Parrot’s feather: Biological control using plant pathogens

How is the evidence assessed?

Study locations

Key messages

  • One study in South Africa found that parrot’s feather plants survived after being treated with a strain of the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A study in South Africa (Morris et al. 1999) reported that parrot’s feather Myriophyllum aquaticum plants treated with a strain of the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris did not die. After treatment with a suspension of the bacterium all parrot’s feather sections above the water died. However, after six weeks new shoots developed from the submerged stems leading to plant recovery. No data or statistics were reported. Plants were sprayed with a suspension of the bacterium at a concentration of 108 colony-forming units/ml. Authors do not report where or when the trials were conducted.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Aldridge, D., Ockendon, N., Rocha, R., Smith, R.K. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Some Aspects of Control of Freshwater Invasive Species. Pages 555-87 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species
Control of Freshwater Invasive Species

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species - Published 2017

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species Synopsis

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What Works in Conservation provides expert assessments of the effectiveness of actions, based on summarised evidence, in synopses. Subjects covered so far include amphibians, birds, mammals, forests, peatland and control of freshwater invasive species. More are in progress.

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