Biosecurity over the horizon: identifying invasive agricultural pests in China

Biosecurity outcome

• A database insect pests of pasture and indigenous grasslands found in China (incl. impact, potential pathways) will be developed that will enable organisms of biosecurity concern to be identified
• A proof-of-concept ‘Sentinel Plants Habitat’ risk assessment tool for insect pests will be developed and tested for grassland plant communities rather than single plant species

Science outcome

• Information on the insect pest taxa and communities (incl. biology, impact) found in Chinese pastoral systems will be made accessible to non-Chinese researchers
• The plant ‘plant communities’ approach for biosecurity risk assessment will be assessed using the Chinese pastoral system as a model. The ‘plant communities’ based risk approach will be compared and contrasted with current risk assessment approaches such as those targeting a single plant species only.

Key end users/stakeholders

Implementation:  Effectiveness of sentinel (expatriate) concept is reported directly to MPI (Science & Risk – Plants & Pathways and Biosecurity Intelligence Team) and International Plant Sentinel Network (Botanic Gardens Conservation International).  Generic learning is shared with other sentinel projects (i.e. B17.4, B19.4).  Specific information on biosecurity risk organisms is provided to relevant parties (i.e. forage pests with Dairy NZ, Beef&Lamb) and to project B19.5.