The public's views are being wanted on the launching of a plant-eating predator from aggregation into kingdom to support curb Japanese knotweed.
Scientists hit identified an ectozoan that keeps the superweed low curb in its autochthonous home of Nihon and think it could do the aforementioned in Britain.
The conference is being carried discover by Defra and the Welsh Assembly before a final selection is made.
If the plan gets the go-ahead, the ectozoan could be free next summer.
This would be the prototypal time that biocontrol - the ingest of a uncolored enemy to curb added pest - has been utilised in Europe to fisticuffs a weed.
The promulgation would initially take locate at a diminutive number of sites before a wider launching in England and Wales.
The superweed investigate has been carried discover by Cabi, a not-for-profit rural investigate organisation, and the study has been person reviewed by the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment.
The aggroup has spent several eld trying to encounter potential candidates to curb the spread of Japanese knotweed, hunting for predators that feed only on knotweed and not on any of Britain's autochthonous plants.
Their chosen ectozoan is a diminutive louse titled Aphalara itadori that feeds on the sap of the superweed, stunting its growth.
Dick Shaw, the lead researcher on the project, said: "This louse is a true knotweed doc and our investigate shows that it could be a innocuous and trenchant curb agent for digit of our poorest weeds.
"We are really entertained that the information has reached the open conference form and look forward to chance the outcome."
Japanese knotweed was prototypal introduced to the UK as an ornamental plant in the 19th Century, but it has since spread rapidly, damaging plant biodiversity as substantially as hard structures, much as buildings, covering stones and flood defences.
But effort rid of it using current methods - tracheophyte killers and physical removal - is expensive - in 2003 the cost of domestic eradication was estimated at £1.56 billion.
The researchers verify that natural curb module be a cheaper and more environmentally cordial choice for controlling the superweed.
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