There is a beetle from Asia that is killing hardwood trees in Prince George‘s County Maryland. It is called the emerald ash borer and it came to this country over a decade ago by way of shipping crates from China. These beetles have killed over 30 million trees since their arrival in this country. “The beetles threaten not only to eradicate one of the most popular suburban shade trees in America, but also to harm water quality in rural streams, by removing trees that cool and filter waterways" (Pelton 1).
Emerald Ash Borer Beetle
Thousands of Chinese parasitic wasps have been released by the Maryland Department of agriculture in hopes of controlling the emerald ash borer. The parasitic wasps are known predators of the beetle. The idea of controlling invasive species is to find their natural predators in their native country to maintain control of them here.
Chinese Parasitic Wasp
But what concerns some biologists and environmentalists is that the use of biological controls can be ineffective and end up harming or eliminating native species. These controls sometimes results in predator species not attacking their intended targets and instead attacking other species. The concern in Maryland is that the Chinese parasitic wasps with eliminate the native jewel beetles instead of the emerald ash borer.
Jewel Beetle
History shows us that predator species can be effective, but also tells us that these biological controls only succeeds 10% of the time. Therefore, great care must be taken when deciding what methods to use to control invasive species. The cure may be worst that the illness.
Cited Works
Pelton, Tom. Releasing Exotic Species to Fight Invasive Species: Gambling With Mother
Nature? Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 26 July 2010. Web. 14 November 2012.
I found myself thinking of shipping crates as I read this post. I find it fascinating that bugs (and rodents, and viruses, etc.) can be stow-aways on shipping containers. But that's not really strange, it's the beauty of biological diversity. But what you describe here is diversity in attack mode.
ReplyDeleteI want you to extrapolate from the bettles/wasps to the larger issue here. Think about the idea you share here about pests that are brought from their home environments into alien ones like our own. Invasive species is a bigger and bigger problem nowadays, and it won't stop with the growth of worldwide economies and importing/exporting.
Can you synthesize the pace or growth of invasive species? What should a regular consumer be wary of in the near future? Think about the past...