Invasive alien aquatic plant species management drives aquatic ecosystem community recovery: An exploration using stable isotope analysis

Motitsoe, Samuel N.; Hill, Jaclyn M.; Coetzee, Julie A.; Hill, Martin

doi:10.1016/j.biocontrol.2022.104995

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Case studies by Coetzee et al (2020) and Motitsoe et al (2020) clearly illustrated that biocontrol of P. stratiotes and S. molesta facilitates an increase in aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity in freshwater ecosystems. Furthermore, Motitsoe et al (2022) showed that not only do aquatic macroinvertebrate communities recover following biocontrol, there is also an improvement in aquatic ecosystem processes, structure and functioning. When comparing biocontrol and other conventional methods, the biocontrol sites were completely different in terms of ecosystem structure, i.e., resource abundance, trophic diversity and food web complexity.…”

Section: Ecological Returnsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent post-release evaluations of weed biocontrol programmes in South Africa: a summary of what has been achieved and what can be improved

Paterson,

Motitsoe,

Coetzee

et al. 2023

BioControl

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Biocontrol is widely considered an effective management solution for mitigating the negative impacts of invasive alien plants (weeds). Globally, post-release evaluations to assess individual biocontrol programmes are generally lacking and there have been persistent calls within the biocontrol of weeds literature to increase the quantity and quality of post-release evaluation studies. South African biocontrol researchers have prioritised post-release evaluation studies, with a significant proportion of funding dedicated to this purpose. In this study we review post-release evaluations of weed biocontrol programmes in South Africa that have been published in the last ten years, discuss the different ways these evaluations have been conducted, and identify gaps for future research. Post-release evaluations have been conducted at different scales, including physiological changes within individual plants, plant growth parameters, plant population dynamics and landscape level changes. In most cases, the results of these studies indicated that biocontrol has reduced invasions according to these metrics. While the reduction in the invasion is assumed to alleviate negative ecological and socio-economic impacts, this is usually not directly measured. Evaluations of the socio-economic and ecosystem level benefits of biocontrol were limited to just a few examples on aquatic weeds. More studies that investigate the landscape, socio-economic and ecosystem level changes due to biocontrol are required, especially for terrestrial weeds, if the true scale of the benefits provided by biocontrol are to be understood.

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Section: Ecological Returnsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological control of invasive floating fern leads to rapid recovery of ecological functions in coastal fresh water wetlands in Louisiana

Woodley,

Wahl,

Tryforos

et al. 2023

J Aquat Plant Manage

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Despite the success of the salvinia weevil (Cyrtobagous salviniae) at controlling giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta), its impact on the timing of reduction of giant salvinia cover and recovery of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and dissolved oxygen remains unknown. A two-year field study (2016 to 2017) was conducted in coastal wetlands in southwestern Louisiana to measure the impact of biological control of giant salvinia. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, weevil densities, and giant salvinia and SAV cover were assessed at 36 sampling locations comprising canals, small ponds, and large ponds. Results showed that adult weevils were distributed across the landscape. In 2016 mean adult densities were 46.9 weevils kg À1 in canals, 42.5 weevils kg À1 in small ponds, and 38.7 weevils kg À1 in large ponds. In 2017 mean adult weevil densities were 28.2 kg À1 in canals, 12.3 kg À1 in small ponds, and 29.4 kg À1 in large ponds. Percent cover of SAV was zero at all three site types in July 2016 but increased by 29.4, 35.0, and 73.3% in small ponds, canals, and large ponds, respectively, from July 2016 to January 2017. Our models demonstrate that higher adult weevil densities in June lead to faster control of giant salvinia and SAV recovery, subsequently increasing dissolved oxygen levels. The models can be used to estimate months needed to control salvinia given weevil density, percent salvinia cover, and site type. Resource managers could apply this to inform about timing to control and guide management decisions.

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Restoring freshwater ecosystems: Lessons from case studies on riparian vegetation, aquatic weeds and freshwater fish

Shelton,

Broom,

Coetzee

et al. 2025

Afrotropical Streams and Rivers

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Invasive alien aquatic plant species management drives aquatic ecosystem community recovery: An exploration using stable isotope analysis

Cited by 4 publications

References 71 publications

Recent post-release evaluations of weed biocontrol programmes in South Africa: a summary of what has been achieved and what can be improved

Recent post-release evaluations of weed biocontrol programmes in South Africa: a summary of what has been achieved and what can be improved

Biological control of invasive floating fern leads to rapid recovery of ecological functions in coastal fresh water wetlands in Louisiana

Restoring freshwater ecosystems: Lessons from case studies on riparian vegetation, aquatic weeds and freshwater fish

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