Biocontrol of invasive weeds under climate change: progress, challenges and management implications

Abstract

Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and impact of plant invasions, creating a need for new control strategies as part of mitigation planning. The complex interactions between invasive plants and biocontrol agents have created distinct policy and management challenges, including the effectiveness and risk assessment of biocontrol under different climate change scenarios. In this brief review, we synthesize recent studies describing the potential ecological and evolutionary outcomes for biocontrol agents/ candidates for plant invaders under climate change. We also discuss potential methodologies that can be used as a framework for predicting ecological and evolutionary responses of plant-natural enemy interactions under climate change, and for refining our understanding of the efficacy and risk of using biocontrol on invasive plants.

Biology of an Adventive Population of the Armored Scale Rhizaspidiotus donacis, a Biological Control Agent of Arundo donax in California

“…Though more often applied to management of pest arthropods [ 70 ], augmentation offers a valuable option for suppressing alien weeds. This does not preclude the subsequent importation of genetic variants of the same herbivore taxa, particularly if there are management benefits of access to multiple agent haplotypes [ 71 ].…”

Plant invasion in protected areas, the Indian Himalayan region, and the North East India: progress and prospects

“…The crypticity of IAPs in terms of species, ecological functions and spatio-temporal perspectives is the constraint in studying their ecological distribution, impacts and management (Jaric et al 2019). Further, the management strategies are further impeded with complex social-ecological systems particularly, under the global climate change regime (Jaric et al 2019;Sun et al 2020). In this respect, the mitigation strategies can be focused on biological filters or barriers for IAPs (from introduction to spread as shown in Fig.…”

“…Biological control of IAPs is also used as an effective management strategy (Machado et al 2020;Sun et al 2020;Kurose et al 2020). However, the efficacy and risk assessment of biological control or IAP-natural enemy interactions should be adequately examined under the event of global climate change (Sun et al 2020).…”

“…Biological control of IAPs is also used as an effective management strategy (Machado et al 2020;Sun et al 2020;Kurose et al 2020). However, the efficacy and risk assessment of biological control or IAP-natural enemy interactions should be adequately examined under the event of global climate change (Sun et al 2020). Biological control of Himalayan balsam (I.glandulifera) through rust fungus can be further improved through molecular and phylogenetic studies (Kurose et al 2020).…”

Double trouble: the implications of climate change for biological invasions

“…Such an approach is likely to be particularly relevant with respect to the use of biological control agents. Notably, climate change could have positive, negative, or neutral impacts on weed biocontrol agents (Sun et al 2020). This highlights the need to account for predicted future environmental changes in pre-release trials of new biocontrol agents and the use of an adaptive approach to managing ongoing biocontrol programs.…”