We humans love to meddle.
We just get our little homosapien brains workin' and the next thing you know BAM.
Disaster.
What's up people, Trace here for DNews -- How do you feel about invasive species?
Thanks to humans meddling with the environment we've got nutria all over the damn place,
rabbits in Australia, the Kudzu vine here in the US, cane toads, nile perch, asian carp,
zebra mussels...
We're... not awesome at this invasive species thing are we?
An invasive species is one that is brought to an area and outperforms the native species,
often pushing them out as it consumes resources and out-breeds the locals.
There are so many invasive species around the world that here in the US we have a National
Invasive Species Council and information centers from the EPA and the Department of Agriculture
-- they affect every aspect of natural life all over the world.
Before our tendency to take stuff with us natural barriers like mountains, oceans and
the like kept many species at bay -- no pun intended -- but now we bring them all over!
Burmese pythons are an invasive species in Florida.
In case you never realized...
their name is BURMESE.
As in Burma.
South Asia.
They were either accidentally or purposefully released and now there are as many as 100,000
of these 20+ foot behemoths slithering around down there in the Everglades.
Even doing something as simple as moving firewood can bring with it an invasive species, like
the Emerald Ash Borer which is native to Asia and thanks to us humanos has devastated the
ash population in 14 states and Canada causing $3.5 billion dollars in damage, every year!
How'd it get here from Asia?
We're not exactly sure, but it's likely they hitched a ride on an automotive parts crate
shipped to Detroit.
So now that we know that invasive species are bad, we should like.. stop them and stuff,
right?
So.
How... [eyebrows]
... Exactly.
It's really really hard!
State and Federal agencies have spent millions attempting to contain species with a smattering
of success, and now we're getting ready to play this game again.
In California and Florida, they grow citrus fruit.
It's a thing they do.
But the Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) is just reaving all over their crops.
And no one likes reavers.
The pest gets into their trees and carries a bacterial infection that attacks the fruit
causing it to shrivel up and taste terrible.
Kill the psyllid, save the fruit!
So now the growers have imported a wasp from Pakistan to do the dirty work -- the Tamarixia
radiata has been released periodically since 2011 and SO FAR it seems they're ONLY attacking
the ACPs.
Since then fruit yields have improved and the University of California Riverside says
the wasps have only migrated about 65 miles from their release points...
so far...
Knowing what we all know about invasive species, Is the industry pulling a 'Crazy Ivan' to
save their fruit trees?
Could this actually work?
Or are we just kidding ourselves?
Tell us what you think and thanks a bunch for checking out DNews today!
See you next time.
Bye guys!