Biological control for weeds in Ireland with reference to JK & HB

Dick Shaw & Rob Tanner- CABI

Format

Brief introduction to CABI and invasives

Biocontrol – types, history and examples

Azolla weevil

Japanese knotweed: and the psyllid

Himalayan Balsam

Floating Pennywort

What/who is CABI?

Formerly the Commonwealth Agriculture Bureaux International, Origins back to 1910.

UN-Treaty level, not-for profit intergovernmental organisation owned by its 45 member countries

CABI includes the former International Institute of Biological Control (IIBC) and 3 other institutes

CABI centre

CABI member country

Our member countries and centres

Our mission

CABI improves people’s lives worldwide by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

CABI Publishing

Abstracts – environment, agriculture, tourism

7 million abstracts (10,000 free text added/yr)

Books - 60 new titles/year

Invasive Species Compendium >1,000 species included so far (hopefully open access if final funding can be found)

£20 million turnover

Only 5% of our income is from member contributions (“core funding”)

IAS CBD Commitments

PREVENT, ERADICATE or

CONTROL

•What about the really big problems we already have?

Plants are often the worst invaders

What is Biological Control?

Broom in New Zealand

3 Categories of Biological Control

Conservation - Protection and maintenance of existing Natural Enemies (NEs)

Classical - Using Co-evolved (highly specific) NEs from the area of origin of the plant to provide self-sustaining control after a single release.

Inundative - a.k.a the “Mycoherbicide Approach” using native pathogens for repeated application

Rhododendron ponticum

Buddleia pathogens

What is Classsical Biological Control?

NOT The Cane Toad

Prickly pear in Australia

50 million hectares of it in New South Wales

Before

After

Rubber vine weed

Is It Safe?

Over 1,000 releases of biocontrol agents around the world

>350 agents against 133 target weeds

A century of research

Any non-target effects are predictable by the vigorous safety testing

An International code of conduct

8 examples of “non-target” effects (7 of which predicted or predictable with current approaches)

EU Activity

Country Recipient Source

Austria 0 48

Finland 0 5

France 0 111

Germany 0 46

Greece 0 29

Italy 0 71

Portugal 0 18

Spain 0 9

Sweden 0 3

UK 0 41

Total 0 381

Stenopelmus rufinasus

No stranger to biocontrol

Before

After

Bracken P. aquilinum

C. cinsigna tested against 71 spp.•P. angularis tested against 54 spp.

Symptoms of the Fungal Pathogen Phloeospora heraclei

Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum)

Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)

“The site is a challenge. We have identified unexploded wartime bombs and Japanese knotweed………..

the bombs we can deal with”Head of London Development Agency on the subject of the 2012 Olympic site

Japanese knotweed(s)

Fallopia japonica var. japonica Bailey

syn. Reynoutria japonica Houttuyn

syn. Polygonum cuspidatum Siebold & Zucc.

F. sachalinensis (Giant knotweed)

F. x bohemica (hybrid)

Courtesy of Japanese kntoweed manual Child & Wade

Phase 2 sponsors

AAFC

BC

Very wide range of “Japanese knotweeds” in Japan.

Often hard to tell apart.

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enop

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nsTaxon

UK

Japan

Leaf feeders (123)

Sap suckers (39)

Stem borers (12)

Leaf rollers (7)

Other (5)

186 species of phytophagous arthropod recorded from Japanese knotweed in Japan. Remarkably only one generalist root feeder of note

Many insects feeding on most parts

Photo – Prof K. Yano

Field observations

The Japanese team in their temperate glasshouse with stock plants

Pathogens

Leafspot fungus- so common that it is included in the Flora of Japan

Mycosphaerella polygoni-cuspidati

Life cycle

•Microcyclic or reduced life cycle - only functional spores are spermatia and ascospores

•Primary source of infection is ascospores, no anamorph or macroconidial stage found

•No ascomata produced in vivo or in vitro despite varied humidity regimes+agar media trials

•Mycelial infection found to be comparable in lab

40 ㎛

Macro/microscopic analysis

P. maritimumF. Conollyana

F.japonica

F x bohemica

•60 plant spp tested (mainly mycelium)

•no symptoms on F. sachalinensis & F. compacta

•21 N. American species tested to some degree – still promising

Insects

DISMISSEDEndoclyta excrescens

Allantus luctiferDISMISSED

DISMISSEDMachiatella itadori

Lixus impressiventris

Ex P. hydropiper host

Ex F. japonica host

Can rear through on P. hydropiper but produced very small offspring – too few to establish a culture.

Only ever seen on Japanese knotweed in Japan even when populations were very high indeed

DISMISSED

Aphalara itadori

Egg 1st

instar2nd

instar3rd

instar4th

instar5th

instarComplete life cycle

Mean 1SE

9.2 0.1

4.8 0.2

3.3 0.2

3.9 0.3

4.5 0.1

7.1 0.3

32.9 0.8

Range 9 - 10 4 - 6 2 - 5 3 - 8 4 - 6 5 - 11 28 - 42

Detailed life cycle studies complete

Aphalara information

• Each female produces a mean of 637 eggs ± 121.96 (±1SE, n = 11). •The mean period of production is 37.5 days ± 5.85 days (±1SE, n = 11). •Adults live up to 67 days

Family

Genus

Species

Subtribe

Tribe

Centrifugal phylogenetic method:More closely related species morelikely to be attacked than more distantly related ones

Test Plant List

• 90 species and varieties • representatives from 19 families. • All naïve Polygonaceae• 37 plants natives• 23 species introduced to the UK, • 3 species native to Europe, • 13 ornamental • 10 economically important UK species

