[APWG] Ecosystem Restoration or CONTROL? Re: FW: host specific biological controls of Japanese Stiltgrassand other non-native invasive species.
Wayne Tyson
landrest at cox.net
Tue Feb 12 22:46:42 CST 2013
Marc and APWG:
I share your yearnings for a silver bullet/bug, but as long as the kinds of disturbances that tip site conditions in favor of (say) cheatgrass are allowed to continue (e.g., livestock operations), cheatgrass and other organisms favored by disturbed-site conditions will persist. A healthy ecosystem (assemblages of organisms that evolved in the place in question) is the best and cheapest way to cheat cheatgrass. After all, the indigenous species which evolved under the slings and arrows of outrageous Nature on any given site are still, by definition, the best-suited to the site conditions that will eventually return to "normal" once the change agents have been withdrawn.
Other invasive aliens which have evolved under similar conditions on other continents do sometimes find undisturbed indigenous habitats so congenial to their own requirements that they will feel right at home in some healthy ecosystems--organisms do what they can, when they can, where they can. Ultimately, though, Nature bats last and best--whether we like it or not.
But until ecologists and other biologists collect, store, and model data on the ranges of limitations and requirements that characterize organisms, they will be consigned to guesswork, based on anecdotal observations of cause and effect, often forgetting that correlation is not always causation, and certainly is not the whole picture.
For the most part, "we don' need no stinkin' silver bullets." What we need is in integrated understanding of dynamic wholes. A tough task, for sure, but not one that any scientist should shrink from in terror--nay, one to be embraced with gusto and determination.
WT
PS: Don't forget that many a "biological control" has backfired, and that "nine-tenths of the hell being raised in the world is well-intentioned."
----- Original Message -----
From: Marc Imlay
To: ficmnew at mail.afpmb.org ; apwg at lists.plantconservation.org ; aliens-l at list.auckland.ac.nz
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 3:35 AM
Subject: [APWG] FW: host specific biological controls of Japanese Stiltgrassand other non-native invasive species.
Here is an example of the need for research for biocontrols; Let's do the same for our invasive Japanese Stiltgrass.: Cheatgrass "has fuelled almost 80% of the largest fires in the west over the last ten years. Researchers are looking at a range of solutions including using a fungus to attack the grass seed. "
Marc Imlay, PhD,
Conservation biologist, Park Ranger Office
Non-native Invasive Plant Control coordinator.
(301) 442-5657 cell ialm at erols.com
Natural and Historical Resources Division
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
www.pgparks.com
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From: Marc Imlay [mailto:ialm at erols.com]
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2013 10:32 PM
To: 'FriendsOfSligoCreek at yahoogroups.com'
Subject: host specific biological controls of Japanese Stiltgrass and other non-native invasive species.
-----Original Message-----
From: Sierra Club Maryland Chapter,Alien Invasive [mailto:MD-CONS-INVASIVES at LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG] On Behalf Of Alex Binck, Stewardship Outings Intern, Marc Imlay
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2013 4:00 PM
To: MD-CONS-INVASIVES at LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG
Subject: [MD-CONS-INVASIVES] Japanese Stiltgrass Send Out To State Senators and Representatives
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Please send a request to your Senators and Representatives to restore and expand research by the Federal goverment, including the US Department of Agriculture, on host specific biological controls of Japanese Stiltgrass and other non-native invasive species. The following sample letter, legislative contact information and background information can be used to prepare your request.
Dear sir. The Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club requests restoration and expansion of research by the Federal goverment, including the US Department of Agriculture, on host specific biological controls of Japanese Stiltgrass and other non-native invasive species. The field trip hikers of the Sierra Club remember how bad it was this year on our outings events. We request that the Budget Control Acts of 2012 and 2013 not reduce the annual federal funding of Federal R & D for biological Control research. (www.aaas.org/spp/rd ) Please include research for Lyme Disease and Deer Tick control.
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN (Democrat), U.S. Senator from Maryland
Capitol Hill:
509 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-4524; fax: (202) 224-1651
web: www.cardin.senate.gov
BARBARA A. MIKULSKI (Democrat), U.S. Senator from Maryland
Capitol Hill:
Hart Senate Office Building, Suite 503, Washington, DC 20510 - 2003
(202) 224-4654; fax: (202) 224-8858; tdd: (202) 224-5223
web: www.mikulski.senate.gov
ANDREW P. HARRIS, M.D. (Republican), U.S. Representative, 1st Congressional District (Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's, Caroline, Talbot, Dorchester, Wicomico, Worcester & Somerset counties; & parts of Anne Arundel, Baltimore & Harford counties), Maryland
Capitol Hill:
506 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5311; fax: (202) 225-0254
web: http://harris.house.gov
C. A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER III (Democrat), U.S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District (parts of Anne Arundel, Baltimore & Harford counties, & Baltimore City), Maryland.
