Biocontrol News and Information 30 (1), 1N–16N pestscience.com General News IOBC Establishes an Access and Benefits Sharing and its introduced parasitoid Lathrolestes nigricollis Commission have shown. The International Organization for Biological Con- The birch leaf miner is of European origin and has trol (IOBC) has formed a commission to discuss the been present in North America for at least 85 years. problematic situation concerning the finding and use It is thought to have arrived in the USA in 1923, of new natural enemies, with the proposed name, probably in a shipment of plant material sent to Con- ‘IOBC Global Commission on Biological Control and necticut. From there it spread throughout the Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS)’ . The proposal to Northeast and into the Midwest. Heavy infestations establish the commission was unanimously sup- cause disfiguring ‘browning’ of the foliage in these ported by Executive Committee and Council ornamental trees. members, and biological control scientists from var- ious Regional Sections are being approached to take Under a classical biological control programme, four part. parasitoids were introduced between 1974 and 1982, first to Canada and then to the northeastern USA, The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) pro- where Roger Fuester and colleagues at the USDA- motes the equitable and respectful sharing of access ARS (US Department of Agriculture – Agricultural and benefits to genetic resources. A primary goal is to Research Service) Beneficial Insects Rearing Labora- protect genetic resources that potentially have com- tory in Newark, Delaware, made the first releases. mercial value for biomedical and agricultural applications. Parties to the CBD have agreed to elab- However, only L. nigricollis established and spread orate an International ABS Regime to be effective in to any extent and, according to Richard Casagrande 2010. In the meantime, a number of countries have (University of Rhode Island), although these parasi- restricted access to their often unexplored biological toids spread quickly, the build-up in the pest resources. Government policies and regulations on population was slow. Preliminary surveys by Roy biological diversity can have critical disincentives to Van Driesche and his team at the University of Mas- biological control. Research on biological diversity, sachusetts at Amherst during the 1990s suggested it and discovery and export of new biocontrol agents was having localized impact, but it was not until sur- are now on hold in some countries. ABS currently veys were conducted across seven states seems to be a constraint to developing and imple- (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New menting appropriate biological control programmes York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware) in worldwide. There is a need to reach an international spring 2007 that the area-wide extent of control was mutually-acceptable agreement on ABS, in which revealed. attention must be given to the economic, environ- mental, social and cultural aspects related to the The team conducting the surveys, which recorded exploitation of the biological diversity. current birch leaf miner levels in terms of percentage leaves mined in spring and parasitism, came from The mission statement of the new IOBC Commission the University of Rhode Island (led by Casagrande), envisages that it will provide scientific advice to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (Van oversee and advise the design and implementation of Driesche), USDA-ARS Beneficial Insect Rearing an ABS regime that ensures practical and effective Laboratory at Trenton, New Jersey (Mark Mayer) arrangements for the collection and use of biological and Newark, Delaware (Fuester), and Cornell Exten- control agents which are acceptable to all parties. sion at Long Island Horticulture Research Laboratory in New York (Daniel Gilrein). Further details are given in: Brodeur, J. & van Len- teren, J.C. (2008) IOBC Global Commission on They found birch leaf miner had declined dramati- Biological Control and Access and Benefit Sharing. cally in five states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, IOBC Global Newsletter No. 84, pp. 5–7. Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania) and in Web: www.unipa.it/iobc northern New Jersey. According to Casagrande, it is no longer a pest here. Scientists conducting the sam- pling found it hard to find mined leaves, to the extent Patience Rewarded: Birch Leaf Miner Biocontrol that too few larvae were recovered to estimate para- in Northeastern USA sitism levels. Casagrande says they have not seen any damage from birch leaf miner in Rhode Island in Patience and perseverance are character require- four years, and he thinks it highly unlikely that they ments that should appear in job descriptions for will see problems with it again. There does seem to budding classical biological control (CBC) scientists. be a southern limit to L. nigricollis ’ ability to sup- Occasionally CBC achieves a quick breakthrough; press the leaf miner populations, however, for F. more often than not it takes decades. Yet it can be pusilla is still abundant in southern New Jersey worth the wait, as extensive surveys in the north- although parasitism levels are significant, and eastern USA for birch leaf miner ( Fenusa pusilla ) results from Delaware were variable. These situa- Are we on your mailing list? Biocontrol News and Information is always pleased to receive news of research, conferences, new products or patents, changes in personnel, collaborative agreements or any other information of interest to other readers. If your organization sends out press releases or newsletters, please let us have a copy. In addition, the editors welcome proposals for review topics. 2N Biocontrol News and Information 30 (1) tions are not yet fully understood although climate duced is actually a new species, not matching any matching and availability of hosts may be implicated previously described Palaearctic or Nearctic Lathrolestes . Casagrande says it is satisfying to be able to state publicly that a biocontrol programme has succeeded The two graduate students who have worked on the – and this one has included a lot of people and a lot of project (Chris MacQuarrie of the University of cooperation. Biological control systems such as this Alberta and, currently, Anna Soper of the University can be relatively inexpensive given that they result of Massachusetts) have succeeded in establishing the in permanent, selective control of target pests. He desired Lathrolestes sp. (‘yellow face’) parasitoid in describes the birch leaf miner programme as a good Anchorage. At least 3636 individuals of the parasi- example of a coordinated, long-term approach to clas- toid were released there from 2004–2008. In 2007 sical biological control – more than 30 years in this and 2008 parasitoids of this species were recovered case for complete control. at several Anchorage release sites, indicating that it is now established and increasing in numbers. The results of the survey are being published in a Research by Anna Soper found that the local leaf paper in Florida Entomologist : miner population is also attacked by a local presum- Casagrande, R., Van Driesche, R.G., Mayer, M., et al. ably native parasitoid ( Lathrolestes sp. ‘black face’, (2009 in press) Biological control of Fenusa pusilla which is also a new species under description). The (birch leafminer) (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae) in relative roles of the ‘black face’ and ‘yellow face’ Lath- the northeastern United States: a thirty four year rolestes in parasitizing P. thomsoni have yet to be perspective on efficacy. Florida Entomologist. assessed. In addition, a facultative hyperparasitoid (Aptesis segnis ) has been found to attack the local Source/contact: Richard Casagrande, native Lathrolestes sp. and its future impact on the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, introduced species will be a subject of investigation. RI 02881, USA. DNA (mitochondrial COI gene) sequences for each of Email: [email protected] the two Lathrolestes species have been identified that allow larvae dissected from hosts to be classified to species, a useful development as rearing of these univoltine species to obtain adults requires a ten Progress in Biocontrol of Ambermarked Birch month treatment in soil. Given events in Alberta, it Leaf Miner in Alaska is expected that the Anchorage population of amber- The ambermarked birch leaf miner, Profenusa thom- marked birch leaf miner will eventually collapse, but soni , is an invasive sawfly species from Europe that this may take five or more additional years. Popula- has reached extraordinarily high densities in tion levels of the leaf miner and its parasitoids will Alaska 1, where it was first detected in the mid 1990s. continue to be monitored through ongoing support Adult leaf miners lay their eggs in birch leaves in late from the USDA Forest Service. June and early July. Larvae that hatch from the eggs 1 feed by converting the green leaves into brown Snyder C., MacQuarrie C.J.K., Zogas K., et al. mines. In mid August – early September, mature (2007) Invasive species in the last frontier: distribu- larvae drop to the soil to overwinter 2. Immediate tion and phenology of birch leaf mining sawflies in damage to birch trees is aesthetic 1. Long-term effects Alaska. Journal of Forestry 105 (3), 113–155. on tree health have not been assessed. Profenusa 2 thomsoni was likely introduced to Alaska on infested Martin J.L. (1960) The bionomics of Profenusa nursery trees via western Canada, where it had