MARINE PROGRAMS
Strategic Priorities

Biological Control of Weeds Projects

What is Biological Control?

Safety in Biological Control

Biological Control of Spartina

Biological Control of Knotweeds

References

Biocontrol Staff

"Invasive Spartina in Willapa Bay" website

"Olympic Region Harmful Algal Blooms" website

BIOCONTROL STAFF

Fritzi Grevstad, Ph.D.
Biological Control Specialist

Fritzi Grevstad has been active in weed biocontrol research for over 16 years.  She received a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University in 1998 and has served as the Biocontrol Specialist at ONRC since 2000.  Her projects include the development and implementation of biological control programs for Spartina spp., which are invasive in Willapa Bay and Puget Sound, and for Japanese and Giant knotweeds, invasive throughout temperate North America.  Her broader research interests include the optimization of release strategies for biological control, the role of geographic source in influencing performance of biocontrol agents, and the design of spatially structured weed control strategies.    

Biological Control of Spartina
Biological Control of Knotweeds

Publications

Grevstad, F.S.  2006.  Ten-year impacts of the biological control agents Galerucella pusilla and G. calmariensis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) on purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) in Central New York State.  Biological Control 39: 1-8.

Grevstad, F.S.  2005.  Strategies for controlling a spatially structured plant invasion: Spartina alterniflora in Pacific Coast estuaries.  Biological Invasions 7: 665-677.

Grevstad, F.S.  2004.  Prokelisia marginata and Spartina alterniflora.  In: Coombs, E., Clark, J., Piper, G. and Cofrancesco, A. (eds) Biological Control of Invasive Plants of the United States.  Western Soc. Weed Sci. OSU Press, Corvallis.

Taylor, C.M., H.G. Davis, J.C. Civille, F.S. Grevstad, and A. Hastings.  2004.  Consequences of an Allee effect in the invasion of a Pacific Estuary by Spartina alterniflora.  Ecological Applications 85: 3254-3266.

Grevstad, F.S., M.S. Wecker, and R.W. Switzer.  2004.  Habitat tradeoffs in the summer and winter performance of the planthopper Prokelisia marginata introduced against the intertidal grass Spartina alterniflora in Willapa Bay, WA.  In: J. Cullen (ed.) Proceedings of the XI International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds.  April 27 – May 3, 2003.  CSIRO, Canberra, Australia.

Grevstad, F.S., D.R. Strong, D. Garcia-Rossi, R.W. Switzer, and M.S. Wecker.  2003.  Biological control of Spartina alterniflora in Willapa Bay, Washington using the planthopper Prokelisia marginata: agent specificity and early results.  Biological Control 27: 32-42.

Grevstad, F. S.  1999.  Experimental invasions using biological control introductions: the influence of release size on the chance of population establishment.  Biological Invasions 1: 313-323.

Grevstad, F. S.  1999. Factors influencing the chance of population establishment: implications for release strategies in biological control.  Ecological Applications 9: 1439-1477.

Grevstad, F. S.  1998.  The colonization ecology of two loosestrife leaf beetles, Galerucella pusilla and G. calmariensis.  Ph. D. Dissertation, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

Grevstad, F.S. and A.L. Herzig.  1997.  Quantifying the effects of distance and conspecifics on colonization:  experiments and models using the loosestrife leaf beetle, Galerucella calmariensis.  Oecologia 110: 60-68.

Grevstad, F.S.  1996.  Establishment of weed control agents under the influences of demographic stochasticity, environmental variability, and Allee effects.  In:  Proceedings of the IX International Symposium on the Biological Control of Weeds.V.C. Moran and J.H. Hoffmann (eds).  19-26 January 1996, Stellenbosch, South Africa.  University of Cape Town.

Morris, W.F., F.S. Grevstad, and A.L. Herzig. 1996.  Mechanisms and ecological functions of spatial aggregation in chrysomelid beetles.  In: Chrysomelidae Biology.  Jolivet, P., M.I. Cox and T. Hsiao (eds.). SPB Academic Publishing, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Grevstad, F.S. and B.W. Klepetka.  1992.   The influence of plant architecture on the foraging efficiencies of a suite of ladybird beetles feeding on aphids.  Oecologia 92(3): 399-404.