What’s Inside?

NEW INVERTEBRATE CONTAINMENT FACILITY 2 - 3GINGER PROJECT HEATS UP 4MORE TO SEED-FEEDERS THAN MEETS THE EYEPART I -

BROOM SEED SIZE

5 - 6PART II -

GORSE FLOWERING STRATEGIES

6 - 7THINGS TO DO THIS WINTER 8BIOSECURITY BONANZA 8

Biological Control of

WHAT’S NEW IN

Issue 52 May 10

Weeds?

New Invertebrate Containment Facility

Weed biocontrol in New Zealand relies on importing potentialagents from overseas and we can only do this if we have asecure containment facility in which to house them. Undercontainment we can safely confirm the identification of thespecies, conduct host-specificity testing, and check that theagent is disease- and parasite-free, without the risk of themescaping into the outside environment. The containmentfacility we have been using at Lincoln is 30 years old andcoming to the end of its useful life, so in September 2009 weset about building a new one. The old facility was becoming increasingly inefficient andunreliable. When an audit was conducted on power usageat the Lincoln site the containment facility accounted forabout one-third of the total electricity used! The age of theelectrical and plumbing systems meant that things oftenbroke down. There was an instance where one of theair-conditioning units failed over a weekend and one of therearing rooms heated up to over 40°C. All the insects inthe room were baked! It had become too expensive to runthe old facility and maintain it to the standard we, and theregulations, required.In New Zealand the standards required of containmentfacilities are specified by the Ministry of Agriculture andForestry (MAF) through the Hazardous Substances andNew Organisms (HSNO) Act 1996 and the Biosecurity Act1993. Standards are specified for different levels of physicalcontainment (PC) depending on what is to be housed. PC1is for containing plants, PC2 is for invertebrates, and PC3and PC4 are for microorganisms, including diseases. As thePC number increases so does the degree of precautions thatmust be taken to ensure the organisms can’t escape. “Ournew facility, like the old one, is PC2, which means there mustbe no opening windows, all gaps or cavities must be sealed,and there must be fine mesh on all exit points – such as forplumbing or air conditioning – so that when all the doorsare closed the inside of the building is a ‘seamless sealedcavity’,” said Hugh Gourlay, who manages the facility. Thedoors are also magnetically sealed all around. In additionto the legislated requirements we have included four extrafeatures in the new facility, which means it exceeds PC2minimum requirements. Firstly, there is an airlock, so thatthe outer door must be closed before the inner one into thePC2 area can be opened. Before leaving the facility all wastewater is steam-treated and all air in the ventilation systemgoes through a sealed HEPA filter (filtration system for mi-croorganisms). Finally, a negative-pressure airflow is createdby blowing air into the corridors and internal spaces andsucking it out of the containment rooms – this provides aslight draught into rooms so that nothing will be accidentallyblown out their doors. The new facility was built with resource efficiency in mind.(1) The builders kept landfill waste to a minimum by sortingwaste and recycling it where possible. (2) The building ismade from “Kingspan” insulated panels supported by astructural steel framework. The panels consist of two outerlayers of aluminium with a polysty-rene-type core. “‘Kingspan’ hasgreat insulation qualities so lessenergy is used to keep the roomsat a constant temperature,” saidGordon Burrow, the site managerat Lincoln. It is also fire resistant.(3) Rainwater is collected fromthe roof and held in retainingtanks for use within the facility. (4)Right throughout the constructionrecords were kept of the amountof water, power, and materialsused, as well as vehicle use.From this the amount of carbonemissions created by building thefacility can be calculated. Knowinghow much was produced meansthat in the future we could offsetthese emissions.

Floorplan of the new containment facility.

Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson at the opening.

There are 13 rooms, one office, and three labs (two in con-tainment and one not). Five of the rooms are dedicated PC2,four are for rearing insects once these are no longer requiredto be contained, and the remaining four can be either. Thesefour rooms have two doors so that you can lock one andthen enter from either containment or the rearing area. “It isgreat to have this flexibility as our needs change,” said Hugh. Another novel feature is that two rooms have glass ceilingsand therefore natural light. Over the years we have foundthat some insects require cues from changing light levels toinitiate parts of their life cycle, such as mating or hibernation,and these are lost under artificial light. We have also installedspecial light bulbs that are better at mimicking natural-lightwave lengths. “They do a very good job, but are so brightthat I might have to start wearing sunglasses inside,” saidHelen Parish, who rears many of the insects. The Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) andMAF Biosecurity are responsible for auditing and licensingcontainment facilities in New Zealand. Every 6–12 months anauditor from MAF will visit the facility to check that it is up toscratch. The facility must also provide secure containment in the faceof a natural disaster or fire. Coinciding with the building of the new containment facility, our Lincoln site recently gota new diesel generator. This generator provides back-uppower to the facility (and other essential services at Lincoln)in case of power cuts. Being built of, and containing mostlyfire-resistant materials, the new facility is at low risk of fire;and the local fire service knows about the need to avoidbreaching containment so would not break down any doorsin the event of fire.Before any insects are moved in we need to confirm thateverything is running properly, so the first new resident willbe Hugh. There may also be some residual chemicals andsmells, which the insects might not like, to get rid of. The firstinsect residents should move in to their new home in June.Species presently residing in containment will move over first,such as the four tradescantia beetles (

Neolema ogloblini

N. abbreviata

Lema basicostata

and

Buckibrotica cinctipennis

),woolly nightshade lacebug (

Gargaphia decoris

) and twopotential moth plant agents (

Colapsis argentinensis

and

Rhyssomatus diversicollis

). Any new species imported fromoverseas will then take up residence as they arrive. The new facility was opened on 29 April by the Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson and will be known as the DavidMiller Invertebrate Containment Facility. Dr Miller was aprominent ﬁgure in New Zealand entomology and an earlydriving force for biocontrol of weeds research (see below).

CONTACT:Hugh Gourlay (gourlayh@landcareresearch.co.nz)

Dr David Miller, CBE (1890–1973)

One of the founders of professional entomology in NewZealand, Scottish born David Miller was internationallyrespected for his work on biocontrol. He initiallyworked on forest and timber insects, which led to theestablishment of the Forest Biological Research Stationat Nelson in 1929. The success of the New Zealandtimber industry is largely due to research Dr Millerinitiated on methods of timber preservation, particularlythe control of insect pests. During the Depressionhe campaigned vigorously for backing from primaryproducer organisations, local bodies and banks tomaintain the services of his highly skilled entomologicalstaff. Under his guidance New Zealand had become aworld leader in the ﬁeld of biocontrol by the late 1930s,and he helped to establish the Commonwealth Instituteof Biological Control as well as the CommonwealthInstitute of Entomology in London. Dr Miller became thedirector of the Cawthron Institute in 1956. He retired in1959, but continued to work and publish. Dr Miller wasthe author of many technical papers and books, includinga

Catalogue of the Diptera of the New Zealand Sub- region

(1950),

Insect People of the Maori

(1952),

NativeInsects

(1955),

Bibliography of New Zealand Entomology

(1956), and

Common Insects in New Zealand

(1971). Hewas made a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealandand of the Royal Entomological Society of London, hereceived the Hutton Memorial Medal, and in 1958 wasawarded a CBE.