Direct effects of insecticides on common ragweed-implications for natural enemy exclusion trials

Lommen, S.T.E.; Fogliatto, Silvia; Vidotto, Francesco; Citterio, Sandra; Augustinus, Benno A.

doi:10.1584/jpestics.d17-048

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…In 2015 and 2016, treatments started in May (corresponding to the period where the first beetle generation of offspring from the overwintering adults develops) and lasted until O. communa disappeared from the sites in autumn. The insecticide treatment constituted of spraying three insecticides (including two contact insecticides and a systemic insecticide; for further details see Lommen et al 29 ). This method has no direct effects on seed and pollen output or pollen allergenicity of A. artemisiifolia 29 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biological weed control to relieve millions from Ambrosia allergies in Europe

et al. 2020

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Invasive alien species (IAS) can substantially affect ecosystem services and human wellbeing. However, quantitative assessments of their impact on human health are rare and the benefits of implementing IAS management likely to be underestimated. Here we report the effects of the allergenic plant Ambrosia artemisiifolia on public health in Europe and the potential impact of the accidentally introduced leaf beetle Ophraella communa on the number of patients and healthcare costs. We find that, prior to the establishment of O. communa, some 13.5 million persons suffered from Ambrosia-induced allergies in Europe, causing costs of Euro 7.4 billion annually. Our projections reveal that biological control of A. artemisiifolia will reduce the number of patients by approximately 2.3 million and the health costs by Euro 1.1 billion per year. Our conservative calculations indicate that the currently discussed economic costs of IAS underestimate the real costs and thus also the benefits from biological control.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The insecticide treatment constituted of spraying three insecticides (including two contact insecticides and a systemic insecticide; for further details see Lommen et al 29 ). This method has no direct effects on seed and pollen output or pollen allergenicity of A. artemisiifolia 29 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological weed control to relieve millions from Ambrosia allergies in Europe

et al. 2020

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“…This insecticide has been used in previous herbivore exclusion experiments (e.g. Burkhart & Nentwig, 2008) and has been shown to not have non-target effects on plant growth (Lommen et al 2018). We sprayed insecticide only on the individual tree seedlings and not on the surrounding vegetation.…”

Section: Herbivore Damage and Impact On Planted Phytometer Tree Seedl...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant-invertebrate interactions across a forested retrogressive chronosequence

Kempel

Allan

Goßner

et al. 2022

Preprint

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In the long-term absence of disturbance, ecosystems often enter a decline or retrogressive phase which leads to reductions in primary productivity, plant biomass, nutrient cycling and foliar quality. However, the consequences of ecosystem retrogression for higher trophic levels such as herbivores and predators, are less clear. Using a post-fire forested island-chronosequence across which retrogression occurs, we show that nutrient availability strongly controls invertebrate herbivore biomass when predators are few, but that there is a switch from bottom-up to top-down control when predators are common. This trophic flip in herbivore control probably arises because invertebrate predators respond to alternative energy channels from the adjacent aquatic matrix, which were independent of plant biomass. Our results suggest that effects of nutrient limitation, following ecosystem retrogression, on trophic cascades are modified by independent variation in predator abundance, which requires a more holistic approach to trophic ecology to better understand herbivore effects on plant communities.

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“…Insecticides were applied at a spray volume of 1000L/ha using a backpack sprayer. Previous studies revealed that there is no direct effect of this insecticide treatment on the measured plant parameters (Lommen et al 2018a). The rest of the study plots were sprayed with the equivalent amount of water with the same intervals.…”

Section: Insecticide Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

In-season leaf damage by a biocontrol agent explains reproductive output of an invasive plant species

Augustinus

Lommen

Fogliatto

et al. 2020

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One of the biggest challenges in classical biological control of invasive weeds is predicting the likelihood of success. Ambrosia artemisiifolia, a North American plant species that has become invasive in Europe, causes economic losses due to health problems resulting from its huge amount of highly allergenic pollen and as a weed to agricultural crops resulting from high seed densities. Here we assessed whether the pollen and seed output of the annual A. artemisiifolia (at the end of the season) is related to in-season abundance of, or damage by, the accidentally introduced biological control agent Ophraella communa. We monitored the growth and leaf damage of individually labelled A. artemisiifolia plants at four locations in Northern Italy and recorded abundance of different O. communa life stages at regular intervals. We found that the in-season level of leaf damage by O. communa consistently helped to explain seed production in combination with plant volume and site throughout the season. Feeding damage, plant volume and site also explained pollen production by A. artemisiifolia six weeks before male flower formation. At three out of four sites, plants with more than 10% leaf damage in mid-June or early July had a very low likelihood of seed formation. Leaf damage proved to be a better explanatory variable than O. communa abundance. Our results suggest that the monitoring of the in-season leaf damage can help to project the local impact of O. communa on A. artemisiifolia at the end of the season and thus inform management regarding the needs for additional measures to control this prominent invader.

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Direct effects of insecticides on common ragweed-implications for natural enemy exclusion trials

Cited by 5 publications

References 38 publications

Biological weed control to relieve millions from Ambrosia allergies in Europe

Biological weed control to relieve millions from Ambrosia allergies in Europe

Plant-invertebrate interactions across a forested retrogressive chronosequence

In-season leaf damage by a biocontrol agent explains reproductive output of an invasive plant species

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