Biocontrol Science and Technology (2019) 29, 1118-1122

Benjamin E. Miller, Julie Coetzee and Martin Hill (2019)
Chlorophyll fluorometry as a method of determining the effectiveness of a biological control agent in post-release evaluations
Biocontrol Science and Technology 29 (11), 1118-1122
Abstract: The impact of the planthopper Megamelus scutellaris, a biocontrol agent of water hyacinth in South Africa, was assessed using chlorophyll fluorometry in a greenhouse study under two different eutrophic nutrient treatments and agent densities (high and low). The results indicated that plants grown in low nutrients with high densities of M. scutellaris showed the greatest reduction in the fluorescence parameters Fv/Fm and PI_abs. The successful use of chlorophyll fluorometry for the detection of subtle insect damage to water hyacinth leaves could have future application in post-release studies to measure the impact of M. scutellaris in the field.
(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): Julie Coetzee

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
evaluation - screening - selection

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Pontederia crassipes (weed)
Megamelus scutellaris (weed bioagent)	Pontederia crassipes (weed)