Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY
Volume 48, Issue 6, Pages 1297-1316Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/ee/nvz107
Keywords
biocontrol; dispersal; hybrid swarm; nontarget attack
Categories
Funding
- Texas Water Resources Institute
- Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB) [03-11, 04-16]
- USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant Program [69-7442-5, 08-08]
- Colorado Municipal Water District [433820-12]
- USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program [RD309-105/4695648]
- collaborative assistance of Sul Ross State University
- USDI National Park Service
- (New Mexico State University)
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Three Diorhabda spp. tamarisk beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) were established in Texas from 2003 to 2010 for biological control of tamarisk ( Tamarix spp.): Mediterranean tamarisk beetles, D. elongata (Brulle) from Greece, also established in New Mexico; subtropical tamarisk beetles, D. sublineata (Lucas) from Tunisia; and larger tamarisk beetles, D. carinata (Faldermann) from Uzbekistan. More than one million tamarisk beetles were released at 99 sites. Species establishment success ranged from 52 to 83%. All three species now co-occur in New Mexico with the northern tamarisk beetles, D. carinulata (Desbrochers). A phenotypic hybrid scoring system was developed to assess Diorhabda phenotype distributions and character mixing in hybrid zones. Widespread field populations of bispecific hybrid phenotypes for D. carinata/D. elongata and D. sublineata/D. elongate rapidly appeared following contact of parental species. Initial distributions and dispersal of Diorhabda spp. and hybrids are mapped for Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas, where they produced large-scale tamarisk defoliation and localized diebad( for 3-4 yr. However, populations subsequently severely declined, now producing only isolated defoliation and allowing tamarisk to recover. Diorhabda sublineata and D. elongata temporarily produced nontarget spillover defoliation of ornamental athel, Tamarix aphylla (L.) Karst, along the Rio Grande. Hybrid phenotypes were generally bimodally distributed, indicating some degree of reproductive isolation. Additional diagnostic phenotypic characters in males allowed more precise hybrid scoring. Character mixing in some hybrid populations approached or reached that of a hybrid swarm.The significance of hybridization for tamarisk biocontrol is discussed.
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