Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T05:46:25.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Host Specificity and Environmental Impact of Two Leaf Beetles (Galerucella calmariensis and G. pusilla) for Biological Control of Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

Bernd Blossey
Affiliation:
Int. Inst. of Biol. Control, European Stn. 1, Chemin des Grillons, CH-2800 Delémont, Switzerland
Dieter Schroeder
Affiliation:
Int. Inst. of Biol. Control, European Stn. 1, Chemin des Grillons, CH-2800 Delémont, Switzerland
Stephen D. Hight
Affiliation:
USDA, ARS, Insect Biocontrol Lab., Bldg. 406, BARC-East, 10300 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705-2350
Richard A. Malecki
Affiliation:
U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv., New York Cooperative Fish & Wildl. Res. Unit, Fernow Hall, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY 14853

Abstract

Many prime wetlands in North America have been degraded following encroachment by the exotic plant purple loosestrife. Conventional methods are unsuccessful in providing long-term control. Host specificity studies demonstrated the suitability of two leaf beetles, Galerucella calmariensis and G. pusilla, as biological weed control agents. Adults oviposited only on plants within the genus Lythrum. The only species other than purple loosestrife where adult feeding and oviposition occurred and that supported successful larval development was winged lythrum. Swamp loosestrife and winged lythrum may be vulnerable to limited attack by newly emerged teneral adults. Evaluation of the potential environmental impact of the two leaf beetles showed that benefits of an introduction outweigh potential risks to winged lythrum or swamp loosestrife. Their field release was approved in 1992.

Type
Special Topics
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 by the Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

1. Bell, W. J. 1990. Searching behaviour patterns in insects. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 35:447467.Google Scholar
2. Blossey, B. 1991. Biology, ecology, host specificity and impact of Galerucella calmariensis L., G. pusilla Duft. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and Hylobius transversovittatus Goeze (Coleotera: Curculionidae) on their host plant Lythrum salicaria L. (purple loosestrife). , Zool. Inst., Christian Albrechts Univ., Kiel, Germany. 115 pp. (in German).Google Scholar
3. Blossey, B. 1993. Impact of Galerucella pusilla Duft. and G. calmariensis L. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) on field populations of purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.). Pages 000000 in Delfosse, E. S. and Scott, R. R., eds. Proc. VIII Int. Symp. Biol. Control of Weeds. DSIR/CSIRO, Melbourne (In press).Google Scholar
4. Blossey, B. 1993. Herbivory below ground and biological weed control: life history of a root-boring weevil on purple loosestrife. Oecologia 94:380387.Google Scholar
5. Blossey, B., Schroeder, D., Hight, S. D., and Malecki, R. A. 1993. Host specificity and environmental impact of the weevil Hylobius transversovittatus, a biological control agent of purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria). Weed Sci. (In press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Crawley, M. J. 1983. Pages 111210 in Herbivory. The dynamics of animal-plant interactions. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
7. Crawley, M. J. 1989. The successes and failures of weed biocontrol using insects. Biocontrol News and Info. 19:213223.Google Scholar
8. Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants. Columbia Univ. Press, New York.Google Scholar
9. Cullen, J. M. 1990. Current problems in host specificity screening. Pages 2736 in Delfosse, E. S., ed. Proc. VII Int. Symp. Biol. Control of Weeds. Ist. Sper. Patol. Veg. (MAP), Rome.Google Scholar
10. Coddington, J. and Field, K. G. 1978. Rare and endangered vascular plant species in Massachusetts. Committee for Rare and Endangered Species of the New England Botanical Club, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
11. Harris, P. 1991. Screening classical weed biocontrol projects and agents. Pages 6168 in Coulson, J. R., Soper, R. S., and Williams, D. W., eds. Biological Control Quarantine: Needs and Procedures. Proceedings of a workshop sponsored by USDA-ARS. U.S. Dep. Agric, Agric. Res. Serv. ARS-99.Google Scholar
12. Hight, S. D. 1990. Available feeding niches in populations of Lythrum salicaria L. (purple loosestrife) in the Northeastern United States. Pages 269278 in Delfosse, E. S., ed. Proc. VII Symp. Biol. Control of Weeds. Ist. Sper. Patol. Veg. (MAF), Rome.Google Scholar
13. Hight, S. D. and Drea, J. J. Jr. 1991. Prospects for a classical biological control project against purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.). Natural Areas J. 11:151157.Google Scholar
14. Kok, L. T., McAvoy, T. J., Malecki, R. A., Hight, S. D., Drea, J. J. Jr., and Coulson, J. R. 1992. Host specificity tests of Galerucella calmeriensis (L.) and G pusilla (Duft.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), potential biological control agents of purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria L. (Lythraceae). Biol. Control 2:282290.Google Scholar
15. Manguin, S., White, R. W., Blossey, B., and Hight, S. D. 1993. Genetics, taxonomy, and ecology of certain species of Galerucella (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 86:397–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16. Malecki, R. A., Blossey, B., Hight, S. D., Schroeder, D., Kok, L. T., and Coulson, J. R. 1993. Biological control of purple loosestrife. Bioscience 43:680686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17. Nokkala, S. and Nokkala, C. 1987. Chromosome numbers and chromosomal polymorphism in Finnish species of Galerucella Crotch (Chrysomelidae, Coleoptera). Hereditas 106:5158.Google Scholar
18. Palmén, E. 1940. Zur Systematik Finnischer Chrysomeliden. 1. Gattung Galerucella Crotch. Ann. Entomol. Fennici 11:140147.Google Scholar
19. Pellet, M. 1977. Purple loosestrife spreads down river. Amer. Bee J. 117:214215.Google Scholar
20. Rawinski, T. J. 1982. The ecology and management of purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.) in central New York. , Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY. 20 pp.Google Scholar
21. Shepherd, R. C. H. 1990. Problems which arise with host-specificity testing of insects. Pages 8592 in Delfosse, E. S., ed. Proc. VII Int. Symp. Biol. Control of Weeds. Ist. Sper. Patol. Veg. (MAF), Rome.Google Scholar
22. Silfverberg, H. 1974. The West Palaearctic species of Galerucella Crotch and related genera (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae). Notulae Entomologicae 54:111.Google Scholar
23. Skinner, L. C., Rendall, W. J., and Fuge, E. L. 1993. Minnesota's purple loosestrife program: history, findings and management recommendations. Minnesota Dep. Natural Resources, Special Publ. 145. Minnesota Dep. Natural Resources, St. Paul, MN.Google Scholar
24. Stuckey, R. L. 1980. Distributional history of Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) in North America. Bartonia 47:320.Google Scholar
25. Thompson, D. Q., Stuckey, R. L., and Thompson, E. B. 1987. Spread, impact, and control of purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) in North American Wetlands. U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv., Fish and Wildl. Res. 2. 55 pp.Google Scholar