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Related invasive species

  • Lygodium microphyllum
Biological Control
<br>The potential of L. microphyllum for biological control has been well studied with surveys in the native range revealing a whole suite of natural enemies (Wright et al., 1999;Smith et al., 2002;Wood and GarcĂ­a, 2002)<br>Surveys for natural enemies have been conducted in Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Caledonia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam (Goolsby et al., 2003).<br>A species of moth, Austromusotima camptozonale was identified as a potential biocontrol agent and after host range testing it was concluded that this species would pose no threat to native or cultivated plants in North America or the Caribbean (Boughton et al., 2007;Boughton et al., 2011). A. camptozonale was the first biocontrol agent approved for release against L. microphyllum but despite several years of releases it failed to establish (Boughton and Pemberton, 2012). Further details of this biocontrol agent can be found in Boughton et al. (2007) and Rayamajhi et al. (2014).<br>Another moth, Neomusotima conspurcatalis, was first discovered in Hong Kong in 1997 and was subsequently found causing feeding damage on L. microphyllum in much of its native range in Asia. Host range testing recorded no significant oviposition or feeding on any of the 41 non-target species. It was however able to complete its lifecycle on the invasive, L. japonicum and Florida native, L. palmatum, but survival on these species was reduced when compared to that on L. microphyllum. It was concluded by Boughton et al. (2009) that N. conspurcatalis would pose no threat to native or cultivated plants in North America and the Caribbean and should be considered for release. Releases of this biocontrol agent took place in Florida in 2008 and 2009 and the agent readily established at some sites (Boughton et al., 2009). N. conspurcatalis is however sensitive to cold and frost events (Boughton et al., 2012). This however is one of the reasons why N. conspurcatalis was approved for release as it will not pose a threat to the native L. palmatum which is present in temperate regions. Later results suggest that under favourable environmental conditions, N. conspurcatalis is capable of contributing to the suppression of L. microphyllum in south Florida, although the long term impacts on the population dynamics of the weed are not yet known (Boughton et al., 2011;Smith et al., 2016). A parasitoid, Stantonia pallida, of N. conspurcatalis was also identified in the field (Kula et al., 2010). Further information can be found in Smith et al. (2014) and Boughton et al. (2011). A second species within the genus, N. fuscolinealis was also assed but rejected as it poses a threat to the native L. palmatum (Bennett and Pemberton, 2008).<br>During surveys in Australia, an eriophyid mite, Floracarus perrepae, was found causing leaf curling on L. microphyllum and L. reticulatum (Knihinicki and Boczek, 2002). This species was also identified in China and New Caledonia. Field experiments in both Australia and India have been conducted (Goolsby et al., 2004;Muthuraj and Jesudasan 2011). Host range testing of F. perrepae found it to be specific to L. microphyllum. Mites were released in Florida from 2008 to 2009 but failed to establish populations in the majority of plots (Boughton and Pemberton, 2011). In 2013, a number of the original release sites were resurveyed and revealed the presence and spread of the mites (Lake et al., 2014). The impact of the mites on L. microphyllum is unknown.<br>The soil fungus Myrothecium verrucaria has been tested for its pathogenicity on L. microphyllum. Plants were spray inoculated with M. verrucaria which resulted in successful disease development with leaf necrosis symptoms, demonstrating the efficacy of this fungus as a severe retardant of Lygodium growth (Clarke et al., 2007).<br>Surveys for natural enemies as potential biocontrol agents of L. microphyllum are currently ongoing with surveys taking place in Australia (Purcell et al., 2013).
Has Cabi datasheet ID
110270
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