The selection, testing and evaluation of weed biological control agents: Is there still room for improvement?

The recently formed Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Weed Management now comprises almost all researchers in Australia who work on the classical biological control of weeds. This workshop was organised by the CRC to take stock of recent Australian research in biological control of interest to it and to suggest how the CRC can address key areas of concern for weed biological control; namely, the selection of biological control agents, agent host-specificity determination and the evaluation of agent impact. The workshop was arranged around a set of issues papers for each area, followed by discussions held amongst the workshop participants aimed at informing the research agenda of the new CRC and developing a common approach to the discipline in Australia. The issues papers and syntheses of the discussions held and recommendations made are contained in these proceedings.