1.

This $258,666 Cooperative Agreement awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under the CFDA 10.025 Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care program supports the mass production, distribution, and evaluation of the biological control agent Lilioceris egena for control of air potato, an invasive weed.

The key activities under this agreement include: 1) increasing laboratory rearing capacity for L. egena, 2) conducting field releases and monitoring establishment of persistent L. egena populations, 3) determining oviposition and dispersal patterns of L. egena, and 4) testing the impact of mosquito pesticides on L. egena. The overall goal is to achieve a reduction in air potato competitiveness in agricultural and natural environments through the combined impact of L. egena and the previously released L. cheni biological control agent. The Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Florida is the prime awardee, with the USDA Agricultural Research Service serving as a subrecipient.

Purpose

The primary purpose of this agreement is to support the mass production, distribution, and evaluation of lilioceris egena a new biological control agent of air potato. The cooperator proposes to increase the beetle laboratory rearing capacity, release and establish throughout the invaded range, monitor and examine their impact and safety on the target weed. The overall goal is a reduction in the competitiveness of air potato in agricultural and natural environments. 2.

Activities

The cooperator will maintain laboratory colonies of the air potato biological control agent, l. Egena; develop methods to optimize l. Egena non-quarantine colony production; investigate methods for most efficiently conducting field releases of l. Egena; determine whether l. Egena will oviposit on bulbils on the vine, or only post-dehiscent bulbils; monitor for establishment of persistent l. Egena populations within release sites, dispersal within release sites, and dispersal from release sites to neighboring populations of air potato vine; and test whether common mosquito pesticides will be as toxic to l. Egena as they are to l. Cheni. 3. Deliverables and expected outcomes: biological control is the safest and most sustainable method for controlling landscape scale invasive weeds. On the front end, biological control can be very expensive due to the cost of locating, identifying, and testing potential biocontrol agents. Once agents are released, the economic returns on successful programs are overwhelmingly positive with benefit-to-cost ratios from 5:1 to > 1,000:1. Benefits of the air potato project are already accruing following the release of l. Cheni. IT is believed that damage by l. Egena to vegetative propagules will couple with foliar damage by l. Cheni to further reduce numbers of air potato plants in natural areas and thereby foster the recovery of native plant communities. This outcome will free local, state, and federal natural resource managers to redirect limited weed control resources toward other problem plants. 4. Intended beneficiary(IES): the agricultural and nursery industries of florida and other states throughout the southeastern US will directly benefit from this project. In addition, positive impacts to those states' environmental resources will also see a benefit. 5. Subrecipient activities, if known or specified at the time of award: USDA agricultural research service (ARS) is a subrecipient on this project and will be assisting DPI in all facets of the project outlined above.