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The article discusses a study about the reduction in native-plant recruitment through second-order apparent competition by weed-biocontrol insects. This paper focuses on the role of mice in invasion and management of Centaurea maculosa by food-web interactions. They also investigated the importance of biological-control insects Urophora spp. which substantially increases the populations of deer mouse. Deer mouse seed predation and the effects on seedling emergence of dominant native grasses treated with herbicide to suppress C. maculosa left uncontrolled.

The article presents how better mechanistic understandings of community and population ecology can improve invasive species management. In this context, the authors hypothesized that herbicide suppression of Urophora's host plant would reduce the Urophora food resource and restore P. maniculatus populations to natural levels. The effectiveness of the tool and the population-level mechanisms by which it achieves these ends has been examined. The efficacy of an invasives management tool for restoring native deer mouse populations elevated by exotic species has also been experimentally evaluated.