EU-COST Aktion über „Nachhaltige Bekämpfung von Ambrosia artemisiifolia in Europa“ (COST FA1203-SMARTER): Chancen und Herausforderungen

Abstract

The EU -COST Action FA1203 on «Sustainable management of Ambrosia artemisiifolia in Europe (SMARTER)” was successfully launched in February 2013 and will last for four years. Thirty-three countries have already signed the Memorandum of Understanding and over 180 researchers with specialists in weed research, invasive alien species management, ecology, aerobiology, allergology and economics are registered participants of SMARTER. COST Actions interlink nationally funded research projects and enable and finance conferences, working groups, training schools and research exchanges. SMARTER aims to initiate and develop long-term and sustainable control methods, to integrate these into existing mechanical and chemical control measures, and to quantify the success of these measures both for agriculture and health. The focus is on biological control methods with insects and fungi (especially using alien species from the area of origin of Ambrosia) and vegetation management to achieve a competitive plant cover. For this, we develop and parameterize models, starting from the population dynamics of Ambrosia, on the impact of control measures on the frequency and distribution of Ambrosia and finally on pollen counts and allergy occurrences, each with both ecological and economic components. The necessary data are derived from the many experiments that we carry out in well-coordinated studies across Europe. SMARTER will allow the various stakeholders to select optimal habitat- and region-specific combinations of control methods. After an introduction and overview of the structure and the state of the Action, we briefly describe two planned activities typical for our Action, a study on the population dynamics of Ambrosia in different climates and habitats in Europe as a basis for estimating the efficiency of control measures, and an interdisciplinary study to clarify the impact the of North American native Ambrosia leaf beetle Ophraella communa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) recently found in southern Switzerland and Northern Italy.

Keywords

• biological control
• invasive plant
• Ophraella communa
• research consortium
• weed management