Approaches to managing invasive agricultural and forestry pests in Northern IrelandApproaches to managing invasive agricultural and forestry pests in Northern Ireland

Archie K. Murchie, Sam Clawson & Stephen Jess

Invasive pests threaten both agriculture and the environment (biodiversity)

Pest of potatoes Aphidophagous predator

Outcompetes native species

Agriculture Biodiversity

Biocontrol

Biocontrol

Colorado potato beetleLeptinotarsa decemlineata

Harlequin ladybirdHarmonia axyridis

Take two beetlesTake two beetles

Colorado potato beetleColorado potato beetle

Native rangeCurrent distribution

Origin of the potato

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Potato_beetle_diffusion.jpg

Belfast May 2005 Colorado potato beetle (c. 80) intercepted in parsley from Italy

Parsley is not a host plant

99 boxes of parsley destroyed

Dispersal of parsley traced

Ireland & UK have Protected Zone status (EC Plant Health Directive)

Established in England in 1976 but eradicated

Numerous interceptions and outbreaks

Destructive Insect Act 1877

Harlequin ladybirdHarlequin ladybird

Lisburn November 2007 Single female Harlequin ladybird

Sweet celery

Murchie et al. 2008 Ir. Nat. J. 29: 25-26www.habitas.org.uk/ladybirds

Native to eastern Asia

Introduced as biocontrol agent in the US and Europe

Brown et al. 2008 BioControl 53:5–21

Legislation prohibits deliberate introduction but eradication?

The Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 (under review)

Proposal M “…provide a discretionary general power for the Department to take action to control, contain or eradicate invasive non-native species and provide associated powers of entry…”

Photo © S. Hopkin Antenna Jul 2005

Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) article 8 (h)

In the case of many invasive terrestrial invertebrates: Environmental protection legislation overlaps with agricultural legislation

World Trade Organisation

CBD

RPPOs(e.g.EPPO)

Int. Plant ProtectionConvention

Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement

EC Plant Health DirectiveRegional Plant Protection Organisations(Scientific guidancee.g. Pest Risk Analyses)

EC Plant Health Directive (2000/29/EC) provides legislative framework for Plant Health in the European Community

Enacted in NI by The Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 2006 (www.opsi.gov.uk/sr/sr2006/20060082.htm#33)

•“…any plant pest not normally present in Northern Ireland and in respect of which there is, in the opinion of the inspector, an imminent danger of its spreading or being spread in Northern Ireland.”

•List of pests and diseases & plant material

The Plant Health (Wood and Bark) Order (Northern Ireland) 2006

The Bee Diseases and Pests Control Order (Northern Ireland) 2007

Quality Assurance Branch

Inspection, enforcement

Horticulture team Horticulture team Crops team Crops team

e.g.e.g.

www.dardni.gov.uk/publications-farming-and-food-plant-health-contingency-plan-2009

DARD structure re Plant HealthDARD structure re Plant Health

Forest Service

Inspection, enforcement

Agri-Food & Biosciences Inst.

Identification, scientific guidance

Farm Policy Branch

Legislation, coordination e.g.e.g.

EntomologyEntomology

Plant pathologyPlant pathology

NematologyNematology

Molecular biologyMolecular biology

Checks on plant passporting

Routine inspections of producers’ facilities

Surveys for specific pests and diseases

Detention and destruction of affected material

Plant health Inspections at the airports and seaports

Provision of phytosanitary certificates for exports

Identification of suspect organisms by morphological or molecular means

Pest risk analyses

Horizon scanning incl. invasive alien species & climate change implications

Biological information, e.g. overwintering survival, ability to spread…etc

Guidance on monitoring and control

Belfast February 2004

Routine examination for quarantine pests

Living invertebrates were found (larval Diptera, mites and rhabditid nematodes)

Galleries typical of Ips typographus were seen in some bark pieces

Detention order served, ship reloaded and fumigatedCost > £150, 000

From incubated bark samples, two live Ips typographus emerged

9,000 cubic metres of wood bark from Estonia

Apparently, had been fumigated with methyl bromide

Accompanied by a Phytosanitary Certificate

‘The New Zealand flatworm’Arthurdendyus triangulatus(Dendy) (Tricladida: Terricola)

‘The New Zealand flatworm’Arthurdendyus triangulatus(Dendy) (Tricladida: Terricola)

Decline in earthworm-

feeding wildlife

Decline in earthworm-

feeding wildlife

Reduction in soil fertilityReduction in soil fertility

An invasive alien species, an agricultural pest and a threat to biodiversity?An invasive alien species, an agricultural pest and a threat to biodiversity?

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.50

1

2

3

4

5

Flatworms per m2

Adu

lt an

ecic

ear

thw

orm

s pe

r m

2

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.50

1

2

3

4

5

Flatworms per m2

Adu

lt an

ecic

ear

thw

orm

s pe

r m

2

(Diagram from Fraser, Boag (1998) Pedobiologia 42: 542-553)

Considerable debate (Norway, Denmark, Iceland & Sweden) led to the concept of an indirect plant pest

www.eppo.org/QUARANTINE/Pest_Risk_Analysis/extracts/05-12035%20artioposthia%20triangulata.doc

http://archives.eppo.org/EPPOStandards/PM1_GENERAL/pm1-03-e.doc

EPPO guidelines on flatworm published

IPPC Secretariat, 2005. Proceedings of the workshop on invasive alien species and the International Plant Protection Convention, 2003. Rome, Italy: FAO

WTO - Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures must not constitute a disguised restriction to international trade

Trade & cost/benefit analysesTrade & cost/benefit analyses

Managed or acceptable risk, rather than zero risk

c.f. ‘precautionary principle’

*www.dardni.gov.uk/stats-review-2008-final.pdf

Fertilisers and lime = £83.9 M*

Earthworms increase grass yield ~ 25% (NZ Stockdill, 1982)

Flatworms reduce earthworm biomass by 14% (experimental plots)

Reduction in yield of 3.5%

Economic impact £2.9 M per annum

Control priority stage

Effective control unlikely without massive resource input

Era

dica

tion

prio

rity

stag

e

Quarantine priority stage

Invasion

The New Zealand flatworm has been in Ireland and Scotland for over 45 years

The New Zealand flatworm has been in Ireland and Scotland for over 45 years

Invader abundance

Carrying capacity

Time

Adaptation by preyNew predators

ConclusionsConclusions

AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements

Wilf Weatherup, DARD Quality Assurance Branch

Alan Bell, AFBI

Paul Moore, AFBI

Scope for using Plant Health mechanisms for invasive terrestrial invertebrates, e.g. the Harlequin ladybird

Plants, aquatic species, vertebrates pose different problems

(https://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/evaluation/planth/chapter6.pdf)

Coordination “The Plant Health Services’ response to this organism was based on the fact that ‘no one else would take it’.” Oct 2000

Plant Health Interception & Outbreak Chart 21 – 27 August 2005 (DEFRA)

PathwaysPathways

Initial pathway was probably: containerised plants (e.g. roses) or daffodil bulbs or potatoes (Faroe Islands)

Equipment for hunting monsters?

An American freshwater flatworm (Phagocata woodworthi) was thought to have been introduced into Loch Ness on monster hunting equipment

Reynoldson, Smith & Maitland (1981). A species of North American triclad (Paludicola; Turbellaria) new to Britain found in Loch Ness, Scotland. Journal of Zoology, 193 : 531 - 539.