Evaluating the impact of a biological control agent Carmenta mimosa on the woody wetland weed Mimosa pigra in Australia.
Abstract
Evaluation of the success of biological control agents is essential to improve the efficiency and safety of future programmes. This study assessed the impact of Carmenta mimosa, a stem-mining moth, introduced into northern Australia as a biological control agent of mimosa Mimosa pigra. Litter fall, seed banks, vegetation cover, density and age structure of mimosa stands were compared using data collected at nine sites where Carmenta mimosa was present and eight sites where it was initially absent. Mimosa seed rain was negatively correlated with Carmenta mimosa damage and declined by more than 90% at the highest Carmenta mimosa densities. Seed banks also declined with Carmenta mimosa damage. Percentage cover of competing vegetation was significantly higher under stands defoliated by Carmenta mimosa and this inhibited mimosa seedling establishment and apparently increased the susceptibility of mimosa to fire, by increasing fuel loads beneath stands. Four of the eight stands where Carmenta mimosa was absent expanded and none contracted. In contrast, none of the nine stands where Carmenta mimosa was present expanded and three contracted. Analysis of the age structure of mimosa stands indicated that contracting stands were typified by an absence of seedling regeneration. In contrast to previous studies, no impact could be attributed to the flower feeder Coelocephalapion pigrae or to the stem-mining moth Neurostrota gunniella, whilst the bruchid Acanthoscelides puniceus consumed up to only c. 10% of seed. However, it is argued that, while these agents are unlikely to suppress dense mimosa thickets, they may reduce the rate mimosa can expand. Synthesis and applications. By preventing stand regeneration, Carmenta mimosa is predicted to cause widespread reductions in mimosa populations and should therefore be redistributed to areas of mimosa where it is absent. Differences between the age structures of stands with Carmenta mimosa present may highlight how biological control could succeed for a suite of woody legume weeds with long-lived seed banks.