Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Biological Control of Arthropods, Langkawi, Malaysia, September 11-15, 2017

Abstract

Accidental introductions of natural enemies, including parasitoid and predatory groups, may exceed species introduced intentionally. Several factors favor this: a general surge in international trade; lack of surveillance for species that are not associated with live plants or animals; inability to intercept tiny organisms such as parasitoids; huge invasive host populations in source and/or receiving areas that allow rapid establishment; and lack of aggressive screening for pests already established. Recent frequent and surprisingly rapid accidental natural enemy introductions call into question the regulatory emphasis on a rigorous and protracted process for classical biological control (CBC) introductions, when adventives have a high probability to displace or disrupt this planned process. We provide an overview with three brief case studies.The volume of global international trade is staggering, and it continues to increase. International shipping moves 127 million containers (TEUs, each ~40m³ in volume and weighing ~14 tonnes) per year between countries, the majority between continents, for a total of ~5 billion m³ of freight (2014 totals; World Shipping Council, 2017). About 4x this amount moves domestically in coastal shipping. Additionally, 3.2 billion passenger trips take place by air, and air freight amounts to ~185 million tonnes (about 1/50th of the weight shipped by boat, but delivered in <1 day) (2014 totals;. A single adult parasitoid weighs about 1 mg (Harvey et al., 2006), or approximately 70 parts per trillion of a single shipping container -less than a needle in a haystack -and 350,000 such haystacks arrive from foreign ports worldwide per day! Given this massive exchange of merchandise, invading natural enemies are of low to vanishing priority for national authorities inspecting imports for harmful organisms and other threats. Primary concerns are plant and animal pests and pathogens that will do the most serious and immediate damage, not to mention a host of other non-biological concerns such as terrorism, hazardous substances, and material that is illegal, smuggled, and/or counterfeit. In the US Department of Agriculture, the very name APHIS PPQ (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine) reflects these priorities, and, aside from known plant and animal pests and pathogens, and their associated carriers, very little else attracts the attention of border patrol inspectors.Reece Sailer, in a prescient perspective, estimated the number of "beneficial immigrant species" to the US, determining that nearly half (134 of 287=47%) had been accidentally introduced (numbers from his Figure 6, not his text). "As an entomologist specialized in References Blossey, B. (2016) The future of biological control: a proposal for fundamental reform. In: Van

First detection of the samurai wasp, Trissolcus japonicus (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera, Scelionidae), in Canada

“…Classical (= importation) biological control of invasive pests, where natural enemies are imported and intentionally introduced from a pest's area of origin, involves years of research to assess risks and benefits of proposed introductions, followed by regulatory approval (Bigler et al 2006, Cock et al 2016, Heimpel and Cock 2018. However, there is increasing recognition that unintentional introductions of natural enemies are probably common, introducing a high level of uncertainty to the regulatory process for biological control introductions (Mason et al 2017a).…”