Q2. What are the benefits of biological control in natural areas?
Benefits of biological control in natural areas also include the preservation of wildlands as sources of renewable resources and recreational use.
Q3. What is the importance of restoring normal erosion rates?
Restoration of normal erosion rates depends on a return of the habitat to a vegetation cover level similar to that before invasion.
Q4. What is the known Icerya species?
The best known Icerya species is the polyphagous cottony cushion scale, Icerya purchasi, which in addition to being a major citrus pest (Hale, 1970; Ben-Dov et al., 2009), damages many native island plants, often ones with restricted distributions (Cronk, 1980; Causton, 2001; Causton et al., 2006).
Q5. What are some other management practices that can be effective at landscape scales against invasive plants?
Other management practices that can be effective at landscape scales against invasive plants (but rarely, insects) include changes in land use, grazing, or fire management, and manipulation of nutrients or hydrology.
Q6. What is the species of melaleuca that threatens the Everglades?
Old World climbing fern, L. microphyllum, also threatens the Everglades and other south Florida habitats, where it dominates Everglade hammocks, cypress swamps, and pine flatwoods (Pemberton and Ferriter, 1998).
Q7. What species have been introduced to help suppress melaleuca?
Three species have been introduced to help suppress melaleuca: the weevil Oxyops vitiosa (C), the psyllid Boreioglycaspis melaleucae (D), and the stem galling midge Lophodiplosis trifida (E).
Q8. How long does it take to reach stable end points?
Since population changes and community responses induced by biological control programs often require long periods (5–20 years) to reach stable end points, governments and other participating groups must be advised accordingly and projects must be planned and funded to cover such time periods.
Q9. What is the effect of the introduction of five herbivorous insects on H. serice?
The introduction of five herbivorous insects attacking the flowers, fruits, and stems (Gordon, 1999; Gordon, personal communication), together with the pathogen Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, caused considerable damage and mortality to H. sericea.
Q10. What species of cordgrasses have invaded the Pacific coast of the USA?
Spartina alterniflora (and the foliosa alterniflora hybrid), S. anglica, S. patens, and S. densiflora (collectively, ‘‘cordgrasses”) have invaded intertidal wetlands on the Pacific coast of the USA (Ayres et al., 2004), transforming mudflats into salt marshes and eliminating critical habitat for birds, fish and shellfish.
Q11. What are the effects of biological control agents on melaleuca?
Introduced biological control agents (especially the weevil Oxyops vitiosa and the psyllid Boreioglycaspis melaleucae) have curtailed the tree’s reproduction, greatly reducing its spread (Pratt et al., 2005; Tipping et al., 2008; Rayamajhi et al., 2008).
Q12. What is the effect of the parasitoid Torymus sinensis on native?
The Chinese parasitoid Torymus sinensis reduced galling to non-pest levels in Japan (Moriya et al., 2003) and the USA (Cooper and Rieske, 2007).
Q13. What is the common type of control agent used to control A. longifolia?
Two biological control agents, the flower-galling pteromalid wasp Trichilogaster acaciaelongifoliae and the seed weevil Melanterius ventralis, reduced seed production of A. longifolia by >95% (Dennill et al., 1999).
Q14. What was the effect of waterhyacinth on the navigation of the St. John?
During this period, steamboats and other craft were unable to reach docks or pass through navigable channels beneath bridges because of waterhyacinth (Zeiger, 1962).
Q15. What countries are coordinating the invasive plant control efforts?
Australia and South Africa are coordinatingR.G. Van Driesche et al. / Biological Control 54 (2010) S2–S33 S9biological control efforts.
Q16. What species of Icerya have threatened island plants?
Other species of Icerya have threatened island plants, including Icerya seychellarum in the Seychelles and Icerya aegyptiaca on various coral atolls in the western Pacific (Waterhouse, 1993).
Q17. What is the role of biological control of exotic insects attacking native flora?
Biological control of exotic insects attacking native flora is an extension of the use of biological control against arthropod pests of crops and ornamental plants, and its use is increasing.
Q18. What was the impact of opuntia on the environment?
two introduced biological control agents, the pyralid moth C. cactorum and the cochineal insect Dactylopius opuntiae, reduced the opuntia biomass in the park by >90% (Hoffmann and Moran, 2008).
Q19. How many additional agents are under review?
Petitions for release in the USA of three additional agents (the weevil Anthonomus tenebrosus and the leaf beetles Metriona elatior and Gratiana graminea) are under review.
Q20. What was the impact of the cottony cushion scale on native plants?
The invasion of the Galápagos National Park by the cottony cushion scale (Icerya purchasi Maskell) was highly damaging to a variety of native plants.