Biological control of Australian-origin eucalypt plantation pests requires international collaboration

Abstract

Australian-origin pests of eucalypts have been moving around the world since 1873. Since the 1990’s, the invasion of new eucalypt pests has increased almost exponentially with rapid subsequent invasion of these pests into new countries and across continents. Traditional approaches to classical biological control, where individual countries or regions funded natural enemy searches and carried out the required specificity testing and released the agents, were effective when rates of invasion were low and with slow subsequent movement between countries and continents. These approaches are less able to cope with multiple new pests arriving in rapid succession. A more collaborative and coordinated approach to biological control of these pests was thus required, where funds and expertise can be more cost-efficiently pooled and shared to develop effective biological control for eucalypt plantation pests. The Biological Control of Insect Pests Alliance (BiCEP) was developed by industry and researchers worldwide to attempt to solve this problem. BiCEP carries out collaborative research in Australia and overseas on biological control of the key invasive pests prioritised by its industry partners. Approaches used in this collaboration include conventional surveys for endemic natural enemies in Australia, genetic characterisation of these agents and climate matching with invaded countries. Key outcomes from current research and future directions will be presented.