Select the target. Investigate its biological suitability as a target. Identify conflicts of interest. Interview proponents and opponents of controlling the proposed target. Conduct an economic and ecological cost-benefit analysis.

Lygodium microphyllum Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

Cataclysta camptozonale from Austraila

Locate potential biological controls. Identify the native range of target species. Survey the native range for natural enemies. Determine each natural enemy's potential to stress the target.

Determine specificity. Examine the host range of natural enemies in native areas. Import best candidates into US quarantine for screening against native species related to the target, native analogs to the target, and economically important species potentially at risk. Drop nonspecialists from further consideration.

Native range of Lygodium microphyllum

Obtain permission to release biological controls. Report findings from specificity trials to federal and state agencies responsible for approving biological control agent releases. Reply to requests for clarification or additional host trials.

Establish biological controls in targets adventive range. Develop laboratory colonies of approved agents using progeny from quarantine colonies or fresh genetic stock from the agents native range. Test various release strategies to determine which is the most effective. Use this strategy to establish persistent populations of agents at field sites. Enhance the natural dispersal of agents where appropriate.

Insects must be tested in a quarantine

Host screening

Releasing Oxyops vitiosa on Melaleuca.

Assuring host specificity is paramount!

Determine efficacy. Measure the ability of agents to reduce host numbers. Effects may include direct death of individuals, reduced reproductive success, slowed growth, and greater susceptibility to other repressive factors.

Incorporate biological controls into management plans. Use various technology transfer methods to ensure that resource managers are knowledgeable about biological controls and their use. Investigate interactions between biological controls and other control methods to determine the best strategies for integrating alternative approaches.

Field of Melaleuca saplings heavily damaged by Oxyops vitiosa weevil. Insert shows a close-up of Oxyops damage. (Click on image for full-sized version.)

Next: Biological Control of Invasive Weeds