Digital Commons Network^™

Invasion Ecology And Response To Fire Of The Nonnative Fern Lygodium Microphyllum In The South Florida Everglades, Nicole Sebesta

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lygodium microphyllum (Old World Climbing Fern (OWCF)) is a climbing fern native to tropical and subtropical regions of Australia, Asia, and Africa. First introduced to Florida as an ornamental in the 1960s, the fern has become a serious invasive in numerous Florida habitats, severely degrading native herbaceous and woody vegetation and altering fire behavior. One area with the greatest increase in OWCF cover is the sawgrass marsh of southern Everglades National Park (ENP), where prescribed fire is used for both maintenance of sawgrass marshes and management of OWCF infestations. However, the efficacy of OWCF control using fire in this habitat …

Deoxynivalenol: Toxicological Profile And Potential For Reducing Cereal Grain Contamination Using Bacterial Additives In Fermented Animal Feed., William Vevers

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination of grain destined for animal feeds is a major toxicological risk to monogastrics and is suspected of restricting productivity in ruminants. Whereas bacterial additives have been developed that can detoxify DON in the rumen and lower intestine, there are currently no commercial inoculants able to perform this task in crimped grain (CG) silage, a regionally important method of moist grain preservation based on homo- and heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria or chemical additives. Determining whether this ensiling process alongside the action of detoxifying bacteria has the potential to remove DON in CG prior to ingestion, was explored in …

Options For Pest Management In Pastures, Phil Michael, Mike Grimm, Mike Hyder, Peter Doyle

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Redlegged eath mit, blue oat ite, lucern flea and aphids damage pastures across southern Australia, and it has been estimated that they cause annual losses to the Australian wool industry alone of over $200 million.

Redlegged earth mite is without doubt the most serious of the four pests. Peter DoPhil Michael, Mike Grimm, Mike Hyder and Peter Doyle discuss intergrated management options to control these pests.

Biological Control Of Doublegee : Israeli Weevil Could Help Fight Doublegee, John Scott, Paul Yeoh

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Since its deliberate introduction from South Africa as a salad vegetable in 1830 the doublegee has spread to become a major weed throughout much of Australia.

It is one of the most serious weeds of crops and pastures in Western Australia, smothering other more useful plants while young, and troubling both humans and animals with its sharp spiny seeds when mature.

Using biological control techniques, scientists are now attacking it and related docks in three ways - with an aphid, a weevil and a fungus.

Within a few years it is hoped that while still present, the doublegee will be …

Biological Control Of Doublegee : Doublegee Decline And The Dock Aphid, John Scott, Francoise Berlandier, Kristy Hollis

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Since 1990 farmers in the Western Australian wheatbelt have been reporting doublegee plants that appear to be diseased, stunted and producing poorly formed fruit (the spiny casing around the single doublegee seed). Often no obvious cause of this decline in plant health is apparent. Experiments carried out in 1990 showed that an aphid, which feeds hidden in the growing tips of doublegee stems and in young distorted leaves, is the most likely cause. This North American aphid, the dock aphid (Brachycaudus rumexicolens), arrived in WA in 1987. It appears to only feed on docks, doublegees and related plants and is …

Biological Control Of Doublegee : Fungi May Be Another Weapon, Roger Shivas, John Scott

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

A fungus has been assessed both in Australia and South Africa since 1989 for its potential to control doublegee.

Under optimal environmental conditions it causes a severe stem blight which ultimately kills the plant. It also infects seeds, and caused up to 30 per cent mortality at a field site near Badgingarra.

Hopes to develop the fungus as a mycoherbicide (fungal killer of plants) have had to be dropped because it produces a potent toxin but it is still contributing to control in the field.

An Update On The Biological Control Of Rabbits, Stuart Wheeler

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

When myxomatosis was introduced into Western Australia in the early 1950s, farmers, pastoralists and government alike thought it was an answer to the rabbit problem.

The disease was devastatingly effective in the short term and initially had a 99 per cent kill rate. With time, the virus declined in strength, and the surviving rabbits have multiplied.

There have been many recent reports about new forms of biological control for rabbits and potential improvements in old ones.

This article summarises each of the prospective methods and improvements, and assesses the potential usefulness of each.

Clearwing Moths Are Key To Dock Control, Kingsley Fisher

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Two clearwing moths imported from Morocco and France could be the key to controlling dock (Rumex pulcher) - one of the worst weeds of high rainfall pastures in southern Australia

New Leaf Rust Helps To Control Blackberry, Jonathon Dodd, Sandy Lloyd

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The release of spores of the blackbeny leaf rust in spring 1991 marked the second attempt in Western Australia at controlling weedy blackberries with a biological agent. The strain of rust now being used is expected to be more effective than the one released in the 1980s.

