Session topics

1/ Taxonomy and weed biological control

• Important developments.
• Detecting and using cryptic species.
• New tools (e.g. rapid DNA diagnostics, iNaturalist, ID Apps on mobiles).

2/ Release, establishment and post-release monitoring

• Why do some agent species still fail to establish – are we doing better than in past decades?
• Analysing success.
• Release protocols – what do we know about the optimum sizes and spatial and temporal distributions of release cohorts? Habitat selection/manipulation to promote initial establishment?
• Measuring impacts on target weeds.
• Secondary plant invasions post biocontrol.
• Habitat-specific analyses of success.
• Ecosystem/food web impacts including major changes to ecosystem services.
• Economics – Do traditional benefit:cost methods serve the purpose well? Are they being applied correctly? What alternative methods are being used? What gaps remain?
• Time frames and uncertainty – public and decision-maker perspectives.
• Weed resurgence after decades of successful biocontrol.

3/ Target and agent selection

• What makes a good target weed for biocontrol (e.g. ecologically, economically, socially)– effective methodologies and prioritisation
• Dealing with a suite of weeds simultaneously – challenges and opportunities.
• Should we target incipient (sleeper) weeds?
• Why are we still introducing agents that seem to do nothing – current methods to predict efficacy and how to improve them?
• Pre-release off-target safety screening and efficacy testing – current tools and how to improve them?
• Significance of agent microbiomes on physiology, behaviour, host specificity, evolution, etc.

4/ Bioherbicides and topical biological control research

Bioherbicides:

• Why are there so few bioherbicides?
• Why have bioherbicides not persisted in the marketplace?
• Bioherbicide deployment options – biotech company, cottage industry?
• Biotech industry perspective on the future for bioherbicides.
• Pathogen/plant infection processes – do we know enough?
• Narrow versus broad-host-range pathogens – benefits and risks
• Phytotoxic microbial metabolites, mixtures, and plant products as bioherbicides.
• Microbial propagule options for bioherbicides.
• Enhancing the virulence and selectivity of plant pathogens.
• Formulation and delivery of microbes and metabolites as bioherbicides.

Integrating weed biocontrol with other weed management methods and post-control restoration:

• Case studies and general principles.
• How globally appropriate given cost/limited resources (are IWM and restoration a rich-country luxury?) Citizen science and public involvement to help support these endeavours?
• Follow-up and assessments of long-term effectiveness?

Climate changes and weed biocontrol:

• Agent adaptation to different and changing climates.
• Influence of weather extremes on weeds and biocontrol agents.
• How useful are climate-niche and climate-match models?

Regulations:

• Barriers and/or opportunities?
• Values, risk perception and conflict in biological control. Role of social media and disinformation in garnering/eroding public support for biocontrol.
• How do we try and streamline the red tape?
• Implementation of access and benefit-sharing measures: consequences for classical biological control of weeds and lessons learnt.

5/ Indigenous involvement and community engagement and education

• What does good outreach look like – lessons in how (or how not) to do it?
• Benefits/consequences if you get it right/wrong?
• Who should do it, and who pays for it?
• Indigenous knowledge for weed management – what can we learn? How do we avoid colonising the knowledge shared?
• Indigenous world views compatibility with, new opportunities, and additional considerations for classical weed biocontrol.
• Regulatory frameworks/systems overseeing weed biocontrol: how do they incorporate indigenous world views and indigenous rights & data sovereignty?

6/ Classical biological control in developing countries including small island states/nations

• Differences and parallels in classical weed biocontrol in developing world and small island nations vs. developed countries.
• Are different types of targets prioritised in developing world and small island nations compared to developed countries?
• Unique challenges or benefits/advantages for classical weed biocontrol in developing world and especially small island nations.
• Setting up for success in developing world and small island nations.
• Weed biocontrol in Pacific Island states (of particular interest from our perspective in New Zealand).

7/ Novel technologies, methods and application for biological control

• Novel habitats/ecosystems e.g. marine?
• Novel interactions e.g. insects as vectors of indigenous plant pathogens?
• Novel integration of multiple nature-based approaches to weed management?
• Non-traditional e.g. detritivores to reduce grass fuel loads/fire risk.
• Leveraging/enhancing biotic resistance – integrating classical biocontrol agents with local herbivores/pathogens.
• Surprise and intrigue the audience with insights into weed biocontrol.
• The application of novel techniques – “omics”, remote sensing, genetic modification/technologies etc.
• Application of remote sensing for landscape scale monitoring.

8/ Using ecological science and modelling to make classical biological control of weeds more predictive

• Understanding how the population dynamics of biocontrol agent and weed host influence the long-term efficacy of biocontrol at different phases of weed invasion.
• Linking current invasion theories to better understand and improve biocontrol (a manipulated invasion).
• Using biocontrol systems as model systems to develop and test broader ecological theory.
• Extent of connectiveness predicting agent success/impact.
• Biocontrol failure due to suppression by natural enemies and non-target effects.
• Microbial ecology of plant pathogens.