pilot SIT applications were made possi- lized insects to exhibit the wild type biolo- ble in : Kassandra Northern Greece, 1973- gy ,behavior and vigor upon release into the host 1974, and Aghia Triada island off Evia, Cen- plantation environment of the insect species in tral Greece, 1979-1980. In spite of large question. Following the completion of my PhD numbers of sterile insects released, both studies at Berkeley in 1970, I was appointed Head sexes, and a high ratio of sterile over wild of the Entomology Group and Laboratory at flies achieved in the field, no effective wild “Demokritos, succeeding the founder of the Labor- population control was made possible. This atory M.Tzanakakis who by then had been elected led the Laboratory to extensive research on professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloni- the quality of released flies and changes in ki. The Laboratory had been already staffed dur- their biology and behavior as compared to ing the Tzanakakis period by J. Tsitsipis , V. Mazo- the wild population. In this effort several menos, A. Manoukas a PhD from New Hampshire, colleagues from abroad, mainly the USA, and G. Tsiropoulos. Tsitsipis and Tsiropoulos re- participated thanks to the generous fund- ceived subsequently their PhDs from Berkeley as ing of the Laboratory from Greek authori- well, while Mazomenos received a MSc from ties and international sources, among oth- Gainesville, Florida and eventually a PhD from ers FAO, IAEA, NATO, EU etc. To name Gent, Belgium. Finally G. Haniotakis, a PhD from some of the colleagues from abroad who Davis California, and G. Zervas, a PhD from Berlin, worked with us at Demokritos for short or also joined the Laboratory. In addition N. Avtzis, long periods : L. Steiner, N. Tanaka, R. Pro- with a BSc at that time in Forestry from the Aristo- kopy, B. Fletcher, K. Hagen, Th. Mittler, H. tle University of Thessaloniki, also joined the Gordon, J. Casida, W. Loher, J. Carey, J. Group and was positioned in Northern Greece for Tumlinson, G. Pomonis, G. Bush, B. Kitto, E. SIT experimentation and field applications. Thus Zouros and several others, the majority the Group grew up quickly to the biggest laborato- from Universities and USDA Laboratories in

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the USA. The outcome of this effort was an

enormous amount of information with over 300 with the olive fly. Training colleagues from

publications. Considerable changes in the biol- foreign countries and running research coor-

ogy and behavior of the fly were found caused dination programs were also part of my job at

by mass rearing . Some of them were important IAEA, while heavy teaching, supervising grad- for a successful application of SIT. The olive fruit uate students, running research projects and fly SIT research and field testing of the administrative duties were my key responsi- “Demokritos” Laboratory lasted about 16 years bilities at the University of Crete and the In- in total and although no effective control was stitute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnolo- achieved, two major results were produced gy of the Foundation for Research and Tech- apart from the numerous publications : a) the nology Hellas (IMBB). I was in close coopera- realization that insect species with highly spe- tion with the latter, which is also based at cialized dietary needs and field sexual behavior Heraklion Crete, for a long period. The close cannot easily fit to SIT control due to drastic collaboration with Don Lindquist at IAEA and genetic and biological/behavioral changes Fotis Kafatos at the IMBB and the University within few generations of mass rearing, b) the of Crete were instrumental in the develop- knowledge acquired from the extensive re- ment of this very productive lengthy part of search of the above lengthy project led, among my scientific career. They were both excel- others, to the development of lure and kill sys- lent scientists and personalities dedicated to tems and effective field trapping control which their vision for progress and human welfare. is in commercial use now. My research and scientific in general ca- Following the above olive fly Demokritos SIT reer lasted officially 41,5 years , 1965-2006. “epic” era, I moved to IAEA Seibersdorf Ento- Since then, I continue in the same direction mology Laboratory in Vienna for 5 years and 2 as professor emeritus. During this lengthy months, and subsequently, following election, career I met and close-collaborated with nu- to the Department of Biology, University of merous high quality scientists, graduate stu- Crete (UC) at Heraklion as Professor of Applied dents, technicians and administrative person- Biology and Biotechnology. During 1996-2000 I nel, and made many good friends both in was elected Chair of the Department, while Greece and abroad. All fine personalities who from 2000-2006 I headed its Graduate Program unfortunately cannot be even listed because on the Management of Terrestrial and Marine of the extensive space required and the pos- Natural Resources. Upon retirement in 2006 I sibility for some to be forgotten, with the ex- was elected professor emeritus. Since then I ception of B. Katsoyannos and Ch. Rempou- have completed research projects and teaching lakis. The first, professor emeritus from the at the graduate Program. During the above pe- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki now, gen- riods my main research activities were with the erously offered at no cost his house, hospital- Mediterranean fruit fly and to a lesser degree ity and collaboration/assistance included, and

