Tuesday, 16 November 2004
D0272

TAME Melaleuca: An areawide pest management project for the invasive tree Melaleuca quinquenervia

Cressida S. Silvers, csilvers@saa.ars.usda.gov and Paul D. Pratt, prattp@saa.ars.usda.gov. USDA/ARS, Invasive Plant Research Lab, 3205 College Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL

The Areawide Management Evaluation of Melaleuca, or TAME Melaleuca, is a multi-agency effort established by the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) in 2001 to demonstrate and promote integrated management strategies for Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S.T. Blake (Myrtaceae), with an emphasis on biological control. Melaleuca, native to Australia, is a noxious weed in Florida, where it out-competes native plants and rangeland grasses on approximately 200,000 ha of agricultural, riparian and wetland systems, predominantly in the greater everglades region of the state. As part of an areawide, integrated approach to management of this invasive tree, two biological control agents have been released to complement chemical and mechanical removal efforts: the melaleuca snout weevil Oxyops vitiosa Pascoe (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and the melaleuca psyllid Boreioglycaspis melaleucae Moore (Homoptera: Psyllidae). The TAME Melaleuca project has nine demonstration sites where biological control and a variety of integrated management strategies have been applied. In addition to demonstrating melaleuca management options, project activities include assessing the impacts and non-target effects of control tactics and investigating the socio-economic factors associated with adopting current and proposed control tactics. By partnering with federal, state and local agencies and private land managers on these goals, TAME Melaleuca is developing a sustainable and integrated program for the long-term management of this invasive weed.


Species 1: Coleoptera Curculionidae Oxyops vitiosa (Melalueca snout weevil)
Species 2: Homoptera Psyllidae Boreioglycaspis melaleucae (Melaleuca psyllid)
Keywords: weed biological control

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