Alternative stable states explain unpredictable biological control of Salvinia molesta in Kakadu

Shon S. Schooler, Buck Salau, Mic H. Julien and Anthony R. Ives ()
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Shon S. Schooler: CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Long Pocket Laboratories
Buck Salau: Water, Heritage, and the Arts, Kakadu National Park, Jabiru, Northern Territory 0886, Australia
Mic H. Julien: CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Long Pocket Laboratories
Anthony R. Ives: University of Wisconsin

Nature, 2011, vol. 470, issue 7332, 86-89

Abstract: Weed control in a state of flux In most years, the invasive mat-forming weed salvinia is successfully controlled in the river courses of Kakadu National Park, Australia, by the salvinia weevil, introduced as a biological control agent in the 1980s. In some years, however, control is incomplete. This has now been attributed to a well-known but not fully understood ecological phenomenon — alternative stable states. When these occur they pose severe problems for ecosystem management, but most studied examples are of strongly stable states that switch only rarely after major perturbations. In the salvinia–weevil example, however, frequent changes in water availability cause shifts between weakly stable states in which control is either effective or not. A better understanding of how these shifts occur could allow intervention to keep the system in the controlled state.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09735

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