Abstract
One of the biggest challenges in classical biological control of invasive weeds is predicting the likelihood of success. Ambrosia artemisiifolia , a North American plant species that has become invasive in Europe, causes economic losses due to health problems resulting from its huge amount of highly allergenic pollen and as a weed to agricultural crops resulting from high seed densities. Here we assessed whether the pollen and seed output of the annual A. artemisiifolia (at the end of the season) is related to in-season abundance of, or damage by, the accidentally introduced biological control agent Ophraella communa . We monitored the growth and leaf damage of individually labelled A. artemisiifolia plants at four locations in Northern Italy and recorded abundance of different O. communa life stages at regular intervals. We found that the in-season level of leaf damage by O. communa consistently helped to explain seed production in combination with plant volume and site throughout the season. Feeding damage, plant volume and site also explained pollen production by A. artemisiifolia six weeks before male flower formation. At three out of four sites, plants with more than 10% leaf damage in mid-June or early July had a very low likelihood of seed formation. Leaf damage proved to be a better explanatory variable than O. communa abundance. Our results suggest that the monitoring of the in-season leaf damage can help to project the local impact of O. communa on A. artemisiifolia at the end of the season and thus inform management regarding the needs for additional measures to control this prominent invader.
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Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
In-season leaf damage by O. communa helped explain seed production of Ambrosia artemisiifolia together with plant volume and site.
- Taxon
- Ambrosia artemisiifolia
Ambrosia artemisiifoliae0 - Treatment
- leaf damagee2
- Interactor
- O. communa
Ophraella communae2biocontrol_agent - Outcome
- seed productione2
- Qualifier
- plant volume and sitee2
- Setting
- Northern Italye5
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Ambrosia artemisiifolia , a North American plant species that has become invasive in Europe”
e2“the in-season level of leaf damage by O. communa consistently helped to explain seed production in combination with plant volume and site throughout the season”
e5“at four locations in Northern Italy”
Claim · model-written summary
Feeding damage, plant volume and site helped explain pollen production of A. artemisiifolia six weeks before male flower formation.
- Taxon
- A. artemisiifoliaAmbrosia artemisiifoliae3
- Treatment
- Feeding damagee3
- Interactor
- Ophraella communaOphraella communae1biocontrol_agent
- Outcome
- pollen productione3
- Qualifier
- six weeks before male flower formatione3
- Setting
- Northern Italye5
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“the accidentally introduced biological control agent Ophraella communa”
e3“Feeding damage, plant volume and site also explained pollen production by A. artemisiifolia six weeks before male flower formation”
e5“at four locations in Northern Italy”
Claim · model-written summary
Ambrosia artemisiifolia plants with more than 10% leaf damage in mid-June or early July had a very low likelihood of seed formation.
- Taxon
- Ambrosia artemisiifoliaAmbrosia artemisiifoliae0
- Treatment
- more than 10% leaf damagee4
- Interactor
- Ophraella communaOphraella communae1biocontrol_agent
- Outcome
- likelihood of seed formatione4
- Direction
- decreaseinferrede4
- Value
- 10%e4
- Qualifier
- At three out of four sitese4
- Setting
- Northern Italye5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Ambrosia artemisiifolia , a North American plant species that has become invasive in Europe”
e1“the accidentally introduced biological control agent Ophraella communa”
e4“At three out of four sites, plants with more than 10% leaf damage in mid-June or early July had a very low likelihood of seed formation”
e5“at four locations in Northern Italy”
Claim · model-written summary
Leaf damage was a better explanatory variable than O. communa abundance for Ambrosia artemisiifolia seed and pollen output.
- Taxon
- Ambrosia artemisiifoliaAmbrosia artemisiifoliae0
- Treatment
- Leaf damagee6
- Interactor
- O. communaOphraella communae6biocontrol_agent
- Outcome
- explanatory variablee6
- Direction
- bettere6
- Comparator
- O. communa abundancee6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Ambrosia artemisiifolia , a North American plant species that has become invasive in Europe”
e6“Leaf damage proved to be a better explanatory variable than O. communa abundance”
Claim · model-written summary
Monitoring in-season leaf damage can help project the end-of-season local impact of Ophraella communa on Ambrosia artemisiifolia and inform management.
- Taxon
- A. artemisiifoliaAmbrosia artemisiifoliae7
- Outcome
- the monitoring of the in-season leaf damagee7
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e7“the monitoring of the in-season leaf damage can help to project the local impact of O. communa on A. artemisiifolia”