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The impact of the flower mite Aceria acroptiloni on the invasive plant Russian knapweed, Rhaponticum repens, in its native range

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Abstract

Rhaponticum repens (L.) Hidalgo is a clonal Asteraceae plant native to Asia and highly invasive in North America. We conducted open-field experiments in Iran to assess the impact of the biological control candidate, Aceria acroptiloni Shevchenko & Kovalev (Acari, Eriophyidae), on the target weed. Using three different experimental approaches, we found that mite attack reduced the biomass of R. repens shoots by 40–75 %. Except for the initial year of artificial infestation by A. acroptiloni of R. repens shoots, the number of seed heads was reduced by 60–80 % and the number of seeds by 95–98 %. Morphological investigations of the mite complex attacking R. repens at the experimental field site revealed that A. acroptiloni was by far the dominant mite species. We conclude that the mite A. acroptiloni is a promising biological control candidate inflicting significant impact on the above-ground biomass and reproductive output of the invasive plant R. repens.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support for this project was kindly provided by the Wyoming Biological Control Steering Committee, by United States Department of Agriculture -Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services – Center for Plant Health Science and Technology (USDA-APHIS-CPHST), and by Montana Weed Trust Fund, through Montana State University. This work was partly supported by a research grant from the Ministry of Science and Environment of the Republic of Serbia to R.P. and B.V. (Grant # III 43001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, P.O. Box 91775-1163, Mashhad, Iran

    Ghorbanali Asadi & Reza Ghorbani

  2. ENEA Casaccia, UTAGRI-ECO, via Anguillarese 301, 00123, Rome, Italy

    Massimo Cristofaro

  3. Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    Philipp Chetverikov

  4. Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Saint-Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab., 7/9, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    Philipp Chetverikov

  5. Department of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080, Belgrade-Zemun, Serbia

    Radmila Petanović & Biljana Vidović

  6. CABI, Rue de Grillons 1, Delémont, Switzerland

    Urs Schaffner

Authors
  1. Ghorbanali Asadi
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  2. Reza Ghorbani
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  3. Massimo Cristofaro
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  4. Philipp Chetverikov
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  5. Radmila Petanović
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  6. Biljana Vidović
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  7. Urs Schaffner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Urs Schaffner.

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Handling editor: John Scott.

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Asadi, G., Ghorbani, R., Cristofaro, M. et al. The impact of the flower mite Aceria acroptiloni on the invasive plant Russian knapweed, Rhaponticum repens, in its native range. BioControl 59, 367–375 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-014-9573-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-014-9573-z

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