Origins of the rare Australian daisy Erigeron conyzoides and its implications for biological control research and conservation management

Stephanie H. Chen; Alicia Grealy; Michelle A. Rafter; Ben Gooden; Alexander N. Schmidt-Lebuhn

doi:10.1071/BT24047

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Origins of the rare Australian daisy Erigeron conyzoides and its implications for biological control research and conservation management

Stephanie H. Chen

^A , Alicia Grealy ^A , Michelle A. Rafter ^B , Ben Gooden ^C and Alexander N. Schmidt-Lebuhn ^A ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (a joint venture between Parks Australia and CSIRO), GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

^B CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, GPO Box 2583, Brisbane, Qld 4001, Australia.

^C CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: alexander.s-l@csiro.au

Handling Editor: Margaret Byrne

Australian Journal of Botany 73, BT24047 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT24047

Submitted: 29 July 2024 Accepted: 16 December 2024 Published: 9 January 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

Confidence in risk analyses for weed biological control (biocontrol) agents is underpinned by knowledge of the phylogenetic associations between the target weed and off-target plant species, with an emphasis on native taxa that co-occur with the weed in its introduced range. The origins of off-target plant species are also considered when assessing potential adverse effects of releasing weed biocontrol agents into the environment. Erigeron bonariensis L. (flaxleaf fleabane), native to South America, is a major cropping weed in North America, Europe, and Australia. Phylogenomic analysis of the weed’s tribe, Astereae, for a biocontrol program has put into question the existence of native Australian fleabanes.

Aims

We aimed to resolve the establishment means of a supposed native species to Australia by testing its phylogenetic and morphological associations with other Erigeron taxa at a global scale.

Methods

Target-sequence capture data were combined with traditional taxonomy.

Key results

We rediscovered the closest presumed native relative of flaxleaf fleabane, the rare and declining E. conyzoides F.Muell. (daisy fleabane), during field work in Victoria, Australia. Molecular data and morphology indicated that E. conyzoides and E. acer L. from the northern hemisphere are not distinct.

Conclusions

Erigeron conyzoides is very likely not a distinct species endemic to Australia but rather a disjunct population of E. acer.

Implications

This finding improves confidence in the host-specificity of candidate biocontrol agents for fleabane in Australia, because we argue that the closest related truly native species is much more distantly related to fleabane than previously thought.

Keywords: Asteraceae, Astereae, Erigeron conyzoides, host-specificity test, phylogenetics, risk analyses, target capture, weed biological control.

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