African Tulip in Rarotonga and the use of biological control

Abstract

Benefits of biocontrol is cost, and they usually do the work for you in the long term. The African tulip was quickly colonizing forests in Rarotonga and would easily outnumber native plants, so bio-control was recommended to be used for the Tulip to be controlled. The gall mite was then introduced in 2016 and in 2021, the black flea beetle and now biocontrol methods are one of the leading ways to Climate Resilience in the Cook Islands