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26 October 2015 Economic Benefit for Cuban Laurel Thrips Biological Control
C. Shogren, T. D. Paine
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Abstract

The Cuban laurel thrips, Gynaikothrips ficorum Marchal (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae), is a critical insect pest of Ficus microcarpa in California urban landscapes and production nurseries. Female thrips feed and oviposit on young Ficus leaves, causing the expanding leaves to fold or curl into a discolored leaf gall. There have been attempts to establish specialist predator natural enemies of the thrips, but no success has been reported. We resampled the same areas in 2013–2014 where we had released Montandoniola confusa (= morguesi) Streito and Matocq (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) in southern California in 1995 but had been unable to recover individuals in 1997–1998. Thrips galls were significantly reduced in all three of the locations in the recent samples compared with the earlier samples. M. confusa was present in all locations and appears to be providing successful biological control. The value of the biological control, the difference between street trees in good foliage condition and trees with poor foliage, was $58,766,166. If thrips damage reduced the foliage to very poor condition, the value of biological control was $73,402,683. Total cost for the project was $61,830. The benefit accrued for every dollar spent on the biological control of the thrips ranged from $950, if the foliage was in poor condition, to $1,187, if the foliage was in very poor condition. The value of urban forest is often underappreciated. Economic analyses that clearly demonstrate the very substantial rates of return on investment in successful biological control in urban forests provide compelling arguments for supporting future efforts.

© The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
C. Shogren and T. D. Paine "Economic Benefit for Cuban Laurel Thrips Biological Control," Journal of Economic Entomology 109(1), 93-99, (26 October 2015). https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/tov283
Received: 8 July 2015; Accepted: 3 September 2015; Published: 26 October 2015
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KEYWORDS
Gynaikothrips ficorum
Montandoniola morguesi
Phlaeothripidae
street tree
tree valuation
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