Saving the endemic and threatened

gumwoods from extinction:

biocontrol to the rescue on St.
Helena
R. Shaw, B. Luke and S. Fowler
The First International Congress of Biological Control
Beijing, China, 14th-16th May, 2018
KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE
 Introducing St Helena
A small, remote island in the South Atlantic

Most notable resident

– Napoleon Bonaparte

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

Jamestown
 Introducing St Helena

●Volcanic island, 122 km2 – 14 m yr old

• 60 endemic plant species; 500 endemic

invertebrate species
• Dismal history of human impact: clearances,
stock, invasive species
• Failed conservation efforts dating back to 1725
• Indigenous plants cover only 1% of land area
KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE
Last gumwood, Commidendrum
robustum, relic arborescent daisy
woodland at Peak Dale – about 2500 trees
 A threat to the last
remaining gumwood
forest

●In 1991, Orthezia

insignis was found
heavily infesting the
trees
●First record in St
Helena of this
widespread South
American scale insect
pest

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

 The threat from Orthezia

●By 1993 over 100 gumwood trees were dead

●O. insignis had no natural enemies on St Helena
and abundant alternative host plants
●Chemical control not feasible – terrain steep, no
aerial spraying capacity, SE trade winds,
endangered indigenous fauna
●Orthezia also a threat to other endemic plants
especially other Commidendrum spp

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

 Biological control to the rescue
●Fortunately, O. insignis
had a history of biological
control starting in Hawaii 1 mm

in 1908
●One apparently
successful agent: the
coccinellid, Hyperaspis
pantherina
●Environmental safety and
efficacy poorly studied

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

 Orthezia – host specificity and life history
• When starved, adult beetles did attack other Homoptera
(e.g. mealybugs)
• No known indigenous Homoptera on St Helena
• Eggs almost never laid in absence of O. insignis
• Over 90% of
eggs were laid on
adult female
scales
• 1st three instars
usually spent in
1
the ovisac mm

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

 All trees
Tree Mortality dead
1994-5?

10000
Number of trees (n+1)

Total of 2500 trees

1000

100 Total dead Final total

trees of 301
Releases of
10 trees dead
H. pantherina

1
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Year

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

 Orthezia and Hyperaspis
1000 8

100 4

10 2

Releases of H. pantherina

1 1
1.05.93

1.09.93

1.01.94

1.05.94

1.09.94

1.01.95
Date
Fowler, S.V. 2004. Biological Control 29: 367-374
 New restoration initiatives
• Most ambitious is Millennium Forest, 10,000
gumwoods (aim: 55,000, 250 ha): a success to date

• UK/St Helena Govt + NGO support - $$/expertise

• Local buy-in: volunteers for cultivation/planting; sponsorship;
schools engaged; control of stock and feral grazing animals
• Impossible without biocontrol of Orthezia
KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE
 Update on the pest status of Orthezia
• Sporadic but uncommon: no damage to main
restoration plantings e.g. Millennium Forest
(Rebecca Cairns-Wick, St Helena National Trust, pers. comm. Feb 2013)

“The introduction of Hyperaspis to St Helena and its bio-

control of Orthezia is a conservation success story, we
would be in a very different situation had Orthezia not
been brought under control”
(Rebecca Cairns-Wick, St Helena National Trust, pers. comm. Feb 2013)

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

 Natural Restoration

●Scrubwood,
Commidendrum
rugosum, shrubs
regenerating in drier
areas
●Reliant on near
eradication of goats
●Would not be occurring
without biocontrol of
Orthezia

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

 What else has been saved?
● Endemic insect herbivores specific to
Commidendrum spp
Coleoptera: 13 species Lepidoptera: 15 species

Photos of St Helena
Hemiptera: 8 species insects by Roger Key
 Summarising
• Orthezia biocontrol was successful and has been
sustained – without it:
• 4 Commidendrum spp would be extinct in the wild
• 36 extinctions in the endemic insect fauna
• The Millennium Forest: the ambitious re-creation of
part of the “Great Wood” of pre-human St Helena
would fail
• Extensive natural regeneration would also be failing
• The St Helena flora/fauna is in better shape than it
has been since the 18th or 19th century

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

Acknowledgements
G. Forrester (statistics), K. Alders (data sorting), Agriculture and
Forestry Department (many aspects of the project) especially A.
Hill (managing the monitoring program). Roger Key and Rebecca
Carins-Wick provided up-to-date information from St Helena. A.
Cross, R. Mitchell and R. Shaw (CAB International) - developed
rearing methods in the UK, under license from the Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (licence PHF 873A/667/73). P.
Markham and I. Bedford (John Innes Institute) provided the
culture of O. insignis. Funding was provided by the UK
Government (ODA project OMC 92/94 349/053/001A) and
Landcare Research.
G. Forrester (statistics), K. Alders (data sorting), Agriculture and Forestry Department
(many aspects of the project) especially A. Hill (managing the P. Markham and I. Bedford
(John Innes Institute) provided the culture of O. insignis. Funding was provided by the UK
Government (ODA project OMC 92/94 349/053/001A) and Landcare Research.

CABI is an international intergovernmental organisation, and we gratefully acknowledge

the core financial support from our member countries (and lead agencies) including:

Ministry of Agriculture and

Rural Affairs,
People’s Republic of China

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE