Biological control of invasive European blackberries — research continues despite COVID–19 related challenges

This article is about Biological control of invasive European blackberries.The first stage of the project involved close liaison with the berry industry to prioritise a list of Rubus cultivars to include in “host specificity testing studies”. These studies assess the ability of the sawfly to lay eggs and survive on plant species that are closely related to weedy blackberry (Rubus fruticosus aggregate).