Biocontrol Science and Technology (1997) 7, 299-308

Fang-Hao Wan and Peter Harris (1997)
Use of risk analysis for screening weed biocontrol agents: Altica carduorum Guer. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) from China as a biocontrol agent of Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. in North America
Biocontrol Science and Technology 7 (3), 299-308
Abstract: Candidate weed biocontrol agents must be screened to exclude those that could threaten desirable plants. Traditionally, this has been done by rejecting species that develop on economically important plants in laboratory no-choice tests. However, because congeneric plants often support development in these tests, even when they are not utilized in nature, the tests do not meet legislated requirements for rare plant species or the increasing public concern for native plants. Plant suitability for larval development is a poor predictor of host range because insects use a sequence of steps in which the early steps, such as host finding and acceptance for oviposition, tend to be stronger than the later ones, such as suitability for development. This study is a trial of a new approach to screening insects as weed biocontrol agents that uses risk analysis to quantify the suitability of a plant as a host on the basis of inset performance at various stages in its life cycle. The insects used for the study was a NW Chinese biotype of the leaf beetle, Altica carduorum, which in terms of climate adaptation and damage it inflicts on the weedy thistle Cirsium arvense, is a promising biocontrol agent for Canada . However, its ability to develop on all North American Cirsium spp . in laboratory no-choice tests currently excludes its release. We show by risk and factor analyses, with five sequential host-selection parameters , that the suitability of these thistles to A. carduorum is so low that the beetle would not jeopardize the continued existence of rare native thistles, so its release should not be a problem.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Fang Hao Wan

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
non-target effects/fate in environm.

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Cirsium arvense (weed)
Altica carduorum (weed bioagent)	Cirsium arvense (weed)		China (NW)