Aquatic Weed Biological Control: Building Connections, Sharing Progress
Facilitators: Philip Weyl & Djamila Djeddour (CABI Switzerland), Ana Faltlhauser & Alejandro Sosa (FuEDEI, Brazil), Angela Bownes (BSI, NZ), Melissa Smith (USDA), Julie Coetzee (Rhodes University, South Africa), Corin Pratt (CABI UK)
Key question and/or issue
Current trends of invasion globally suggest that invasive aquatic weeds (old and new invaders) are expanding their range and consequently becoming more and more difficult to control. This may be driven by degradation of aquatic ecosystems, increases in the number of species being introduced, climate change and/or a combination of several factors. This workshop aims to bring together the aquatic weed biological control community to foster international collaboration, share research results and learn about participants´ interests in different systems.
Background information
This workshop builds on the success of a similar workshop held at the ISBCW 2023 in Argentina, where there were about 50 participants. The workshop will have invited speakers to give short presentations sharing current research on the challenges and opportunities that aquatic weed biological control may have to offer. Topics will include discussions on:
- Climate change and how climate may influence biological control efforts
- Novel approaches to achieve success, e.g. augmentative releases as well as remote sensing to best time releases to maximise control efforts.
- Discussions on the challenges of submerged plant control.
- European progress and opportunities
- Present and prospective projects
Attendees can expect a variety of engaging short presentations highlighting research on old and new invaders with their successes and failures, and studies on invasion biology of aquatic invaders with ample opportunity for discussion. With this workshop, we aim to compile a database of current projects involving already studied agents, as well as those with potential for future investigation. This list could be incorporated into the Classical Weed Biological Control (CWBC) webpage, where the laboratory database is already hosted. We aim to update this information at each ISBCW, support collaboration, and keep the community informed about the availability and status of biocontrol agents. We also envision a joint publication based on the information collected and discussions held during the workshop. We would expect that this workshop will stimulate collaboration opportunities as well as spark interest in potential future research.