scholarly journals Biological Control of Pest Non-Marine Molluscs: A Pacific Perspective on Risks to Non-Target Organisms

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 583
Author(s):  
Carl C. Christensen ◽  
Robert H. Cowie ◽  
Norine W. Yeung ◽  
Kenneth A. Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Generalist Predators ◽  
Snail Species ◽  
Marine Mollusk ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ecosystem Level ◽  
Scientific Framework

Classic biological control of pest non-marine mollusks has a long history of disastrous outcomes, and despite claims to the contrary, few advances have been made to ensure that contemporary biocontrol efforts targeting mollusks are safe and effective. For more than half a century, malacologists have warned of the dangers in applying practices developed in the field of insect biological control, where biocontrol agents are often highly host-specific, to the use of generalist predators and parasites against non-marine mollusk pests. Unfortunately, many of the lessons that should have been learned from these failed biocontrol programs have not been rigorously applied to contemporary efforts. Here, we briefly review the failures of past non-marine mollusk biocontrol efforts in the Pacific islands and their adverse environmental impacts that continue to reverberate across ecosystems. We highlight the fact that none of these past programs has ever been demonstrated to be effective against targeted species, and at least two (the snails Euglandina spp. and the flatworm Platydemus manokwari) are implicated in the extinction of hundreds of snail species endemic to Pacific islands. We also highlight other recent efforts, including the proposed use of sarcophagid flies and nematodes in the genus Phasmarhabditis, that clearly illustrate the false claims that past bad practices are not being repeated. We are not making the claim that biocontrol programs can never be safe and effective. Instead, we hope that in highlighting the need for robust controls, clear and measurable definitions of success, and a broader understanding of ecosystem level interactions within a rigorous scientific framework are all necessary before claims of success can be made by biocontrol advocates. Without such amendments to contemporary biocontrol programs, it will be impossible to avoid repeating the failures of non-marine mollusk biocontrol programs to date.

“We Are Our History”: Reviewing the History of Education in Hawaiʻi and Oceania

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-643
Author(s):  
Derek Taira
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
History Of Education ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Pacific Island Nations

There is a “world of difference,” anthropologist Epeli Hauʻofa argued, “between viewing the Pacific as ‘islands in a far sea’ and as ‘a sea of islands.’” The distinction between both perspectives, he explained, is exemplified in the two names used for the region: Pacific Islands and Oceania. The former represents a colonial vision produced by white “continental men” emphasizing the smallness and remoteness of “dry surfaces in a vast ocean far from centers of power.” This understanding has produced and sustained an “economistic and geographic deterministic view” emphasizing Pacific Island nations as “too small, too poor, and too isolated” to take care of themselves. The latter, in contrast, denotes a grand space inhabited by brave and resourceful people whose myths, legends, oral traditions, and cosmologies reveal how they did not conceive of themselves in such “microscopic proportions.” Rather, Oceanic peoples have for over two millennia viewed the sea as a “large world” where peoples, goods, and cultures moved and mingled unhindered by fixed national boundaries.

scholarly journals Pathogen emergence in changing ecosystems: RAD-seq reveals long evolutionary history of Phellinus noxius in east Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Kozhar ◽  
Mee-Sook Kim ◽  
Jorge Ibarra Caballero ◽  
Ned Klopfenstein ◽  
Phil Cannon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Supervised Machine Learning ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Recent Emergence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Phellinus Noxius

Emerging pathogens have been increasing exponentially over the last century. The knowledge on whether these organisms are native to ecosystems or have been recently introduced is often of great importance. Understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes promoting emergence can help to control their spread and forecast epidemics. Using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing data, we studied genetic relationships, pathways of spread, and evolutionary history of Phellinus noxius, an emerging root-rotting fungus of unknown origin, in eastern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. We analyzed patterns of genetic variation using Bayesian inference, maximum likelihood phylogeny, populations splits and mixtures measuring correlations in allele frequencies and genetic drift, and finally applied coalescent based theory using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) with supervised machine learning. Population structure analyses revealed five genetic groups with signatures of complex recent and ancient migration histories. The most probable scenario of ancient pathogen spread is movement from west to east: from Malaysia to the Pacific Islands, with subsequent spread to Taiwan and Australia. Furthermore, ABC analyses indicate that P. noxius spread occurred thousands of generations ago, contradicting previous assumptions that it was recently introduced in multiple areas. Our results suggest that recent emergence of P. noxius in east Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands is likely driven by anthropogenic and natural disturbances, including deforestation, land-use change, severe weather events, and introduction of exotic plants. This study provides a novel example of utilization of genome wide allele frequency data to unravel dynamics of pathogen emergence under conditions of changing ecosystems.

History, opportunities and challenges for biological control in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands

2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.H. Julien ◽  
J.K. Scott ◽  
W. Orapa ◽  
Q. Paynter
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
The Pacific

scholarly journals A Brief Review on the Researches of Cultural Relationship Between Indigenous Bai Yue in Southeast of China and Pacific Austronesian

2021 ◽  
pp. 209-219
Author(s):  
Chunming Wu
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
South China ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Southeast Coast ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractAncient “Bai Yue” (百越) and “Austronesian” are indigenous peoples with very close relationship, distributing from south China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. The relationship between Bai Yue and Proto-Austronesian has long been studied in both Chinese and Euro-American academies. During most of the twentieth century, Chinese historians and archaeologists mainly discussed the origins of Malay ethnics as one branch of Austronesian within the academic framework of the ethno-history of Bai Yue centering on the southeast coast of China, while western academic peers mainly based on the linguistic investigation of modern Austronesian and carried out multi-disciplines’ research on the origin of Proto-Austronesian.

scholarly journals Long evolutionary history of an emerging fungal pathogen of diverse tree species in eastern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Kozhar ◽  
Mee-Sook Kim ◽  
Jorge Ibarra Caballero ◽  
Ned Klopfenstein ◽  
Phil Cannon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Plant Pathogens ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Supervised Machine Learning ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Eastern Asia ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Recent Emergence ◽  
History Of

Emerging plant pathogens have been increasing exponentially over the last century. To address this issue, it is critical to determine whether these pathogens are native to ecosystems or have been recently introduced. Understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes fostering emergence can help to manage their spread and predict epidemics/epiphytotics. Using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing data, we studied genetic relationships, pathways of spread, and evolutionary history of Phellinus noxius, an emerging root-rotting fungus of unknown origin, in eastern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. We analyzed patterns of genetic variation using Bayesian inference, maximum likelihood phylogeny, populations splits and mixtures measuring correlations in allele frequencies and genetic drift, and finally applied coalescent based theory using Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) with supervised machine learning. Population structure analyses revealed five genetic groups with signatures of complex recent and ancient migration histories. The most probable scenario of ancient pathogen spread is movement from ghost population to Malaysia and the Pacific Islands, with subsequent spread to Taiwan and Australia. Furthermore, ABC analyses indicate that P. noxius spread occurred thousands of generations ago, contradicting previous assumptions that this pathogen was recently introduced to multiple geographic regions. Our results suggest that recent emergence of P. noxius in eastern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands is likely driven by anthropogenic and natural disturbances, such as deforestation, land-use change, severe weather events, and/or introduction of exotic plants. This study provides a novel example of applying genome-wide allele frequency data to unravel dynamics of pathogen emergence under changing ecosystem conditions.

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