Invasive alien plants in the family Cactaceae are some of the world's most problematic agricultural and environmental weeds. There are 57 invasive species recorded as problematic in at least 15 countries (Novoa et al. 2015), with the majority in Australia (39 species), South African (35 species), and Spain (24 species) (Kaplan et al. 2017). There have been successful collaborations between some of these countries to fight mutually damaging invasive alien Cactaceae (Novoa et al. 2019). The International Organisation for Biological Control Global Cactus Working Group (IOBC GCWG) was established in 2015 to improve the control of invasive Cactaceae internationally by creating a platform where the stakeholders from different countries can collaborate (Novoa et al. 2019). One of the main objectives of the group is to promote the use of biological control as a safe and effective method of managing cactus invasions (Paterson et al. 2011). Another aspect that the group is interested in is the biological control of cactus pest within the indigenous range of the Cactaceae, or where cactus crops are grown.

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References:

Kaplan et al. 2017. Bothalia 47:119-130
Novoa et al. 2015. Invasive Plant Science and Management 8: 307-316
Novoa et al. 2019. Plants MDPI 8: 421
Paterson et al. 2011. African Entomology 19: 230-246

Last Modified: Tue, 08 Feb 2022 10:16:57 SAST