Purple Weed vs. Beetle

hondo77 writes "How do you deal with an invasive, non-native plant? With a non-native beetle. This AP article talks about the non-native purple loosestrife weed, which arrived in North America in the late 1800s, and how it has been choking out indigenous native plans. After a study at Cornell, the Galerucella beetle was introduced in 2000 as part of a pilot program in Massachusetts to keep the weed under control. 'From what we know, there's no downside.'"

Simpson's reference

[Libertarian_Geek]

Then, we get snakes to eat the bugs, then gorillas to kill the snakes. When winter comes, the gorillas will just die off. It's perfect.

Purple Weed vs Beetle

[daeley]

When I first saw the title, I figured this was a hippy-related article. :)

Woodstock announcer: "Don't eat the brown acid-- Oh and for God's sake, stay away from the purple weed!"

Re:Purple Weed vs Beetle

[dhakbar]

Stay away?

You obviously know nothing of the marijuana plant.

Re:Purple Weed vs Beetle

[advocate_one]

Don't smoke the dried Cane Toad... either... it is supposed to have hallucinogenic properties... I wouldn't know personally though... ;)

Cane Toad...

[advocate_one]

They did this same thing some time ago in Australia and it was a disaster... [darwinawards.com]

"The South American cane toad, Bufo marinus, was introduced to Australia as a biological control for the cane beetle, which destroys millions of dollars sugar cane each year. This was an environmental disaster. First, the toad never developed a taste for cane beetles, but instead slaked its prodigious appetite with all manner of endemic fauna. Second, the toad has two poison sacs behind its head, and its toxins are not restricted solely to these glands, making it poisonous fare for Australian wildlife during every stage of its lifecycle."

Re:Cane Toad...

[Sepper]

Australia itself is an ecological disaster. It's the perfect case to study for any type of animal introduction into foreign soil.

you can check out,for instance story about:
Rabits in Australia [google.com]
Mices in Australia [google.com]

And a not-so-bad story about
Camels in Australia [google.com]

Of course, i'm no Aussie, i'm just a Canuck... i'm sure the locals can provide a lot more exemples

Re:Cane Toad...

[two_socks]

First, the toad never developed a taste for cane beetles...

How can the cane not know it's supposed to eat the cane beetle?

Stupid toad.

Re:Cane Toad...

[ColaMan]

Some time ago is right, it was in the early 1930's.

I'd say that biologists have improved their environmental impact studies a fair bit since then.

It's interesting to note that common crows in australia have learned to flip the toad onto its back before eating from the underside, to avoid the poisonous sacs on its back.

Old hat

[Marxist Hacker 42]

This was done back in the 1970s in the Pacific Northwest with Tansy Ragweed. Don't remember the moth specifically- but boy did we have a lot of those cute little yellow and black furry catepillars around when I was a kid.

Re:Old hat

[j1m+5n0w]

but boy did we have a lot of those cute little yellow and black furry catepillars around when I was a kid.

Hey, I remember those. I don't think I've seen one since I was about 5 years old. I don't know what they're called either.

-jim

Wooly Bears

[tid242]

is what we called them, although i don't believe them to be, in fact, bears.

i thought there was also some deal where the size of their red stripe (or black stripe?) dictates how shitty the winter is going to be (i live in Minnesota) the following year, although i am unsure if this claim is scientifically rigorous, or just a rumour.

-tid242

You knew it was coming...

[Snodgrass]

Skinner:
Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.

Lisa:
But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?

Skinner:
No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.

Lisa:
But aren't the snakes even worse?

Skinner:
Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.

Lisa:
But then we're stuck with gorillas!

Skinner:
No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.

do you hear that?

[Bishop]

From what we know, there's no downside.

Do you hear that? It is all of Australia laughing.

It's happened before

[asimulator]

The Parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus) came to India along with PL480 grain from the US in the mid 60s and created quite a mess. It was brought under control, somewhat, using an "imported" beetle, Zygogramma bicolorata. [kar.nic.in]. That was not without its scare though. The momentum didn't sustain though and parthenium is making a slow comeback.

zerg

[Lord Omlette]

Ok, I'm pretty sure the Simpsons had an episode on this. This is a crisis waiting to happen.

Use of non-native species isn't always a disaster

[moof1138]

The Cane Toad in Australia, and the Mongoose in Hawaii are both examples of massive ecological disasters. But there have been cases of successful non-native species to manage pests. The Asian Glass Carp has been used to manage Hydrilla infestations, they use sterile Carp, and their use has been successful, and there are other success stories out there. Now that we know about the seriousness of mistakes, there is a lot more careful testing before introducing non-native species to control problem invasive species.

Fighting the plant back is probably a good idea since it is a severe problem species. But this approach, while it might help for a while, would need a lot of maintenance unless the beetles hung around after they killed their host (in which case there are other problems). Each Purple Loostrife produces thousands of tiny seeds every year. These seeds lie dormant when buried in mud, and can survive buried for centuries, only to spring to life once the earth they were buried in is disturbed. Even if we got rid of every living plant in North America we would stil have centuries of fighting it to make it really go away.

Re:Use of non-native species isn't always a disast

[at_kernel_99]

Uh, where was the glass carp used successfully? Up 'round these parts, we're lookin' out for them carp. Yer supposed to kill 'em & take 'em straight to the DNR if you catch one. Here being Minnesota - they're heading upstream in the Mississippi.

