Non-destructive environmental safety assessment of threatened and endangered plants in weed biological control
Assessing the risk of nontarget attack (NTA) for federally listed threatened and endangered (T&E) plant species confamilial to invasive plants targeted for classical biological control, is one of the most important objectives of pre-release environmental safety assessments in the United States....
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PeerJ Inc.
2024-02-01
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/16813.pdf |
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| author | Ikju Park Mark Schwarzländer Sanford D. Eigenbrode Bradley L. Harmon Hariet L. Hinz Urs Schaffner |
| author_facet | Ikju Park Mark Schwarzländer Sanford D. Eigenbrode Bradley L. Harmon Hariet L. Hinz Urs Schaffner |
| author_sort | Ikju Park |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Assessing the risk of nontarget attack (NTA) for federally listed threatened and endangered (T&E) plant species confamilial to invasive plants targeted for classical biological control, is one of the most important objectives of pre-release environmental safety assessments in the United States. However, evaluating potential NTA on T&E species is often complicated by restrictive agency requirements for obtaining propagules, or the ability to propagate plants and rear agents to the appropriate phenostages synchronously for testing, or both. Here, we assessed whether plant cues associated with a host recognition can be used for testing the attractiveness of four T&E and one rare single population plant species non-destructively for a candidate biocontrol agent. We used the seed-feeding weevil, Mogulones borraginis, a candidate for the biological control of the invasive plant, Cynoglossum officinale (Boraginaceae) as the study system. We collected olfactory and visual cues in the form of flowering sprigs from T&E plant species confamilial to the invasive plant in a non-destructive manner and used them to measure behavioral responses and searching time of weevils. Female weevils preferred C. officinale to all tested plant species in dual-choice bioassays using either olfactory or visual cues in a modified y-tube device. Furthermore, female weevils were repelled by the combined olfactory and visual cues from all tested T&E plant species in a dual-choice test against controls (e.g., purified air in an empty arm), indicating that it would be extremely unlikely for the weevil to attack any of these species upon release in the United States. Principal component analysis based on 61 volatile organic compounds effectively separated the five confamilial plant species and C. officinale, corroborating the results of behavioral bioassays. We conclude that studies on pre-alighting host selection behavior and the underlying physiological mechanisms of how organisms select host plants they exploit can aid in environmental safety testing of weed biological control agents. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:54:00Z |
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| id | doaj.art-792a932284684cda879bb5cce982af62 |
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| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:54:00Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
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| spelling | doaj.art-792a932284684cda879bb5cce982af622024-02-18T15:05:07ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592024-02-0112e1681310.7717/peerj.16813Non-destructive environmental safety assessment of threatened and endangered plants in weed biological controlIkju Park0Mark Schwarzländer1Sanford D. Eigenbrode2Bradley L. Harmon3Hariet L. Hinz4Urs Schaffner5Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California, United StatesDepartment of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, United StatesDepartment of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, United StatesDepartment of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, United StatesCABI, Delémont, SwitzerlandCABI, Delémont, SwitzerlandAssessing the risk of nontarget attack (NTA) for federally listed threatened and endangered (T&E) plant species confamilial to invasive plants targeted for classical biological control, is one of the most important objectives of pre-release environmental safety assessments in the United States. However, evaluating potential NTA on T&E species is often complicated by restrictive agency requirements for obtaining propagules, or the ability to propagate plants and rear agents to the appropriate phenostages synchronously for testing, or both. Here, we assessed whether plant cues associated with a host recognition can be used for testing the attractiveness of four T&E and one rare single population plant species non-destructively for a candidate biocontrol agent. We used the seed-feeding weevil, Mogulones borraginis, a candidate for the biological control of the invasive plant, Cynoglossum officinale (Boraginaceae) as the study system. We collected olfactory and visual cues in the form of flowering sprigs from T&E plant species confamilial to the invasive plant in a non-destructive manner and used them to measure behavioral responses and searching time of weevils. Female weevils preferred C. officinale to all tested plant species in dual-choice bioassays using either olfactory or visual cues in a modified y-tube device. Furthermore, female weevils were repelled by the combined olfactory and visual cues from all tested T&E plant species in a dual-choice test against controls (e.g., purified air in an empty arm), indicating that it would be extremely unlikely for the weevil to attack any of these species upon release in the United States. Principal component analysis based on 61 volatile organic compounds effectively separated the five confamilial plant species and C. officinale, corroborating the results of behavioral bioassays. We conclude that studies on pre-alighting host selection behavior and the underlying physiological mechanisms of how organisms select host plants they exploit can aid in environmental safety testing of weed biological control agents.https://peerj.com/articles/16813.pdfMogulones borraginisHoundstongueCynoglossum officinalePre-release risk assessmentHost selection behaviorBiocontrol |
| spellingShingle | Ikju Park Mark Schwarzländer Sanford D. Eigenbrode Bradley L. Harmon Hariet L. Hinz Urs Schaffner Non-destructive environmental safety assessment of threatened and endangered plants in weed biological control PeerJ Mogulones borraginis Houndstongue Cynoglossum officinale Pre-release risk assessment Host selection behavior Biocontrol |
| title | Non-destructive environmental safety assessment of threatened and endangered plants in weed biological control |
| title_full | Non-destructive environmental safety assessment of threatened and endangered plants in weed biological control |
| title_fullStr | Non-destructive environmental safety assessment of threatened and endangered plants in weed biological control |
| title_full_unstemmed | Non-destructive environmental safety assessment of threatened and endangered plants in weed biological control |
| title_short | Non-destructive environmental safety assessment of threatened and endangered plants in weed biological control |
| title_sort | non destructive environmental safety assessment of threatened and endangered plants in weed biological control |
| topic | Mogulones borraginis Houndstongue Cynoglossum officinale Pre-release risk assessment Host selection behavior Biocontrol |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/16813.pdf |
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