Author
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Center, Ted |
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Dray, F Allen |
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Submitted to: Joint Conference on the Science and Restoration of the Greater Everglades and Florida Bay Ecosystem
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 2/4/2003 Publication Date: 4/14/2003 Citation: Center, T.D., Dray Jr, F.A. 2003. Biological control of invasive plants in everglades ecosystems. Joint Conference on the Science and Restoration of the Greater Everglades and Florida Bay Ecosystem. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: The USDA, ARS Invasive Plant Research Lab develops sustainable biological control methods to manage invasive weeds that threaten aquatic, wetland, and upland ecosystems including Florida¿s prized Everglades. This involves exploratory foreign surveys to find biological control agents, risk analysis of those agents, establishing field populations, evaluating their efficacy, and assessing non-target impacts, as well as developing strategies to enhance their efficacy. A multi-disciplinary team investigates plant and insect demographics, the ecological genetics of plants and insects, plant and insect reproductive biology, insect eco-physiology and nutritional ecology, plant tissue biochemistry, insect-plant interactions, and both intraspecific and interspecific plant competition. Weed species under investigation include the aquatic weeds waterhyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), waterlettuce (Pistia stratiotes), giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta), and hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata), wetland invaders melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia) and Old world climbing fern (Lygodium microphyllum), and upland invaders Brazilian peppertree (Schinus terebenthifolius) and skunk-vine (Paederia odorata). Construction of a new biological control quarantine facility is nearly complete. This facility will greatly expand the capability of the lab, allowing us to conduct simultaneous risk assessments of multiple insects on each of several target weeds. |
