Prioritisation of targets for weed biological control I: a review of existing prioritisation schemes and development of a system for South Africa

ABSTRACT

Biological control is widely utilised for the management of invasive alien plants (IAP). With the ever-increasing number of IAPs, it is important to prioritise targets for biocontrol in order to maximise the use of resources and the chances of success. This paper reviewed 12 previous systems developed to prioritise plant targets for biocontrol. The review underpins the selection of attributes and methodologies for the prioritisation of targets for biocontrol in South Africa. All of the previous systems are purpose-built and context-specific, so a new system is required for the South African setting. Previous prioritisation systems were assessed based on the attributes and methodology adopted. The attributes of previous systems were grouped into three sections, being (1) impact/importance of the target plant, (2) likelihood of achieving success, and (3) investment required. Nineteen attributes from previous systems are included in the new system, while nine were excluded due to a requirement for legislation and/or research, or because they conflicted with objectives of the new system in some way. Two methodological approaches were identified for how systems sourced information, either sourcing information through expert knowledge or the use of available literature and data. This information was then applied through either a quantitative or qualitative scoring method. A quantitative scoring method, with information sourced from available resources, was selected as the most appropriate methodology in the context of the new system for South Africa. This review streamlined the development and testing of the South African Biological Control Target Selection system.

KEYWORDS:

• Invasive alien plants
• prioritisation
• target selection
• weed management
• review of previous systems

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by funding from the South African Working for Water (WfW) programme of the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries: National Resource Management (DEFF: NRM) programmes. Funding was also provided by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation of South Africa. The work was undertaken as part of an Outside Study Program (OSP) in which POD was relieved from teaching responsibilities at the University of Canberra. POD undertook part of this program at Rhodes University. Any opinion, finding, conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material is that of the authors and the NRF does not accept any liability in this regard. The authors also thank the three anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by South African Working for Water (WfW) programme of the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries: National Resource Management (DEFF: NRM) programmes: [Grant Number N/A].