This article describes the techniques used for rearing and releasing the fungus and illustrates the effects of the rust on blackbeny.

Integrated Control Of Soil Insect Pests Of Potatoes, Stewart Learmonth, John Matthiesson

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

One of the more difficult aspects of growing potatoes in Western Australia is controlling soil insect pests. These pests have become more troublesome because the highly effective and persistent organochlorine insecticides previously used to control the main soil pests, African black beetle and whitefringed weevil, were deregistered for agricultural use in 1987. Entomologists from the Department of Agriculture and CSIRO in Western Australia are collaborating to develop new management strategies for these pests that rely less on the use of chemical insecticides

Biological Control Of Doublegee, Dane Panetta

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Doublegee (Emex australis) is one of the worst agricultural weeds in Western Australia. To date, however, biological control of this weed has proved elusive. Multiple releases of two weevils which attack doublegee have not led to insect establishment. For one of these species, further research has shown that doublegee control would probably not be achieved in the wheatbelt even if insect establishment were enhanced by growing its host during the summer months. A joint Western Australian Department of Agriculture/ CSIRO project is investigating the virulence and host specificity of an undescribed South African species o/Phomopsis fungus. Should this pathogen prove …

Biological Control Of Paterson's Curse, John Dodd, Bill Woods

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The long- delayed biological control programme for the weed Paterson's curse (Echium plantagineum) has begun with the release of the leaf mining moth (Dialectica scalariella)' an insect slightly bigger than a mosquito. Yhe caterpillar stage of the moth feeds inside the leaves, producing tunnels and chambers which damage the leaf.

The leaf mining moth has already become established in suitable areas. Although the familiar purple haze of Paterson's curse will continue to be seen for years to come, we expect that the leaf mining moth - and other agents yet to be released - will make it a more manageable …

Pests Of Native Flowers, W M. Woods

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

For millions of years native insects have used Australia's native plants for food and shelter. Today, we wish to cultivate these plants to produce beautiful flowers and foliage for export. However, the insects that live on the plants in the wild will attack those plants grown in cultivation, and these insects themselves will be attacked by their own predators and parasites. The challenge in floricultural entomology is to use this natural biological control as part of a cheap and effective pest management system.

Biological Control Of Parkinsonia, W M. Woods

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

One of the most troublesome weeds in northern Australia'a lastoral country is Parkinsonia aculeata, commonly called Parkinsonia, Jerusalem Thorn, Palo Verde or Retama. In 983 Western Australia, ueensland and the Northern Territory started a joint biological control programme against this perst by sending the author overseas to search for its natural predators in southern USA, Mexico and Central America. A few insects show promise and one, a bruchid beetle Mimosetes ulkei, is being tested under Quarantine in Queensland.

Selecting New Kinds Of Dung Beetles For Better Bush Fly Control, T J. Ridsdill-Smith

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Native dung beetles are found in south-western Australia, but they are largely restricted to areas of natural vegetation where they feed on dung pellets of marsupials.

When European man cleared the land, planted pastures and introduced cattle, he created a new type of environment which did not suit most native beetles. Cattle dung accumulated, and the bush fly Musca vetustissima, found this a very favourable breeding site.

In an attempt to correct this inbalance, other types of dung beetles addapted to living in open pastures are being introduced by CSIRO. These introduced beetles can reduce fly numbers by increasing the …

A 'Natural Herbicide' Against Calotrope?, A H. Cheam

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Buffel grass produces a chemical compound which is toxic to the growth of calotrope seedlings, a declared weed in Western Austrsalia north of the 26th parallel. This new discovery id highly significant in view of the increasing emphasis now placed on weed management as opposed to weed control and the desire to use fewer pesticides.

Trichopoda : A Tricky Parasite, P J. Michael

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Predators And Parasites In Western Australia, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

The Jarrah Leaf Miner And Its Natural Enemies, Z Mazanec

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Parasite Hitch Hikers Hit Ord Rice Pest, S E. Learmonth

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Can Insects Solve Dock Problems?, K T. Richards

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

The Heart Of The Matter : The Quarantine Insectary, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Tackling The Lucerne Flea And The Red-Legged Earth Mite, M M H Wallace

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Native Wasps Hit Introduced Tree Pest, S J. Curry

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Disease Could Control Grasshoppers, J H. Moulden

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

There's Nothing New In Biological Control, A N. Sproul

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Citrus Red Scale, From Sprays To Parasites, A N. Sproul

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Exotic Parasite Helps Control Ord Armyworm, S E. Learmonth

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Controlling Cotton Pests With Egg Parasites, W M. Woods

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.

Perapion And The Doublegee, J H. Moulden

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

No abstract provided.