Assessing Probabilistic Risk Assessment Approaches for Insect Biological Control Introductions.

ABSTRACT: The introduction of biological control agents to new environments requires host specificity tests to estimate potential non-target impacts of a prospective agent. Currently, the approach is conservative, and is based on physiological host ranges determined under captive rearing conditions, without consideration for ecological factors that may influence realized host range. We use historical data and current field data from introduced parasitoids that attack an endemic Lepidoptera species in Hawaii to validate a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) procedure for non-target impacts. We use data on known host range and habitat use in the place of origin of the parasitoids to determine whether contemporary levels of non-target parasitism could have been predicted using PRA. Our results show tha

SUBMITTER: Kaufman LV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5620687 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature