Project Number: 6629-22000-009-19
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: Jul 01, 2005
End Date: Sep 30, 2009

Objective:
To conduct host-specificity testing of candidate biological control agents for the lobate lac scale insect to seek permission for release into Florida for control of the pest. Following permission to release approved agents, colonization efforts will be made. Determine post-release colonization, spread and impact of the biological control agents on the lac scale, and detect of potential non-target effects, if any, due to the releases.

Approach:
Host-specificity tests and other prerelease biological studies will be conducted in quarantine laboratories at in Gainesville or Ft. Lauderdale. Host-specificity testing will assess development of candidate agents on arrays of representative taxa to delineate host-specificity levels. Biological studies to define development times, mating behavior, methods of propagation and other biological aspects in quarantine laboratories. Various methods of rearing will be employed to establish large number of biological control agents for release. Post-release colonization and dispersal will be determined through collection and rearing of host materials in surveys. Impact will be determine by demographic studies of the both the biological control agents and the lac scale in a range of different habitats. Potential non-target hosts of the biological control agents will be monitored in a range of habitats.