Project 5 - Sytematics of Environmental Weeds

We are studying environmental weeds for which there is a taxonomic impediment to developing appropriate control strategies. By combining modern taxonomic and bioinformatics methods we aim to rapidly provide land managers and weed control scientists with knowledge and tools that will allow them to determine the identity and origins of the weeds that they work on.

Challenges

Environmental weeds invade our bushland and decrease the natural values of the landscape. Weeds reduce habitat availability for native species both through direct competition for space and resources, and also as a consequence of modifying ecosystems and geomorphological processes. This increases pressure on native species, ultimately reducing the biodiversity value for conservation. At the same time many environmental weeds can impose significant agricultural costs by invading crops or pastures, where factors like stock toxicity and reduced crop yields force control regimes to be put in place. Weeds arrive in Australia from many locations around the world and frequently have hybrid origins. Once they arrive in Australia weed populations may undergo rapid evolution as they exploit new ecological niches. As a result the identity and origins of weeds are difficult to identify, and this is a significant impediment to the capacity of land managers and weed scientists to design and implement control strategies.

Seeking solutions

The initial focus of this project is on the Weeds of National Significance (WONS) and our research addresses areas where lack of taxonomic knowledge affects the ability of managers to control these weeds. In particular we are using taxonomic methods to unravel the genetic history of invasions and identify the origins of these weeds. We are also using molecular techniques to determine the existence of distinct genetic races, their geographic distribution and the forces that structure this variation.

Benefits

The knowledge that we create will enable biocontrol agent discovery efforts to be targeted to regions from which Lantana in Australia originated. We expect this to improve the efficiency and speed of agent discovery and release. Understanding the forces that structure the distribution and diversity of Lantana will provide us with the intellectual tools to best design integrated control strategies. Designing tools that enable land managers to identify the Lantana variety invading their land will provide them with the ability to choose the most appropriate control method.