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<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><STRONG>January
1, 2014</STRONG> </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Contact:
Marc Imlay<BR>Chairperson of the bio-control working group of
Mid-Atlantic Invasive Plant Council. <BR>The Maryland-National
Capital Park and Planning Commission. <BR>(301) 442-5657 cell
<BR>ialm@erols.com</FONT><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><BR><STRONG><BR>Biocontrols
are January Invader Topic of the Month</STRONG>
<BR><BR>ANNAPOLIS , MD (January 1, 2014) </FONT></P>
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<TD><IMG src="/images/stiltgrass.jpg" width=314
height=235></TD></TR>
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<TD>
<DIV class=image_caption_text align=center>Japanese
Stiltgrass showing fungal leaf blight</DIV></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>
<DIV align=center>Photo Credit: William L. Bruckart
III<BR>USDA, ARS, FDWSRU<BR></DIV></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>
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align=right></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P>
<DIV class="image_caption_text align" ="right">
<P><FONT size=3
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><STRONG>Biocontrols:
Control Them Beyond Where We Cut, Pull and
Spray</STRONG></FONT>
<P><FONT size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Biological
Controls of non-native invasive plant species </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Our tool
kit for successful control of non-native invasive plants
includes preventing new invasive species from coming in from
Europe, Asia, and other continents; manual removal, the use of
carefully targeted herbicides, and host specific biological
controls. Classical biological control involves the
importation and release of host-specific natural enemies to
help regulate pest populations. This strategy is usually used
for invasive non-native species that lack effective natural
enemies in the region where they have been introduced. In
order to avoid direct damage to non-target species, biological
control agents must be highly host specific. Agents are
brought over after being tested or reviewed for host
specificity in their native range and then tested in
quarantine conditions in the United States. They are only
approved for release if testing indicates a very low
likelihood of non-target effects, as determined by the
Technical Advisory Group for Biological Control Agents of
Weeds (TAG), a group of experts that report to USDA-APHIS.
Effectiveness of classical biological control can vary, but of
49 invasive plant projects considered in a recent review (Van
Driesche et al. 2010), 27% (13) achieved complete control, 33%
(16) provided partial control, and 49% (24) were still in
progress. The problem of bio-controls harming non-target
organisms was reported to be only about 3% as frequent as
before the new rules of proving host specificity went into
effect. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">For two of
the most important invasive plant species requiring control in
Mid-Atlantic natural areas, purple loosestrife (<EM>Lythrum
salicaria</EM>), and mile-a-minute weed (<EM>Persicaria
perfoliata</EM>), one or more host-specific insect species
have been tested and received permits for release. Three other
invasive plant species have had extensive studies conducted on
host-specific insects, with petitions for release submitted to
TAG, but with proposed releases still under review (TAG
Petitions, 2013). These plant species and associated insects
are garlic mustard (<EM>Alliaria petiolata</EM>), the
crown-mining weevil <EM>(Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis</EM>);
Japanese knotweed (<EM>Fallopia japonica</EM>), the psyllid
<EM>Aphalara itadori</EM>; and tree-of-heaven (<EM>Ailanthus
altissima)</EM>, the weevil <EM>Eucryptorrhynchus
brandti</EM>.<BR><BR>For some species, biocontrols may already
exist in the U.S. in the form of native insects and pathogens
that have adapted to the invasive species over time, or
non-native species that were accidentally introduced.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Species
updates with references for 18 non-native terrestrial and
aquatic invasive species are available in the MAIPC Biocontrol
Work Group document
http://www.maipc.org/MAIPC_BiocontrolWG_Dec18.doc<BR>One
example is. <BR>European Water Chestnut<BR>European water
chestnut (<EM>Trapa natans</EM>) is an invasive aquatic plant
native to Europe and Asia. It was first observed in the United
States in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Its current
distribution is the mid-Atlantic and northeastern U.S., with
the most serious problems being reported for the Connecticut
River valley, Lake Champlain region, Hudson River, Potomac
River and the upper Delaware River (Swearingen et al. 2010).
This species can form dense floating mats, and its sharp
fruits can cause painful wounds, making control efforts a
challenge. The most promising species for biological control
is Galerucella birmanica, a leaf beetle (Ding et al. 2006,
2007), but so far no petitions have been submitted to
TAG.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><BR>For
more information on this and other invasive species in
Maryland, visit the Maryland Invasive Species Council at
http://www.mdinvasivesp.org/<BR></FONT></P></DIV>
<P><FONT size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">For more
information about Invasive Species of Concern in Maryland,
visit <A href="http://www.mdinvasivesp.org"
target=_blank>www.mdinvasivesp.org </A></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><I>photo
available electronically on request.</I></FONT></P>
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<P></P></DIV></TD></TR><!-- <tr>
<td align=left><img src="../images/oak_wilt_obrien_1.jpg" height=150 align=left alt="Oak wilt" align="right" border="1">
</td>
<td align=left><img src="../images/oak_wilt_obrien_2_tree.jpg" height=150 align=left alt="oak wilt" align="right" border="1">
</td>
</tr>
<td align="left"><div class="image_caption_text" align="left" valign="top">Bark Cracking<br />Joseph O'Brien, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org
<td align=left><div class="image_caption_text" align="left" valign="top">Premature Leaf Drop on Oak<br />Joseph O'Brien, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org
</div>
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