Ten insect species were introduced to control five weeds on the island of Mauritius from 1914 to1982. Eight of these (80%) became established. The biocontrol programs against Opuntia vulgaris, O. tuna and Cordia curassavica were completely successful, with all three target plants now not considered as weeds, and requiring no management other than the ongoing, self-sustaining biological control....

Parthenium hysterophorus L., (Asteraceae) commonly known as parthenium weed, is a highly invasive plant that has become a problematic weed of pasture lands in Australia and many other countries around the world. For the management of this weed, an integrated approach comprising biological control and plant competition strategies was tested in southern central Queensland. Two competitive pasture...

Invasive plants reduce the capacity of ecosystems to provide goods and services required by society, alter ecological processes, and can displace desirable species. They can reduce wildlife habitat quality, riparian area integrity, rangeland economic value, and enterprise net returns. The invasion process is regulated by characteristics of the invading plant and the community being invaded. The...

Agricultural intensification is critical to meet global food demand, but intensification threatens native species and degrades ecosystems. Sustainable intensification (SI) is heralded as a new approach for enabling growth in agriculture while minimizing environmental impacts. However, the SI literature has overlooked a major environmental risk. Using data from eight countries on six continents,...

Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms is a free-floating aquatic macrophyte growing normally to a height of 0.5 m to 1 m. This weed causes, substantial economic and ecological harm, warranting its removal, lest the impacts of the weed should become permanent. From an ecological perspective, the most effective, management approach is to make use of the weed for various purposes. The present study o...

Existing bridges are aging and deteriorating rapidly, elevating concerns for public safety preservation of these valuable assets. Large numbers exist in transportation networks, the current budget limitations worsen situation. This necessitates development an automated condition assessment rating methods. Spalling is a common problem that majorly influences health, safety, structural integrity ...

Article history: Received 9 April 2014 Accepted 8 October 2014 Available online 9 November 2014 This paper presents efficient chaotic invasive weed optimization (CIWO) techniques based on chaos for solving optimal power flow (OPF) problems with non-smooth generator fuel cost functions (non-smooth OPF) with the minimum pollution level (environmental OPF) in electric power systems. OPF problem is...