Excerpt from Role of Biological Control as a Management Tool in National Parks and Other Natural Areas

Invasion by alien (exotic) species is among the most serious threats to protected natural areas. The potential of biocontrol to address this problem is often advanced by land management agencies such as the National Park Service (nps), but these agencies have had little direct experience with this approach relative to its application in agriculture. Whereas in agriculture specific weeds or insects are targeted in an already highly manipulated environ ment, the integrity of the entire system is of prima ry concern in natural environments.

Most nps biocontrol work to date has been con ducted in cooperation with other agencies, primarily state and federal departments of agriculture, or has expanded on fundamental research by such agen cies. Natural areas also may benefit indirectly from the self-distribution of agricultural biocontrol agents into these areas. However, the National Park Service has itself in recent years initiated a basic biocontrol research program with the construction of a quarantine facility in Hawaii for containment of foreign insects, and has sponsored foreign explo ration for biocontrol agents.

Biocontrol requires a large initial investment, specialized research facilities, and well-trained scientists. This procedure involves international travel, interagency and intergovernmental coopera tion, and communication to address conflicts of interest. This approach may not be applicable in every situation where control is desired because of conflicting management objectives or unavailability of suitable agents. However, successful programs have offered cost-effective long-range control with a minimum of apparent environmental disruption or requirement of active management, although indirect effects of introduced biocontrol agents in a native environment may be difficult to assess. Resource managers often look to biocontrol as the only feasible management approach for particularly well-established weed and insect problems over large areas.

Individual alien species may be successfully con trolled in native systems; however, prospects for the overall restoration of intact, pristine systems in tropical and subtropical areas, and especially those in insular settings, are less promising. These areas are frequently under severe invasive pressure from numerous, recently arrived alien species which are available to recolonize cleared habitats. Native species, which evolved in the absence of disturbing influence on islands, are comparatively less able to compete with these influences.

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