Current and future issues in classical

weed biocontrol

Hariet L. Hinz, CABI Switzerland

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 Classical biological control of exotic
invasive weeds

….is the deliberate release of specialist natural

enemies (insects, mites, fungal pathogens) from
the weed’s native range to reduce its
abundance and/or spread in its introduced
range below an ecological or economic
threshold.

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 Not to be confused with….
Cane toads in Australia
Grass carp in North America

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 Current issues

• Predicting success and increasing success rate

• Predicting and reducing non-target effects
• Regulations that only take the risks but not the
benefits of biocontrol into account
• Perception of weed biocontrol

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 Successful control of St. John’s wort with Chysolina
quadrigemina

1948

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1949 Photos: USDA-ARS
 Successful control of leafy spurge
with Aphthona flea beetles

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Pictures: USDA-APHIS
Picture: Minnesota Department of Agriculture
 Successful control of Dalmatian toadflax
with Mecinus janthiniformis

Photo: Ivo Tosevski CABI Switzerland

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Impact of biological weed control
● 27% of agents caused heavy impact
● 55% of agent species released caused heavy, variable or medium impact
• 66% of weeds targeted experienced some level of control

35
Percentage of agent species

30
25
20
15
10
5
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Schwarzländer et al. (2018)

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 Predicting
success and
increasing
success rate
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 Plant traits that predict biocontrol impact

Major weed in Reproduction Ecosystem Proportion reduction

native range in weed density
No Asexual Aquatic/wetland 0.93
No Sexual Aquatic/wetland 0.77
No Asexual Terrestrial 0.80
No Sexual Terrestrial 0.50
Yes Asexual Aquatic/wetland 0.69
Yes Sexual Aquatic/wetland 0.36
Yes Asexual Terrestrial 0.41
Yes Sexual Terrestrial 0.15

Paynter et al. (2012) J. Appl. Ecol., 49, 1140-1148

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 Plant traits that predict biocontrol impact

Major weed in Reproduction Ecosystem Proportion reduction

native range in weed density
No Asexual Aquatic/wetland 0.93
No Sexual Aquatic/wetland 0.77
No Asexual Terrestrial 0.80
No Sexual Terrestrial 0.50
Yes Asexual Aquatic/wetland 0.69
Yes Sexual Aquatic/wetland 0.36
Yes Asexual Terrestrial 0.41
Yes Sexual Terrestrial 0.15

Paynter et al. (2012) J. Appl. Ecol., 49, 1140-1148

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

 Plant traits that predict biocontrol impact
Major weed Reproduction Ecosystem Proportion reduction
in native in weed density
range
No Asexual Aquatic/wetland 0.93
No Sexual Aquatic/wetland 0.77
No Asexual Terrestrial 0.80
No Sexual Terrestrial 0.50
Yes Asexual Aquatic/wetland 0.69
Yes Sexual Aquatic/wetland 0.36
Yes Asexual Terrestrial 0.41
Yes Sexual Terrestrial 0.15

Paynter et al. (2012) J. Appl. Ecol., 49, 1140-1148

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 Example: no major weed in native range,
asexual/sexual, aquatic
Red water fern
(Azolla filiculoides)

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 Agent prioritization
Demographic plant population model
including impact data of potential
agents (Davis et al., 2006)
• The root-crown mining weevil
Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis will
have the most significant impact
on garlic mustard demography
C. scrobicollis

3 1 2
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 Predicting and
reducing non-
target effects

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 Three ‘eras’ of weed biocontrol

Until 1960: mostly starvation tests on important crop species

1961-90: increase in testing plants closely related to the

target weed to determine the acutal host range of the agent

From ca mid 1990’s: increasing inclusion of species native

to the introduced range due to changing socio-economic
values

Hinz et al. (2019) The Quarterly Review of Biology

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 25

1) Non-target attack of

% of agent species
20 14 / 77

weed biocontrol agents 28 / 198

with NTA
15

decreases over time 10

18 / 182

Non-target attack decreased from 0

18.2% in early releases to 9.9%
despite an increase in the number of 25
agents released

% of releases with NTA

20

35 / 237
15
 Safety testing improved
10
and/or stricter regulations 59 / 749
28 / 531
5

8
60

0
-9

00
19

61

-2
til

19

91
un

19
Hinz et al. (2019) The Quarterly Review of Biology

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 2) Pre-release testing is accurate

There are only five known cases worldwide (< 1%) where ‘false
negative’ predictions were made, i.e. non-target attack occurred
although pre-release testing predicted no attack

Underlying reasons:
• Testing methods were insufficient
• A population other than the one tested was released, coupled
with asynchrony between the agent and the target weed
• Non-target attack was stimulated by host pollen landing on the
non-target plant

Hinz et al. (2019) The Quarterly Review of Biology

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Bruchidius villosus Cydia succedana
 3) Three cases of potentially negative population level
effects recorded worldwide (< 1% of intentionally released agents)
Rhinocyllus
conicus

1. Cirsium pitcheri

1960s Cirsium canescens

2.
Larinus carlinae

1950s

3. Opuntia spinosissima

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE Hinz et al. (2019) The Quarterly Review of Biology
Cactoblastis cactorum
 Regulations

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 Number of new weed biological control agent
species released per decade

Papers on non-target
150 attack by Rhinocyllus
Australia conicus on native thistles

120 North America

South Africa Lawsuits filed against
90 Hawaii USDA-APHIS
(Diorhabda on
New Zealand saltcedar)
60

Until 2018
30

Only 2010-12
0
-190 190s 1910
s 1920
s 1930
s 1940
s 1950
s 1960
s 1970
s 1980
s 190
s 200
s 2010
s

Schwarzländer et al. (2018) BioControl

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 Perception

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 Classical biological control of
invasive weeds

???

Fighting fire with fire

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 The appreciation and acceptance of weed
biocontrol increases with
• level of knowledge on weed biocontrol
• knowledge of successful examples

Courtesy of Dick
Level of expertise on weed biocontrol Shaw (CABI UK)

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 ‘Future’ issues
• Evolvability of agents and target weeds
- Invasive plants have been shown to loose defence
against specialist herbivores (EICA), but this may
also be reversed
- Agents have been shown to rapidly evolve
adaptation to new climatic conditions

- So far no case known where agents evolved to

switch to new hosts not part of their fundamental
host range

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 ‘Future’ issues
• Systematic and context specific post-release
monitoring to better understand the underlying
reasons for the spatial and temporal variability of
biocontrol success
• How will climate change impact on agent – target
weed interactions?

• Getting the attention, the resources and

collaborations necessary to get on top of IS problem

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

 ‫ﺷﻛرا ﺟزﯾﻼ‬merci शु�क्रया zikomo
xie-xie obrigado
efharistó
ありがとう
thank
kiitos
urakoze
you
ke itumetse tak
gracias zikomo

dhanyawaad
asante
danke terima kasih

CABI is an international intergovernmental organisation, and we gratefully acknowledge

the core financial support from our member countries (and lead agencies) including:

Ministry of Agriculture and

Rural Affairs,
People’s Republic of China

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