[MAIPC] Surveying for native biological controls

[Adam Mitchell]

Thank you for starting this discussion, as I agree it is important to have
"boots on the ground" to see what insects now recognize novel host plants
as a food source over short evolutionary time periods. I can share what
little I've learned from my PhD work below:

>From 2015-2016, I sampled in four states (DE, MD, PA, NY) of the
Mid-Atlantic to compare arthropod communities on native and non-native
plants, which includes porcelainberry, Japanese knotweed, Callery/Bradford
pear, multiflora rose, Japanese stiltgrass, autumn olive, orchardgrass, and
the bush honeysuckles. For those interested in learning more, the
dissertation has been published by the University of Delaware and is
available on their website.

In general, nonnative plants had fewer insect herbivores than native
plants, so no surprises there. What insects that were present on nonnative
plants either shared a native home range with the plant (insects from Asia
on plants from Asia, insects from Europe feeding on plants from Europe,
etc.), or native insects with piercing-sucking mouthparts (leafhoppers)
that we hypothesized could circumvent the defenses of many plants better
than insects with chewing mouthparts. These insects feed on many plant
hosts in different families and may just be responding to an available food
source. This does not include the large abundance of nonnative slugs I
found at the nonnative sites, although I did not observe feeding during my
study.

For porcelainberry, I have seen species whose primary plant host is grape
(certain leafhoppers, many caterpillars) accept leaves of porcelainberry as
a food source, and some are capable of vectoring diseases that affect
grape. I do not think porcelainberry would be affected by the same
pathogens as grape would, nor do I think the insects feeding on
porcelainberry favor the nonnative over native grape, but if turns out
otherwise, this might be worth investigating, particularly if
porcelainberry serves as a refuge for insect pests for wineries.

On Tue, Jul 2, 2019 at 1:22 PM Imlay, Marc <Marc.Imlay at pgparks.com> wrote:

> *Surveying for native biological controls has two approaches that have
> worked very well.*
>
> *1.     **Search at the far end of the range of the invasive plant
> species. The native insect/fungus bio controls for Multiflora Rose and Tree
> of Heaven popped up when MFR moved to the middle of the America and
> Ailanthus to the deep south central. *
>
> *2.     **Search near where the invasive first came to America so there
> has been more time for a biocontrol to evolve as may be the case for
> Japanese honeysuckle at Heritage Island which was brought over by Thomas
> Jefferson.*
>
> *For Porcelain berry, for example,  look at
> https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=AMBR7
> <https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=AMBR7>  Note the 17 states it
> is invasive in. So let us se if an insect of pathogen is having a major
> impact on it in the extreme of the range. If so we can report it to Matt
> Tancos at USDA for research. Let us do the same for ground ivy, beefsteak
> plant, Fig buttercup, JSG, WLBG, Oriental bittersweet, garlic mustard,
> etc., etc.*
>
>
>
> *Marc*
>
> Marc Imlay, PhD, Chair, Biological Control Working Group MAIPC
>
> Conservation Biologist, Park Ranger Office, Non-native Invasive Plant
> Control Coordinator.
>
> Cell: (301) 442-5657, ialm at erols.com
>
> Natural and Historical Resources Division
>
> The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
>
> www.pgparks.com
>
>
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>


-- 
--------------------------------------------
Adam Mitchell
Associate Wildlife Biologist ®
PhD Entomology and Wildlife Ecology
Department of Entomology
and Wildlife Ecology
University of Delaware
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