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his citrus plantation in the Island of Chios for spective glands in the two sexes. Also in a

many years for experimentation of many well study with Ron Prokopy, investigating possi-

known internationally fruit fly specialists. The ble differences between wild and mass-reared

second, a PhD student of mine at the Universi- insects in connection with fly orientation to

ty of Crete, is now running an important re- host tree and fruit, we found strong attraction search career in Australia (Ministry of Agricul- to 520 nm yellow, developing color traps ture and Macquarie University) and as chair- thereafter. Based on the above research sev- man of the Organizing Committee he will or- eral effective trapping systems have been de- ganize the 11th International Fruit Fly Symposi- veloped and are currently in commercial use um in Sydney, 2022. I consider keystones of against the olive fly. 4) As a founding member my career : 1) The finding that following fast of the Greek Entomological Society I had pro- “negative evolution” during olive fly mass posed the publication of a Society scientific rearing the fly changes dramatically several journal. Following approval by the Governing basic biological and behavioral characteristics, Board, Entomologia Hellenica was published, i.e. , among others, gene frequences, mating time during the day, visual ability, species of mutualistic microorganisms housed in the fly etc, which make very difficult an effective de- velopment of SIT in this monophagous and of complex reproductive behavior species (close collaboration with Demokritos colleagues, 1970-1980). 2) In contrast, very effective SIT field control results were obtained for 2 con- secutive years with a genetic sexing strain Aris, believe it or not, opening the 1st (white color female pupae, only males re- International Symposium on Fruit leased) of the Mediterranean fruit fly , a much Flies, Athens, Greece November 1982 “easier” species compared to olive fly, in a Kibutz of Israel (close collaboration with Israeli colleagues, IAEA and Citrus marketing Board, myself serving as founding editor for 10 con- 1989-1990). 3) As a by-product of the Demo- secutive years. 5) Finally, I had proposed to kritos SIT project several lure and kill systems IOBC, FAO, the European Union, the IAEA have been developed by Demokritos col- and Greek Authorities , and subsequently or- leagues, e.g. color traps, food odor traps, color ganized in collaboration with Greek and for- combined with food odor traps, pheromone eign colleagues, the first two International traps etc. Myself with co-workers identified Symposia on Fruit Flies of Economic Im- the pheromone smell at the end of the pho- portance in Greece in 1982(Athens) and 1986 tophase and described the anatomy of the re- (Colymbari,Crete). The symposium series be-

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came a great success, strengthening the com- to fall down and was waiting for the event. Be- munication between fruit fly workers around cause of some mysterious reason and against all the world, with the 11th to be organized in Sydney, Australia in 2022. I will always remember an event during our olive fly SIT campaign in the olive tree plantations of Kassandra State Prison in Northern Greece in 1973. Ron Prokopy, then working with us, decided to take his morning exercise running into the olive groves sur- rounding the Prison premises. The guards thought he was a prisoner attempting to es-

cape and summoned alarm. It took some time Drinking the wine of the previous year (Lindquist et al.) to explain why he should not be placed in cus- tody. A second funny event occurred during physical laws Don never fell down. Next day he did

not remember anything.

During my long entomological career I have vis- ited many countries in all continents on the occa- sion of meetings and research collaborations. It was an unforgettable experience and pleasure to meet so many nice friends and exceptional per- sonalities. In the future to come I plan no more in- tense travelling, even for vacation, unless it in-

Pressing grapes in the traditional Cretan way during the 2nd International Symposium on Fruit Flies, Colymbari, Crete, Greece September 1986 (Tzanakakis et al.)

an evening celebration of the 2nd International Prokopy’s sketch following an exhausting field experi- Fruit Fly Symposium at Colymbari in 1986. mentation day in summer 1973, “Demokritos” NRC, Don McInnis completely drunk was standing Athens, Greece in the middle of the celebration arena bend- ing back and forth, following the local music, volves some very important historic place, e.g. at an angle much wider of the Pisa Tower. Mount Athos, a 1000-years old monastic State Everybody around was betting he was going which I have visited in recent consecutive years. In

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the meantime I keep visiting my village Fres in colleagues who assisted in my career and my Western Crete and another nice village, Aprova- family (wife Maria, daughter Eleni-Chariklia, to, on the Cycladic island of Andros. In both we

Inspecting medfly control with Biolure yellow- Visiting Mount Athos in 2019

bottom McPhail traps in his little citrus back-

yard near Athens in 2019 and son Panagiotis-Petros) who also assisted a lot. Many thanks also to the editors of FFN posses small houses with little gardens. Con- for inviting this interview. cluding, I would like to remind our young ento- “Gia sas” (in Greek means hello or good-by) mologists that an estimate of 5 million insect species exist, about I million identified, of which A.P.E. only about 100 are of grave human threat. The rest are highly important part of our unique ecosystem , do not kill them ! After all, accord- ing to W.J. Hollands’s “The Moth Book” prophe- sy , “ when all cities shall have long been dead and crumbled into dust, and all life shall be on the very last verge of extinction on this globe; then, on a bit of lichen … shall be seated a tiny insect, preening its antennae in the glow of a worn-out sun, representing the sole survival of animal life on this earth”, “The Bugs Are Com- ing” Time magazine cover story of July 12, 1976. I also advise them to closely collaborate among themselves if they want to achieve substantial progress and in this line to attend fruit fly meetings, especially the International Fruit Fly Symposia ones ! Aris’s family Concluding, my sincere thanks to : The many

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