Beetle Released In Texas To Combat Invasive Weeds
Officials are hoping that a beetle released in Texas will help kill off an invasive weed that has nearly taken over the entire ecosystem.
The Army Corps of Engineers has been breeding the alligator weed flea beetle and releasing into the Dallas Floodway Extension in hopes of stopping the spread of a weed that clogs waterways and threatens local fish populations, Yahoo News reported.
Folks around Dallas have high hopes for the South American beetle as it’s released into Texas.
“These are good bugs,” Julie Nachtrieb, who raises the beetles, told CBS. “They’re not going to bite people. They’re not going to be a pest.”
The situation in North Texas is growing dire, a biologist told CBS. The alligator weeds are controlling the floodway and clogging the river.
“Throughout this wetland, there’s a five foot fringe of just alligator weed,” one biologist told CBS. “No other plant can really establish itself there.”
The alligator weed has no natural predators in Texas, but it just so happens that the alligator weed flea beetle feeds exclusively on the plant.
“This insect can only feed on this plant or it will die. They’ve evolved together; they co-exist,” Nachtrieb said. “The insect depends on the plant. It cannot feed on anything else.”
It won’t be the first rescue mission for the beetle now being released in Texas. The Army Corps of Engineers has released the alligator weed flea beetle in California and South Carolina in 1964 and has even been released in Texas before, Yahoo reported. After the success the beetles had during previous invasions of the alligator weed, other countries followed the example and released beetles of their own.
The alligator weed flea beetle released in Texas is having success so far, Yahoo reported.
Tags : alligator weed, alligator weed flea beetle, army corps of engineers, army corps of engineers beetle, beetle released in texas, texas beetle
Posted: July 21, 2012
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Jul 21, 2012
Hmmmm… did anyone else notice the typo in the first line? "
Officials are hoping that a beetle released in Texas will help kill off an invasive week that has nearly taken over the entire ecosystem."— I sure hope they take care of this invasive "week"! LOL
Jul 21, 2012
These kind of introductions have never worked out quite like they think they will. Cant see this one working out either.
Jul 22, 2012
my 5 year old grandson can spell and type better than that lol.
Jul 22, 2012
…yeah cuz that worked every other time they've introduced a foreign plant/animal to the ecosystem…the invader ALWAYS ends up f^@#ing things up worse…
Jul 22, 2012
Once the weeds are gone, they will start eating people.
Jul 22, 2012
What the hell is an "invasive week?" Learn how to type.
Jul 22, 2012
I need some of those beetles to help kill off an invasive week called work.
Jul 22, 2012
oh i know just like when they introduced europeans to north america
Jul 22, 2012
wow really thanks for that insight , can't see this one working out either, did you read the part where it was already working out or is this just another opportunity for a glass half full comment?
Jul 22, 2012
you must be very young if you dont know that they have been doing this kind of stuff for decades. always with bad results. in a few more years we will be reading about how it went wrong. but i see you have added ignorant comment throughout, so that kind of negates anything you have to say.
Jul 22, 2012
Well said.
Jul 22, 2012
does anyone remember kudzu.
Jul 22, 2012
…just like when the govt introduced the "crack cricket" into inner cities to wipe out poor people. Well it worked, some of the poor made a bunch of money selling it.
Jul 22, 2012
Wow! A lot of people here that never make mistakes! Spelling and grammar police academy must be getting very full! If you have nothing better to do than ridicule for one typo, then I suggest you go somewhere and volunteer or something and get off of your high horse.
Jul 22, 2012
Thats when the non workers invade the workers, just saying!
Jul 23, 2012
Thanks for the backup Kiley, not sure how that slipped by but a lot of people have nothing better to do with their time.
Jul 23, 2012
You're welcome. I get so tired of people looking for a chance to ridicule anything they can!! They must be so unhappy with their lives. Great story, by the way!
Jul 23, 2012
Grow up. It was one mistake. Do you walk on water??? I am sure you are PERFECT.
Jul 26, 2012
Or the creation in a lab and release of the Love Bug in the south. You know, that connected at the butt cross of a lightening bug and a mosquito that was suppose to eradicate the mosquito? All they do is swarm in massive numbers, then die.