Re:Use of non-native species isn't always a disast

[moof1138]

I know grass carp have been used fairly sucessfully in Texas, Washington, Georgia, and Florida. I live in Austin - we had severe problems with Hydrilla that they were used to manage. They are picky eaters, so they are of limited use for controlling certain aquatic weeds, but they have not created ecological disasters when they didn't eat the weeds that they were released to control.

A quick Google for 'sterile grass carp', will yield a great deal more info.

Re:Use of non-native species isn't always a disast

[moof1138]

Grass. I can be a poor typist.

Re:Use of non-native species isn't always a disast

[bar-agent]

Each Purple Loostrife produces thousands of tiny seeds every year. These seeds lie dormant when buried in mud...

The article notes that the planners don't want the weed eradicated totally, because that would kill the beetles. They said "the ideal situation is a small population of plants supporting a small population of beetles" so that the beetles are still around to take care of dormant seeds when they finally sprout.

Re:Use of non-native species isn't always a disast

[rs79]

What I don't get is, we have tons of purple loosestrife and tons of bored teenagers with no job; these are the idealistic little twerps that want to save the planet. Is it just my imagination or could all bored teenagers make a serious dent in the loosestrife crop. What do we have to do, tell them they can get high off it? Cross it with Cannabis indica? Saaaaay.... now there's an idea.

I remove all the loosestrife from my little 2 acre strip of the river here each year. It's a tough plant to dig out.

There

Kudzu

[jkidd]

Growing up in Georiga, all I have to say is Kudzu.

http://www.cptr.ua.edu/kudzu/

http://www.jjanthony.com/kudzu/

Cane Toad

[MasterLock]

Two words: Cane Toad [amonline.net.au]

Introducing a non-native anything to an environment will eventually affect the environment. Look at N. America and the White Man.

My neighbor

[MrIcee]

Hawai'i is home to some of the most unique species of plants and animal/insect/fish/etc life than can be found anywhere else on the planet.

Unfortunatly we are also home to some invasive alien species that threaten to kill and choke our natural life. One excellant example is the recent appearance of Coqui Frogs (read more [hawaii.edu]) which came in on plants being imported for sales (go figure).

These little frogs (about the size of a nickel) are the loudest thing you have ever heard. At over 110 decibles per chirp there are no predators in Hawai'i for this creature and communities can grow as high as 20,000 to 40,000 per acre. You can imagine the din.

Furthermore, the coqui are eating insects that are normally eaten by our native creatures - which can upset the balance.

Hence my neighbor... coqui are moving into our neighborhood and the neighborhood association asked $44 from each person from which they would hire specialists to come and destroy the coqui (there are two effective methods, one a caffeine spray and the other a citric acid sollution spray - we have used the citric acid spray with great success).

My neighbor, a devout vegean is steadfast against it. Will not treat her coqui... "they have a right to live". Whereas, my response is... hey, man brought them in, man can bring them back out - to which she is very upset. (in the same token, she won't treat for termites, cockroaches, or rats either). Completely misses the point, as far as I can tell, that they are damaging OTHER species - nopers, THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO LIVE.

Ah well... I always maintained that eating vegetables was worse because they can't run and hide - and killing an entire field is akin to localized genocide.

Aloha nui loa

Re:My neighbor

[LiENUS]

i kinda liked the coqui :/ btw i believe this little frog is native to puerto rico as it was there when i visited about 10 years ago

Re:My neighbor

[MrIcee]

Yes, they are native to Puerto Rico... but Puerto Rico has natural predators.

I don't mind a couple, but when you start to get thousands per acre in what is basically a very very quite place, it is hard to take. Keep in mind that there are no native predators here so nothing keeps them from multiplying.

It's even worse for hotel owners - my significant owns a hotel and even if one frog chirps the guests complain.

The problem is, like them or not, they are destructive and should be removed before the situ

So..

[Trikenstein]

Two wrongs do make a right?

I Hate Loosestrife

[extensis]

I currently work for Ducks Unlimited and pick purple loosestrife nearly 3 times a week. The stuff is horrible. If there are roots left it'll grow back and the flowers make a million seeds, ugh! I can say that purple loosestrife has ruined some of BC's (i'm in Vancouver) finest parks, and I have seen these beetles in action, they work to keep it in check, but they are no final solution..

Re:I Hate Loosestrife

[Andrew Batory]

what parks exten? I live in richmond, haven't seen any of this stuff yet. Would like to though.

Re:I Hate Loosestrife

[extensis]

My job never brings me into richmond, but just south of you on Westham Island is the Riefel Bird Sanctuary and Alaksen National Wildlife Area, both (especially Riefel) are infested with loosestrife. In Ladner, the South Arm Marshes have a particularly dense population of loosestrife. One thing to note, purple loosestrife was/is an ornamental flower, so it is often just regarded as a pretty wildflower, but one you recognize it, you'll see it everywhere --Mike

Remember the lesson of Kudzu

[mooncaine]

I live in a state in the USA that suffers from Kudzu infestation. Kudzu is an ivy brought from Japan for some similarly ill-advised scheme. It's now covering the local vegetation, climbing buildings, choking trees, and changing the landscape. It's tenacious and almost impossible to eradicate.

A recent movie about the American Civil War had to be filmed in another country, because the actual southern locations are hidden under a blanket of kudzu.

Quality or Fawcett comics?

[FSK]

Wasn't this one of those comics that DC put out in the 70s based on characters they bought from bankrupt publishers?