Abstract

Abstract The rangeland shrub, Parkinsonia aculeata (parkinsonia), is considered to be a serious pastoral and environmental weed in Australia. Existing biological control agents have been ineffective and native‐range surveying is currently being undertaken to find potential new agents. In this paper I develop unambiguous performance criteria to assist in prioritising potential biological control agents, and against which the success of our biological control program can be judged. These include a reduction of patch density (to below 30% cover) and size (<0.1 ha), a reduction in rates of spread and in‐fill (by reducing seed production and understorey seed bank densities to <100 viable seeds m−2), and the explicit targeting of regions most at risk from parkinsonia impacts. The development of explicit, a priori performance criteria for biological control programs should help biological control develop into a more rigorous and predictive science.

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