The quest for effective biological control agents
The quest for biological control agents towards sustaining biodiversity has been a major issue in Europe and worldwide. In this frame targeted research studies have been initiated towards establishing a sustainable method to control the invasive species employing natural enemies. Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) belongs to the invasive species and is widely spread in Europe. Due to its adverse effects on biodiversity and humans it has been selected as target for the development of new biological control agents. The management of such a weed will give insights on means to develop new safe methods to the benefit of the environment. Systematic efforts on a selection of potential biological control agents was performed based on knowledge derived from both ecological and host range screening tests. The results showed that most of the agents investigated should be excluded from further consideration and none could be selected for future application. Further studies employing classical biological control should focus on a different group of agents. The new test set could comprise agents that have not been thoroughly studied previously or new agents from other native Heracleum species. The shortage of even preliminary results makes it extremely difficult for researchers to raise funds that would enable them to fulfill their research objectives. Taking into account that classical biological control using pathogens is blocked, other pathways should be pursued. It becomes evident that striving after new biological control agents using a mycoherbicide followed by risk-benefit assessment should be given higher priority.