Capitol Hill:
2453 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 - 2002
(202) 225-3061, toll free: 1-800-877-8339 (voice/tty); fax: (202) 225-3094
web: http://dutch.house.gov
JOHN P. SARBANES (Democrat), U.S. Representative, 3rd Congressional District (parts of Anne Arundel, Baltimore & Howard counties, & Baltimore City), Maryland
Capitol Hill:
2444 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4016; fax: (202) 225-9219
web: http://sarbanes.house.gov
DONNA F. EDWARDS (Democrat)
U.S. Representative, 4th Congressional District (parts of Prince George's & Montgomery counties), Maryland
Capitol Hill:
318 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-8699; fax: (202) 225-8714
web: http://donnaedwards.house.gov/
STENY H. HOYER (Democrat), U.S. Representative, 5th Congressional District (Calvert, Charles & St. Mary's counties, & parts of Anne Arundel & Prince George's counties), Maryland.
Capitol Hill:
1705 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4131; fax: (202) 225-4300
web: http://hoyer.house.gov
JOHN K. DELANEY (Democrat), U.S. Representative, 6th Congressional District (Allegany, Garrett & Washington counties, & parts of Frederick & Montgomery counties), Maryland.
Capitol Hill:
1632 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 - 2006
(202) 225-2721; fax: (202) 225-2193
web: http://delaney.house.gov
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS (Democrat), U.S. Representative, 7th Congressional District (parts of Baltimore City, & Baltimore & Howard counties), Maryland
Capitol Hill:
2235 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4741; fax: (202) 225-3178
web: www.house.gov/cummings/
CHRISTOPHER VAN HOLLEN, JR. (Democrat), U.S. Representative, 8th Congressional District (parts of Montgomery & Prince George's counties), Maryland.
Capitol Hill:
1707 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5341; fax: (202) 225-0375
web: http://vanhollen.house.gov
Let's facilitate restoration and expansion of research by the Federal goverment, including US Department of Agriculture, on host specific biological controls of Japanese Stiltgrass and other non-native invasive species. The field trip hikers of the Sierra Club remember how bad it was this year on our outings events. Now is a good time to request that the Budget Control Acts of 2012 and 2013 not reduce the annual federal funding of Federal R & D for biological Control research. (www.aaas.org/spp/rd )
Japanese Stiltgrass has destroyed 10% of our natural environment in our region according to the surveys done by the National Park Service several years ago. We have been removing it at many of our preservation sites so that native plants, and the animals that depend on them, can recolonize in infested areas once a native or host specific non-native biological control arrives. Unfortunately, climate change has made routine control of Japanese Stiltgrass several times more difficult this year. Normally we remove it in late July and come back in late August for late emergents and it takes 10-20% of the effort for the second treatment by hand pulling or spraying of monocultures. Now an equal amount of stiltgrass comes back to treat because of the long hot Summers. Stiltgrass has been observed to cover much, much more than 10% of our habitats in our region.
Our tool kit for successful control of non-native invasive plants includes preventing new invasive species from coming in from Europe, Asia, and other continents, manual removal, the use of carefully targeted herbicides, and host specific biological controls.
Non-native invasive plants are covering all our natural areas in the region. The quantity of native plants and animals replaced by competition with non-native species is greater than that lost from all other causes except direct development in our terrestrial habitats and water pollution in our aquatic habitats.
Non-native invasive species of plants such as English Ivy, Japanese Stiltgrass and Kudzu are covering the natural areas that we in the conservation movement have worked so hard to protect from habitat destruction, erosion and water pollution. Just as we are making progress on wetlands, stream bank stabilization, and endangered species, these plants from other parts of the world have typically covered 20-90% of the surface area of our forests, streams and meadows. Many of us feel demoralized and powerless to combat these invaders that have few natural herbivores or other controls. A typical park is 50-500 acres and has over a hundred species of native plants let alone the hundreds of native species of insects, mushrooms, snails, reptiles, mammals and birds that depend upon the plants prior to being covered by monocultures of 5-10 alien species.
One of our most productive activities to save our natural areas is to facilitate research that will make host specific biological controls available. Insects that consume the non-native invasive plant species can substitute for the controls where the species came from in the world. Of the 15 top non-native invasive plant species in the mid-Atlantic region three (Purple Loosestrife, Mile-a-minute and Garlic Mustard) now have one or two non-native insects or fungi that feed on them although the permit request for garlic mustard has not been approved yet. They were brought over after being tested for host specificity in Eurasia and then tested in quarantine conditions in the United States. Typically, about 50 such bio-control agents control these species in their native countries so if one or two can control them here that is amazing. In actuality, bio-controls work about half the time reducing the invasive species to about 10% of its former abundance. The problem of bio-controls harming non-target organisms is only about 3% as frequent as before the new rules of proving host specificity went into affect about 20 years ago. Native and indigenous biocontrols are also searched for in the range of the non-native invasive species in America.
Success stories include a native viral pathogen (rose-rosette disease), which is spread by a tiny native mite, Rose-rosette disease, native to the western U.S., that has been spreading eastwardly at a slow pace and is thought to hold the potential for eliminating multiflora rose in areas where it grows in dense patches. Tree of Heaven is an invasive non-native plant and is considered one of the top ten weeds in North America for about 200 years. A law passed in the 19th centuary makes it illegal to plant it in Washington, DC. A mixture of field and laboratory research shows that native and indigenous biocontrols from the new Southern part of the range are available. The insects consist of Aculops ailanthii and Atteva punctella with various fusarium fungi co-hosts.
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