31 May 2023

Our Changing World – The anti-weed agents

From Afternoons, 3:35 pm on 31 May 2023

Behind an airlocked door, in some tightly sealed laboratories, a series of agents are being put through their paces – to check if they are up for the task.

Three people stand in front of the door to the Invertebrate Containment Facility, smiling at the camera.

Dr Ronny Groenteman, Arnaud Cartier and Dr Angela Bownes at the Invertebrate Containment Facility. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ

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The Chilean flame creeper beetle is one of these agents – it’s small and shiny, almost a bronze colour. This, Dr Ronny Groenteman hopes, might be the next recruit in the battle against weeds.

Aotearoa has thousands of exotic plant weeds, hundreds of which are causing major issues. The Chilean flame creeper is one of these. It grows rapidly and smothers native plants. So, Ronny and her colleagues are trying to find a biocontrol agent that can keep it in check.

A woman in a black top with short hair and glasses smiles at the camera, while holding the leaf of a small seedling in a green pot. She is in a shadehouse.

Dr Ronny Groenteman with a Chilean flame creeper plant in the shade house. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ

Biological control, or biocontrol, involves recruiting natural predators of a species from its host country. The dream agent will be extremely plant specific, good at dispersing far and wide, as well as reproducing in large numbers and escaping predation itself.

Listen to the episode to learn how research into biocontrol agents is conducted at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research’s invertebrate containment facility in Lincoln.

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