Biological control of neotropical aquatic weeds with fungi

Abstract

Many of the world's worst tropical aquatic weeds are native to the Neotropics. Besides, the majority of the most aggressive aquatic weeds in that vast region of the world are endemic and therefore there is a need for exploration for biological control agents in that area. Entomologists had an early lead on this search. Only in the late 1970s did plant pathologists started sporadic collections of fungal pathogens of aquatic weeds in the Neotropics for evaluation and use as classical biocontrol agents or as mycoherbicides. Although intensive search of the mycobiota of water hyacinth and other plant species are recent, they have already yielded a range of new potential biocontrol agents. A discussion on the status of studies of the mycobiota of the following selected Neotropical species is presented: Alternanthera philoxeroides, Azolla filiculoides, Echinochloa polystachya, Eichhornia azurea, Eichhornia crassipes, Egeria densa, Myriophyllum aquaticum, Paspalum repens, Pistia stratiotes, Polygonum spectabile, Salvinia auriculata, Salvinia molesta and Typha domingensis.