Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Its difficult to predict what effect or success an introduced insect is going to have, so using them as weapons is a gamble. For example, the Multicolored Asian Ladybug Harmonia axyridis was introduced to the US many times and in many places to control aphids, but it apparently never became established. Most experts believe they came in accidentally at a later date and in a different place, and then exploded in numbers and spread across the continent. It has been suggested that their numbers really took off after another exotic species that they feed on, the soybean aphid Aphis glycines became established.
Insect ecology is a grossly understudied field, and almost all of it involves a small number of agricultural pests. There are hundreds of non-native insects currently in the US. Few of them are considered economically significant invasives, but the effects the rest are having are mostly unknown.
This little (corrected) "arachnid" could easily play a villain (one of many villains). We could tie this thread together with my other thread about people that feed wildlife. What a great opportunity for a pest that does not even need a male to multiply! People feed and invite this pest to the table so it can crawl from one wild animal to the next and then do what it does best: feed and propagate! And we thought vampires were bad!
No I had not seen that article. It does give my speculation more teeth; of course nothing proving that has been released as of now. Perhaps Netflix can use that for another season of Stranger Things?
I was too busy reading an article on the Sudden Oak Death bacteria that is now killing rhododendrons: http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/wp-con...ododendron.pdf. It just seems like we are hearing of more problems everyday.
Sounds absurd. I can't see the Pentagon saying "lets experiment with weaponizing ticks with a bacterium that hasn't been described yet, that could potentially infect our enemies with really bad arthritis and nasty headaches".
No I had not seen that article. It does give my speculation more teeth; of course nothing proving that has been released as of now. Perhaps Netflix can use that for another season of Stranger Things?
I was too busy reading an article on the Sudden Oak Death bacteria that is now killing rhododendrons: http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/wp-con...ododendron.pdf. It just seems like we are hearing of more problems everyday.
Sudden oak death has been around for at least 20 years, it appeared in Europe at almost the same time. so Europe says we started it and we say they started it. but where the heck was it 30 years ago?
if you've even been to west virginia around Seneca rocks, there's mile after mile of rhododendron forests that would be absolutely decimated if SOD ever arrived there. as it stands now, the nursery industry is really having headaches with it because it will sometimes inadvertently show up in their greenhouses, and infected plants end up getting distributed all over the place. then USDA does a very expensive and time-consuming trace-back to try to locate and destroy all the plants that were sold from that operation before the disease can spread even further.
it's easy to see how exotic organisms could be used as an economic weapon. the USA has already spent $750 million over the past 20 years on fighting off just the Asian longhorn beetle, and lost tens of thousands of trees in the process.
Sudden oak death has been around for at least 20 years, it appeared in Europe at almost the same time. so Europe says we started it and we say they started it. but where the heck was it 30 years ago?......
According to the Center for Invasive Species Research it is believed to have been introduced from Asia and proliferated in plant nurseries. The first cases of Sudden Oak Death in North America were reported in Marin County, CA and Santa Cruz County, CA in 1994 in tanoak and 1995 in coast live oak. https://cisr.ucr.edu/sudden_oak_death.html
Some additional information about the over 40 species and locations of plants/trees that are susceptible to the pathogen: https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-...dden-oak-death
I did not know that all of these above noted species are susceptible.
According to the Center for Invasive Species Research it is believed to have been introduced from Asia and proliferated in plant nurseries. The first cases of Sudden Oak Death in North America were reported in Marin County, CA and Santa Cruz County, CA in 1994 in tanoak and 1995 in coast live oak. https://cisr.ucr.edu/sudden_oak_death.html
Some additional information about the over 40 species and locations of plants/trees that are susceptible to the pathogen: https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-...dden-oak-death
I did not know that all of these above noted species are susceptible.
.
thanks, it looks like i misremembered that. seems like all the bad stuff we're dealing with now comes from asia.
thanks, it looks like i misremembered that. seems like all the bad stuff we're dealing with now comes from asia.
Species that evolved in high diversity areas (SE Asia) may have a competitive advantage when introduced to lower diversity areas like North America. They are "fighters".
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
