The decline of water hyacinth on Lake Victoria was due to biological control by Neochetina spp

There has been some debate recently about the cause of the decline of water hyacinth on Lake Victoria. While much of this evidence points to classical biological control as the major factor, the El Niño associated weather pattern of the last quarter of 1997 and the first half of 1998 has confused th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Aquatic botany Vol. 87; no. 1; pp. 90 - 93
Main Authors:	Wilson, John R.U., Ajuonu, Obinna, Center, Ted D., Hill, Martin P., Julien, Mic H., Katagira, Francisca F., Neuenschwander, Peter, Njoka, Stephen W., Ogwang, James, Reeder, Rob H., Van, Thai
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-07-2007 Elsevier
Subjects:	Animal and plant ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology Autoecology Biological and medical sciences Eichhornia crassipes Fresh water ecosystems Freshwater Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Neochetina Neochetina bruchi Neochetina eichhorniae Plants and fungi Synecology East African Lakes Lake Victoria Africa Africa, Victoria L Neochetina eichhorniae Eichhornia crassipes Neochetina bruchi Monocotyledones Coleoptera Insecta Biological control Population decline Freshwater environment Aquatic environment Invasive species Arthropoda Aquatic weed Pontederiaceae Angiospermae Population dynamics Spermatophyta Curculionidae Aquatic plant Invertebrata
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Summary:	There has been some debate recently about the cause of the decline of water hyacinth on Lake Victoria. While much of this evidence points to classical biological control as the major factor, the El Niño associated weather pattern of the last quarter of 1997 and the first half of 1998 has confused the issue. We argue first that the reductions in water hyacinth on Lake Victoria were ultimately caused by the widespread and significant damage to plants by Neochetina spp., although this process was increased by the stormy weather associated with the El Niño event; second that increased waves and current on Lake Victoria caused by El Niño redistributed water hyacinth plants around the lake; and third that a major lake-wide resurgence of water hyacinth plants on Lake Victoria has not occurred and will not occur unless the weevil populations are disrupted. We conclude that the population crash of water hyacinth on Lake Victoria would not have occurred in the absence of the weevils, but that it may have been hastened by stormy weather associated with the El Niño event.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0304-3770 1879-1522
DOI:	10.1016/j.aquabot.2006.06.006