Closely related invasive species may be controlled by the same demographic life stages

Invasive species that are closely related to each other may have similar population dynamics and, therefore, be controlled by targeting similar life stages. We studied two invasive knapweed species, spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe subsp. micranthos) and the hybrid meadow knapweed complex (Centaurea × moncktonii) in New York, USA, to determine their individual population growth rates (λ) across several sites over three years. Both knapweed species had growth rates that were greater than 1 (spotted knapweed λ ranged from 1.005–1.440; meadow knapweed λ ranged from 1.541–2.408), but there was high variability between years and sites. One study population of meadow knapweed was composed primarily of individuals of black knapweed ancestry (C. nigra), a species that, while introduced, is not invasive. For this population, the projected dynamics were stable (λ approximately 1). Elasticity analysis showed that the flowering-to-flowering stage contributed the most to population growth rate for six of seven sites and three additional transitions were also influential for four of seven sites of spotted and meadow knapweed: the seedling-to-vegetative stage, vegetative-to-flowering stage and flowering-to-seedling stage. We simulated how increasing vital rates would affect population growth and found that both spotted and meadow knapweed followed the same pattern. The vital rate of established seedlings maturing to flowering plants had the greatest effect on population growth, followed by the survival of new and established seedlings. In all cases, the responses were non-linear, with small initial changes having a large effect. Increases in the vital rates of later stages also tended to have a positive effect on growth rate, but the effects were more modest. Although the sensitivity analysis indicated that early vital rates had the largest effect on population growth, targeting these stages is not practical for management. Rather, reducing older life stage survival or delaying maturation of vegetative individuals would be more effective. The similarity between the population dynamics and how each life stage contributes to population growth provides support that protocols developed for one species should be effective for the other species with the caveat that any biological control agent should be directly tested on the target species before being utilised.

An overview of agent-based models in plant biology and ecology

Agent-based modelling (ABM) has become an established methodology in many areas of biology, ranging from the cellular to the ecological population and community levels. In plant science, two different scales have predominated in their use of ABM. One is the scale of populations and communities, through the modelling of collections of agents representing individual plants, interacting with each other and with the environment. The other is the scale of the individual plant, through the modelling, by functional-structural plant models (FSPMs), of agents representing plant building blocks, or metamers, to describe the development of plant architecture and functions within individual plants. The purpose of this review is to show key results and parallels in ABM for growth, mortality, carbon allocation, competition and reproduction across the scales from the plant organ to populations and communities on a range of spatial scales to the whole landscape. Several areas of application of ABMs are reviewed, showing that some issues are addressed by both population-level ABMs and FSPMs. Continued increase in the relevance of ABM to environmental science and management will be helped by greater integration of ABMs across these two scales.

Impacts of Insect Herbivores on Plant Populations

Apparent feeding damage by insects on plants is often slight. Thus, the influences of insect herbivores on plant populations are likely minor. The role of insects on host-plant populations can be elucidated via several methods: stage-structured life tables of plant populations manipulated by herbivore exclusion and seed-addition experiments, tests of the enemy release hypothesis, studies of the effects of accidentally and intentionally introduced insect herbivores, and observations of the impacts of insect species that show outbreak population dynamics. These approaches demonstrate that some, but not all, insect herbivores influence plant population densities. At times, insect-feeding damage kills plants, but more often, it reduces plant size, growth, and seed production. Plant populations for which seed germination is site limited will not respond at the population level to reduced seed production. Insect herbivores can influence rare plant species and need to be considered in conservation programs. Alterations due to climate change in the distributions of insect herbivores indicate the possibility of new influences on host plants. Long-term studies are required to show if density-related insect behavior stabilizes plant populations or if environmental variation drives most temporal fluctuations in plant densities. Finally, insects can influence plant populations and communities through changing the diversity of nonhost species, modifying nutrient fluxes, and rejuvenating over mature forests.

Biological control of invasive plant species: a reassessment for the Anthropocene

The science of finding, testing and releasing herbivores and pathogens to control invasive plant species has achieved a level of maturity and success that argues for continued and expanded use of this program. The practice, however, remains unpopular with some conservationists, invasion biologists, and stakeholders. The ecological and economic benefits of controlling densities of problematic plant species using biological control agents can be quantified, but the risks and net benefits of biological control programs are often derived from social or cultural rather than scientific criteria. Management of invasive plants is a 'wicked problem', and local outcomes to wicked problems have both positive and negative consequences differentially affecting various groups of stakeholders. The program has inherent uncertainties; inserting species into communities that are experiencing directional or even transformational changes can produce multiple outcomes due to context-specific factors that are further confounded by environmental change drivers. Despite these uncertainties, biological control could play a larger role in mitigation and adaptation strategies used to maintain biological diversity as well as contribute to human well-being by protecting food and fiber resources.

Classical Biological Control of Invasive Legacy Crop Pests: New Technologies Offer Opportunities to Revisit Old Pest Problems in Perennial Tree Crops

Advances in scientific disciplines that support classical biological control have provided "new tools" that could have important applications for biocontrol programs for some long-established invasive arthropod pests. We suggest that these previously unavailable tools should be used in biological control programs targeting "legacy pests", even if they have been targets of previously unsuccessful biocontrol projects. Examples of "new tools" include molecular analyses to verify species identities and likely geographic area of origin, climate matching and ecological niche modeling, preservation of natural enemy genetic diversity in quarantine, the use of theory from invasion biology to maximize establishment likelihoods for natural enemies, and improved understanding of the interactions between natural enemy and target pest microbiomes. This review suggests that opportunities exist for revisiting old pest problems and funding research programs using "new tools" for developing biological control programs for "legacy pests" could provide permanent suppression of some seemingly intractable pest problems. As a case study, we use citricola scale, Coccus pseudomagnoliarum, an invasive legacy pest of California citrus, to demonstrate the potential of new tools to support a new classical biological control program targeting this insect.