
Read: more
details in Agricultural Research. Dynamic Duo
Found to Control MelaleucaBy Jesús
García April 25, 2001Agricultural Research Service scientists
and colleagues have identified a team of two organisms--the Fergusonina
fly and the nematode Fergusobia--that might help limit the spread of
the invasive weed Melaleuca quinquenervia. Melaleuca infestation causes
about $168 million in environmental losses every year. Ted Center of ARS
Invasive
Plant Research Laboratory in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and
University of Florida nematologist Robin M.
Giblin-Davis collaborated with researchers from the
University of Adelaide and the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organization, and the ARS
Australian Biological
Control Laboratory. Like the melaleuca snout beetle Oxyops vitiosa, the Fergusonina
fly and the tiny Fergusobia worm effectively attack melaleuca
flowers and leaf buds, but in an entirely different way. According to Giblin-Davis, the female Fergusonina fly carries the
nematodes in her ovaries and deposits them--along with her eggs--into young
melaleuca buds. The female Fergusobia nematodes and the fly larvae that
hatch then feed on enlarged plant cells created by the microscopic nematodes.
Eventually, galls form on infested buds, preventing flowers and seeds from
developing. To avoid introducing biological control agents that might impact non-target
organisms, host-specificity studies were conducted in Australia. Giblin-Davis
traveled more than 8,000 miles and collected different fly/nematode
partnerships from a variety of melaleuca and related species, such as
eucalyptus. Preliminary indications are that this fly/nematode pairing is so
host-specific that each pair affects only a single species of melaleuca,
eucalyptus, or closely related species. If the duo performs well in host-specificity tests in Florida, it might soon
be released at melaleuca-infested locations. An article describing this research appears in the April issue of Agricultural
Research, ARS monthly magazine. ARS is the chief scientific research agency of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Scientific contact: Ted
D. Center, ARS U.S. Aquatic Plant Research Unit, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.,
phone (954) 475-0541, fax (954) 476-9169, [email protected]. Story contacts Invasive Plant Research Laboratory Ted Douglas Center U.S. Department of Agriculture |