Partnering science and community
Earlier this year, Landcare Tasmania, in partnership with CSIRO, launched the National African Boxthorn Biocontrol Project 2025-27 in Tasmania.
Outcomes from the project so far include an online webinar, field demonstration workshops in Richmond and Little Swanport, as well as inviting the community to submit an expression of interest to receive a biological control release kit to release on their managed land.
African Boxthorn (Lycium ferocissimum) is a drought-tolerant Weed of National Significance that undermines agricultural productivity, biodiversity, and drought resilience across Australia.
We were excited to see so many interested participants attend both our online webinar, which you can watch here, and our workshops to learn about another “tool in the tool box” for managing this invasive weed.
Dr Ben Gooden, Boxthorn Biocontrol field day, Richmond. Photo: Landcare Tasmania.
Meeting at the Tasmanian Junior Beekeepers Shed in Richmond and Mayfield Estate in Little Swanport, we lucked out with two sunny late-autumn afternoons to learn about the release and monitoring of the biocontrol.
Our two presenters were very engaging and experts in their fields. Dr Ben Gooden, a senior researcher from CSIRO, presented on the history of bicontrol, and how to correctly release and monitor the biocontrol. Axel Meiss, a local weed expert, presented on other physical and mechanical methods for control to manage African Boxthorn, as well as some horror stories of trying to manage this weed. Think thorns and chainsaws!
Boxthorn biocontrol field day, Little Swanport. Photo: Landcare Tasmania.
Dr Gooden gave a field demonstration on how to release the biocontrol on boxthorn plants. This involved a simple process of mixing the fungus spore with distilled water and a surfactant (Tweed), giving it a good mix and then spraying it over healthy foliage and covering it in a plastic bag for about eight hours overnight while the spores enter the foliage.
Why the partnership with community and Landcare?
Community partnership in biological control is an important one. It provides research and science agencies like CSIRO the opportunity to work with communities to combine science with practical, on-ground experience. This, in turn, creates more opportunities for two-way knowledge sharing.
Community ownership and support is a key part in a successful roll out - expanding access to different land tenures and providing more boots and eyes on the ground.
What is biological control?
A biological agent control is finding a natural specific “enemy” to a particular weed that has co-evolved together in the weed’s native range to keep the plant's population in balance. In Australia, there are over 270 biological agents released on more than 60 weed species. After years of extensive testing by CSIRO, a rust fungus (Puccinia rapipes) from South Africa, was proven safe and effective in host specificity. This means it only infects the leaves and fruit of African boxthorn plants and reduces its ability to flower and produce seed.
Did you know that Prickly Pear was one of the first trialled and tested successful biocontrol control projects in Australia? Cactoblastis cactorum moths were released in 1926 to try to control the spread of Prickly pear weed across 60 millions acres of land in NSW and QLD. By 1933, the biocontrol had cleared 80% of infested land in QLD and almost 60% in NSW.
Join our next field day!
We are running one more field demonstration workshop taking place on
1 October at Low Head from 1:30-4pm
RSVP here
If you wish to submit an EOI for a biocontrol kit, please fill out this form.
Find out more about the Boxthorn Biocontrol Project
