25th Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society Conference on “Weed Science for Sustainable Agriculture, Environment and Biodiversity”, Hyderabad, India during 13-16 October, 2015 old seedlings, the plant biomass above ground was affected to untreated in the exclusion trails, carried out in arid and semi- by the type (TUC: MS662.51, F=120.30, P < 0.001; TUS: arid areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat. MS160.89, F=16.68, P < 0.001; UTUC: MS106.56, F=14.30, P < 0.001; UTUS: MS257.25, F=38.30, P < 0.001). REFERENCES Marohasy J. 1995. Prospects for the biological control of prickly acacia, CONCLUSION Acacia nilotica (L.) Willd. ex Del. (Mimosaceae) in Australia. The various parameters of prickly acacia, V. nilotica Plant Protection Quarterly 10: 24-31. seedlings of different age groups i.e. number of shoots, Palmer WA. 1996. Biological control of Prickly acacia in Australia. pp number of leaves, root length and biomass above ground and 239-242. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Australian Weeds Conference, (Ed. Shepherd RCH). Melbourne: Weed Society of below ground were maximum in treated seedlings as compared Victoria.

Biological control programs of major invasive weeds in the Western Pacific

R. Muniappan1 and Gadi V.P. Reddy2 1IPM Innovation Lab, Office of International Research, Education & Development, The International Affairs Offices (IAO),Virginia Tech, 526 Prices Fork Road, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA; 2Western Triangle Ag Research Center, Montana State University, 9546 Old Shelby Rd., MT 59425, USA 2Email: [email protected]

Invasive plant species are one of the most serious the gall fly, C. connexa (Reddy et al. 2013). The natural threats to biodiversity and sustainable development in the enemies M. oedipusand A. cocciniae effectively controlled C. Western Pacific. Biological control has proven to be effective grandis in Guam by 2010. However, C. grandis infestation in managing some of the perennial weeds. Lantana camara was still seen in Saipan and Rota. Although H. spinulosa (Verbenaceae) was one of the plants recognized as an established successfully at the release sites on Guam, it has invasive weed by the Invertebrate Consultants Committee for yet to provide significant control of M. diplotricha. Therust the Pacific of the National Research Council and its natural fungus P. spegazzinii introduced in 2011 is yet to be enemies were introduced from Hawaii starting in 1948. The established on Guam. Siam weed, Chromolaena odorata (Asteraceae) was targeted for biological control in 1983, ivy gourd, CONCLUSION (Cucurbitaceae) in 2002, Mimosa diplotricha (Mimosaceae) The biological control programs have provided in 2008, and Micania micrantha (Asteraceae) in 2011. satisfactory (C. coccinia and C. odorata) to adequate (L. METHODOLOGY camara) control of a few invasive weeds in the Western Pacific. However, biological control agents introduced for M. In 1948 and 1949 for biological control of lantana, micrantha and M. diplotricha have either not established or Telenomus scrupulosa (Hemiptera: Tingidae), Epinotida not effective and hence additional efforts for their lantana (: Tortricidae), Lantnophaga establishment and spread are required. pussillidactyla (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae) and Ophiomyia lantanae (Diptera: Agromyzidae) were introduced from REFERENCES Hawaii to Pohnpei (Gardner 1956) and subsequently these Bamba, JP, Miller RH, Reddy GVP and Muniappan R. 2009. Studies on and other agents were introduced to other islands in the biology, host specificity, and feeding behavior of Acythopeius Micronesia. For biological control of C. odorata, the cocciniae O’Brien and Pakaluk (Coleoptera: curculionidae) on Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) was Coccinia grandis (L.) Voigt (Cucurbitaceae) and Zehneria guamensis introduced from India and Trinidad and became established (Merrill) Fosberg (Cucurbitaceae). Micronesica 41: 70–82. on Guam in the 1980s. The gall fly Cecidochares connexa Cruz, Z.T, Muniappan R and Reddy GVP. 2006. Establishment of (Diptera: Tephritidae) was introduced from Indonesia in 1998 Cecidochares connexa (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Guam and its and established on Guam in 2002 and other Micronesian effect on the growth of Chromolaena odorata (Asteraceae). islands in succeeding years (Cruz et al. 2006). For biological Annals of the Entomological Society of America 99: 845–850. control of C. grandis, the natural enemies Acythopeus Gardner TR. 1956. Biological control of and plant pests in the cocciniae and Acythopeus burkhartorum (Coleoptera: Trust Territory and Guam. Proceedings of the 10th International Curculionidae) and oedipus (Lepidoptera: ) congress of Entomology 4: 465-469. were introduced to Guam (Muniappan et al. 2009). The two Muniappan R, Reddy GVP and Lai P-Y. 2005.Distribution and biological weevils, A. cocciniae and A. burkhartorum were field control of Chromolaena odorata, pp. 223–233. In: Invasive released in various locations on Guam in 2003 and 2004, Plants: Ecological and Agricultural Aspects (Ed. Inderjit, S.). respectively (Bamba et al. 2009) and M. oedipuswas released Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, Switzerland. in 2007 (Muniappan et al. 2009). The psyllid, Heteropsylla spinulosa (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) was collected from Pohnpei Muniappan R, Reddy GVP and Raman A. 2009. Coccinia grandis (L.) and Palau and field released on Guam in 2008 for control of M. Voigt(Cucurbitaceae). pp. 175–182. In: Biological Control of diplotricha. The rust fungus Puccinia spegazziniicollected Tropical Weeds Using , Muniappan R, Reddy GVP, and Raman A), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. from Fiji was introduced to Guam in 2011for the control of M. micrantha. Reddy GVP and Kikuchi RS and Muniappan R. 2013. The impact of Cecidochares connexa (Diptera: Tephritidae) on Chromolaena RESULTS odorata (Asteraceae) in Guam. pp. 128-133. In: Zachariades C, A limited suppression of lantana has taken place in Day M, Muniappan R and Strathie L (Eds). Proceedings of the Micronesia. Considerable control of C. odorata was achieved Eighth International Workshop on Biological Control and by the moth, P. pseudoinsulata) (Muniappan et al. 2005) and Management of Chromolaena odorata and other Eupatorieae, Nairobi, , 1-2 November 2010. ARC, Pretoria, South .

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