Two European leaf-eating beetles, Galerucella calmariensis L. and G. pusilla (Duft.)(Chrysomelidae:Coleoptera) were released at four sites in Quebec to manage the semi-aquatic exotic weed, purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.). Protocols for monitoring the Galerucella populations and detecting changes in the plant communities were implemented. In addition, the effect of seeding with native plants species in conjunction with Galerucella herbivory was tested in an experiment at a purple loosestrife stand in Ontario. Releases of lab-reared beetles in Quebec in 1996 did not survive to 1997 at any of the 4 sites, but releases of field collected beetles in 1997 overwintered successfully at 3 of the 4 sites. The density of purple loosestrife in 1998 ranged from 28% (Cap Tourmente) to 84% (Hull). The density of Galerucella in 1998 ranged from 6 (Lac St Francois) to 50 (Hull) adults/m 2/min. In the Ontario experiment, herbivory and seeding together interacted to increase the biomass of other plant species significantly---and thereby reduced the dominance (proportion of the biomass) of purple loosestrife---but did not have a significant effect on the biomass of purple loosestrife in the first season.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.30754 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Templeton, Karen. |
| Contributors | Stewart, R. K. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Natural Resource Sciences.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001747187, proquestno: MQ64465, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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