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Negative Ecological Effects of the Musk Thistle Biological Control Agent, Rhinocyllus Conicus

  • Chapter
Nontarget Effects of Biological Control

Abstract

Concern over the economic and environmental effects of invasive species is widespread (see McKnight 1993, OTA 1993, 1995). Clearly some plant species, when released from limiting factors in their indigenous environments and spread by their interaction with humans, expand to form large, dense, undesirable stands, e.g., Opuntia spp. cacti in Australia (Dodd 1940), as well as Carduus spp. thistles (Dunn 1976) and Rosa multiflora Thunb. (Amrine and Stasny 1993) in the middle and eastern USA. Some of these weedy species are considered threats to the integrity of protected plant communities in preserves. Examples include Centauria solstitialis (yellow star thistle) in California grassland, Tamarix ramosissima (tamarisk) in southwestern deserts, Vinca major (periwinkle) in Arizona, and Casuarina equisetifolia (Australian pine) in Florida coastal habitats (Randall 1993).

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  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

    Svata M. Louda

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  1. USDA-ARS Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, Hawaii, USA

    Peter A. Follett

  2. University of Hawaii, USA

    Jian J. Duan

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Louda, S.M. (2000). Negative Ecological Effects of the Musk Thistle Biological Control Agent, Rhinocyllus Conicus . In: Follett, P.A., Duan, J.J. (eds) Nontarget Effects of Biological Control. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4577-4_13

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