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Grahame Jackson posted a new submission ‘Risk analysis and weed biological control.’

Submission

Risk analysis and weed biological control.

Authors: W. M. Lonsdale, D. T. Briese, J. M. CullenAUTHORS INFO & AFFILIATIONS

Publication: Evaluating indirect ecological effects of biological control. Key papers from the symposium ‘Indirect ecological effects in biological control’, Montpellier, France, 17-20 October 1999

https://doi.org/10.1079/9780851994536.0185

Abstract

Weed biological control and risk analysis are very powerful tools for land management and decision-making respectively. We explore the application of risk analysis to weed biological control. Recent criticisms of weed biological control have mainly centred on non-target impacts, attacks by the biological control agent on species other than the weed. In ecology, these are direct effects because they involve physical interactions between the species concerned. Indirect effects are those in which the species do not physically interact. In biological control terms, indirect effects include, on the positive side, the increase in pasture production or biodiversity resulting from successful biological control. On the negative side, they include the decline of a native species that had used the weed as habitat. The aim of weed biological control is then to maximize the ratio of desirable indirect effects to undesirable direct and indirect effects. Using a risk analysis approach, we show that the problems of weed biological control are less in the domain of science and more in that of communication and consultation. A well-conceived biological control project would aim for wide consultation to agree on the target weed with the community, so that negative effects are viewed as trivial against the positive ones. It would also use highly specific agents to reduce the risk of undesirable direct effects to a minimum. Lastly, biocontrollers themselves would merely be advisers on the decision to release.