Infestation levels of leaf mining fly on Jacaranda trees compared to infestation levels on indigenous Bush Willow trees.
By Cian MacFie
Hyde Park High School
Table of Contents
Introduction
Alien Invasive plant species are a large threat to ecosystems all over the world today and have many negative consequences for biodiversity (van Wilgen et al. 2011). Thousands of alien invasive plants have been introduced into South Africa with some becoming naturalized and some becoming invasive species (Zimmerman et al. 2013). Biological control methods previously implemented in South Africa have shown to be extremely economically viable, with even the least successful bio-control projects having shown to give exceptionally …show more content…
The research may be able to give an estimate as to how active the species is however the information may turn out to be unreliable as the sample space is small and a single bug may be able to create several marks on different trees and without prior knowledge of predation habit the information collected will not be useful in this regard. This will not contribute information on how widespread the species is as the research will take place in a relatively small sample space (Delta Park). However the research will fill a gap in proposed biocontrol methods for invasive Jacaranda trees This may be useful as the working for water programme is planning to fund a cooperative team to research the eucalyptus and jacaranda trees, both of which have been identified as serious alien invasives but have not yet been prioritised for biocontrol method implementation (Zimmermann et al, …show more content…
This indicates that the scars found on the Bushwillow trees were not all from the same organism and may have not been the leaf mining fly. If this is the case the leaf mining flies predation may be unique to the Jacaranda tree, improving its viability as a biocontrol method. However this is just speculation and further improved experiments are needed to verify
By Cian MacFie
Hyde Park High School
Table of Contents
Introduction
Alien Invasive plant species are a large threat to ecosystems all over the world today and have many negative consequences for biodiversity (van Wilgen et al. 2011). Thousands of alien invasive plants have been introduced into South Africa with some becoming naturalized and some becoming invasive species (Zimmerman et al. 2013). Biological control methods previously implemented in South Africa have shown to be extremely economically viable, with even the least successful bio-control projects having shown to give exceptionally …show more content…
The research may be able to give an estimate as to how active the species is however the information may turn out to be unreliable as the sample space is small and a single bug may be able to create several marks on different trees and without prior knowledge of predation habit the information collected will not be useful in this regard. This will not contribute information on how widespread the species is as the research will take place in a relatively small sample space (Delta Park). However the research will fill a gap in proposed biocontrol methods for invasive Jacaranda trees This may be useful as the working for water programme is planning to fund a cooperative team to research the eucalyptus and jacaranda trees, both of which have been identified as serious alien invasives but have not yet been prioritised for biocontrol method implementation (Zimmermann et al, …show more content…
This indicates that the scars found on the Bushwillow trees were not all from the same organism and may have not been the leaf mining fly. If this is the case the leaf mining flies predation may be unique to the Jacaranda tree, improving its viability as a biocontrol method. However this is just speculation and further improved experiments are needed to verify