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Bar chart showing mean egg count on those plants that did receive eggs in multiple

choice oviposition tests. (+/- 1SE). Development only successful to the left of red line

The 78 spp. that did not receive eggs are excluded

Aphalara adult survival

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F. japonica

F. bladshuanica

F. dumetorum

F. convolvulus

F. esculentum

Plastic plant

Extent of nymph development on NT hosts which have received eggs

•Request for more information from CSL as part of review of PRA•Hand transferred nymphs•Higher humidity than before•6 reps x 10 N1 nymphs = 60 individuals•Increased survival on knotweed•Risk of artificially increased survival on NTs

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3 7 14 28

Fallopia japonica

Rheum Glaskin's

Fallopia dumetorum

Fagopyrum esculentum

Fallopia convolvulus

Oxyria digyna

Polygonum arenastium

Rumex hydrolapatholum

Reum palmatum

Fallopia baldschuanica

Fagopyrum dibotrys

Persicaria polystachya

Fallopia conolliana

M. complexa

Nymph % survival over time

Muehlenbeckia complexa“wire plant”

“Garden thug” (Clement & Forster, 1994)

Weed in Australia

US team have found same result for northern Ai strain with another congeneric

Aphalara summary

Still happy in culture in the UK

87 species / varieties used so far, 3 rare spp. to go

145,172 eggs followed, 928 (0.64%) laid on non-targets but no development

Nymph transfer development studies and target-absent oviposition studies largely support findings

Adult no-choice starvation studies show very restricted range

Control Low Maximum

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Control Low Maximum

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Nymph load

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Impact studies

Leaf countIncrease in height

Change in leaf number two weeks after spraying with sub-lethal dose of systemic herbicide following

exposure to four levels of psyllid feeding

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-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

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Control Low Medium High

Treatment

Cha

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Interaction with herbicide = Significant increase in leaf loss

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Control Low Medium High

Treatment

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Interaction with herbicideReduction in leaf area

Japan 2007

•Primarily Giant knotweed in Hokkaido and N. Honshu•Collections of northern species for NA screening

R2= 0.9328 Dev Rate per day = 0.01921+0.002162 Temp

DD 462.5 from egg to adult

Overwintering studies on Aphalara

Lab showed survival on Bark, at 5 degrees after 8 weeks

So can survive with no food at all.

Field work – needle in a haystack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Orius_insidiosus_from_USDA_1.jpg

What next?

•Wildlife & Countryside application complete for England (Devolved Authorities version in prep.)•Pest Risk Analysis complete•Contingency and monitoring plan proposed•External peer reviewers begun

•Public consultation Web (3 months)•Stakeholder awareness raising (during above)•Ministerial decision (last quarter 09?)•Release if authorised (April 2010)

Impatiens spp.

2007

Floating pennywortHydrocotyle ranunculoides

Background

Hydrocotyle ranunculoides is a serious invader of water bodies in the UK

It is banned in Holland and a recent addition to the EPPO alert list

50km stretch was identified in Leicestershire canal

Control is extremely difficult and the plant is still spreading

Listronotus elongatus

Multi choice 50 adults

Heavy damage and egg laying on target, only trace feeding on native

EU opportunitiesSheppard, Shaw & Sforza - Weed Research 2006

Species Form Origin EU distribution Genus native? Conflict BC history

Buddleja davidii Ph China Temperate Nob O Yes

Fallopia japonica Ge Japan Temperate Yes No Yes

Acacia dealbata Ph Australia Mediterranean Nob O Yesd

Azolla filiculoides Hy N America Temp/Med Nob No Yesd

Ailanthus altissima Ph China Temp/Med Nob No Yes

Impatiens glandulifera He India Temperate Yes O No

Rhododendron ponticum Ph S Europe Temp/Med Yes O Yes

Robinia pseudoacacia Ph N America Temperate No F No

Senecio inaequidens He S Africa Temp/Med Yes No Yes

Ambrosia artemisiifolia Th C America Temp/Med Yes No Yesd

Carpobrotus edulis Ch S Africa Temp/Med Nob No No

Heracleum mantegazzianum He W Asia Temperate Yes No Yes

Solanum elaeagnifolium He S America Tem/Med Yes No Yesd

Baccharis halimifolia Ph N America Mediterranean No No Yesd

Hydrocotyle ranunculoides Hy N America Temp/Med Yes No Yes

Ludwigia peploides He S America Temp/Med Yes No Yes

Crassula helmsii Hy Australasia Temperate Yes No No

Elodea canadensis Hy N America Temperate No No No

Myriophyllum aquaticum Hy S America Temp/Med Yes No Yes

Solidago canadensis Ge N America Temperate Yes No No

Thank you

Shaw, R.H., Bryner, S. & Tanner, R. (2009). The life history and host range of the Japanese

knotweed psyllid, Aphalara itadori Shinji: potentially the first classical biological weed

control agent for Europe. Biological Control 49: 105-113

Kurose, D., Evans, H.C., Djeddour, D.H., Canon, P.F., Furuya, N. & Tsuchiya, K. (2009)

Mycosphaerella species as potential biological control agents of the invasive weed Fallopia

japonica. Mycoscience (in press)

Sheppard, A.W., Shaw, R.H. & Sforza, R. (2006) Classical biological control of European exotic

environmental weeds: The top 20 potential targets and the constraints. Weed Research

46 pp93-118

Himalayan knotweed

Rapidly spreading in UK and N. America and very hard to control. Recent surveys in Pakistan revealed very promising agents……

Unidentified weevil and rust on Himalayan knotweed in Pakistan