Project ID: 2006DE74B

Title: Predators of Galerucella Beetles, Biocontrol Agents of Purple Loosestrife

Project Type: Research

Start Date: 06/01/2006

End Date: 02/28/2007

Congressional District: At large

Focus Categories: Invasive Species, Ecology

Keywords: biocontrol, purple loosestrife, wetlands

Principal Investigator: Hough-Goldstein, Judith

Federal Funds: $1,750

Non-Federal Matching Funds: $3,500

Abstract: Flat Pond, a pond near the Chesapeake & Delaware canal, is heavily infested with purple loosestrife. As a perennial plant that produces thousands of seeds, purple loosestrife has proven difficult to control by chemical or mechanical means. A biological means is sought to control, if not eliminate purple loosestrife at Flat Pond by use of two species of beetles, Galerucella, G. pusilla and G. calmariensis, which are purple loosestrife specific herbivores that can eliminate this invasive species from wetlands. Field and laboratory experiments will assess predator survival and the rates of predation during each life stage of the Galerucella beetles. The specific goal of this research is to pinpoint more accurately the best time and place to release the beetles, maximizing the effect of the release, and to gain a better understanding of which predators pose a threat to the beneficial Galerucella and in which stages of development are the beetles most vulnerable to predation.

Progress/Completion Report, PDF