Project: Green Industry

TV show spotlights invasive species fight

The threat invasive species pose is now getting mass media exposure. A new TV series on ABC will highlight the threat to homeland security posed by invasive species.

The program, “Homeland Security USA,” premiered on Jan. 6 in primetime. The first episode, “This is Your Car on Drugs,” featured international entry points to the U.S. such as the Los Angeles International Airport. The episode went behind the scenes with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to see some unusual illegal items intercepted at the International Mail Center in Carson, Calif.

More episodes will feature California’s airports and the measures taken by Customs and Border Protection officials to protect the state’s agriculture and commerce from invasive pests and diseases.

“This series is an important reminder of the risk we face from invasive species introduced each day in California,” said CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura. “Whether it’s bats, exotic insects or livestock, CDFA persistently works at all major points of entry to uncover illegal transportation of dangerous pests and diseases that threaten our food supply and our health. We are pleased with the collaboration between agencies to protect our state against the invasion of exotic pests and diseases.”

I’m sure they’ll eventually get to longhorn beetles and gypsy moths.

-- Jyme

Prepare for the “War of the Weeds”

Weed Science Society of America reports that consumers and growers may be facing a new generation of more aggressive weeds as a result of global warming. One of the reasons for the development of these “super” weeds is the increased amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. The rising level of carbon dioxide gas has enabled plants to grow faster, become more drought resistant and to potentially produce higher yields. That may be good for commercially produced food, fiber and ornamental crops, but bad for plants like weeds that often compete with these other crops for the same resources.

“Weeds are survivors,” said Lee Van Wychen, director of science policy for the Weed Science Society of America. “They can fill various niches and thrive under a wide range of conditions.”

Van Wychen said there are more than 400 species of weeds associated with the 45 major crops produced in the United States.

“There is always another weed species ready to become a major competitor with a crop if growing conditions change, such as an increase in carbon dioxide levels,” he said.

Plant physiologist Lewis Ziska with USDA Agricultural Research Service has found that rising carbon dioxide levels can have a major impact on the growth of weeds. In studies of weeds grown under urban conditions of warmer temperatures and more carbon dioxide, plants grew to four times the height of those in a rural plot 40 miles outside the city.

“As the climate and carbon dioxide levels change, we can no longer assume the weed control strategies we used in the past will continue to work,” Ziska said. “Not only are some of the nation’s most invasive weeds spreading, but they are becoming more difficult and costly to control.”

-- Dave

Beetle outbreak may be linked to climate change

Scientists are trying to decipher if there’s a link between a large-scale mountain pine beetle outbreak in Yellowstone National Park and overall climate change.

Wayne State University assistant professor Dan Kashian received a $306,296 grant from the National Institute of Climate Change Research to study the beetles’ effects. He’s hoping to determine if the outbreaks will occur more frequently and what that may mean to the environment.

Here’s the situation. The mountain pine beetles attack large, old growth trees and cause them to die slowly over 2-3 years. This has two repercussions: The dead trees and needles are a fire risk, plus they alter the carbon cycling between the forest and the atmosphere.

“Trees take up CO₂ from the atmosphere as they grow, but release CO₂ as they die and decay,” Kashian said. “Anytime you’re releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, you’re potentially contributing to climate change. Bugs are very tuned in to climate. If climate change leads to a warmer or drier climate that favors bark beetle populations, those bugs will kill more trees, which may accelerate the whole process.”

Kashian will investigate whether climate changes that have already happened may have contributed to current changes.

Kashian will inventory carbon stored in the forest using live and dead trees. He did a similar study after the wildfires in Yellowstone in 1988.

-- Jyme

Bark beetle infestation creates market for specialty wood

The scene is stark and sad. Millions of Colorado’s pines have been killed by the mountain pine beetle (MPB), a small insect with a colossal impact. But the Colorado State Forest Service and the Colorado Wood Utilization and Marketing Program found a positive spin in the midst of this insect epidemic.

Trees killed by bark beetles have a blue stain, which are being marketed for their unusual and attractive denim color. Fungal spores are carried on the beetle’s bodies and are spread as the female lays her eggs under the bark, which creates the blue stain. The fungus poses no danger to humans, it won’t move from the wood to other media and it won’t decay the wood.

Blue-stain wood can be found in paneling, wainscoting, flooring, cabinets, furniture and specialty art products for its character and appeal. To find companies selling blue-stain wood products, visit www.coloradoforestproducts.org/bluewood.htm.

-- Kelli

Native or not?

Debate about invasive plants continues to make headlines. The ongoing discussion is prompting many people to look at alternatives, including native plants. Which begs the question, just what is a native plant anyway?

The answer isn’t as clear as you may think. The Federal Native Plant Committee offers this definition: “a native plant species is one that occurs naturally in a particular region, state, ecosystem and habitat without direct or indirect human actions.”

This broad description is only marginally helpful to retailers trying to determine which plants belong in its natives department. To further complicate matters, some diehard enthusiasts believe only plants that grew in the United States prior to the arrival of Europeans (and their imported plants) should be considered native.

I’m going to explore this issue further in the July issue of Garden Center Magazine. In the meantime, I’d like to hear your thoughts. What are your criteria for native plants? Are you even carrying them? Are customers specifically asking for natives?

-- Sarah

Study scrutinizes U.S. plant screening

The U.S. government’s approach to invasive plant screening is less effective than systems set up in Australia and New Zealand, according to a study released in February by the Nature Conservancy and University of Florida. Researchers looked at the regulatory weed risk assessment (WRA) system in Australia and New Zealand.

“The WRA system can be used to test all new plants proposed for import and determine whether or not a plant should be allowed entry into a country in under 24 hours,” said Doria Gordon, associate director of science for the Nature Conservancy’s Florida chapter and lead author of the research paper. “Under the current U.S. law, few species are tested and the process can take up to 8 weeks.”

-- Sarah

Will work for food

When invasive plant species threatened the 54-acre grounds at a Portland, Ore., private school, the grounds supervisor responded with tools more powerful than the latest herbicides: goats.

Mike Wilson is using a 13-head herd to battle English ivy, which can climb and kill trees.

“They’ve already made a massive dent,” Wilson told Oregon City News in Portland. “They’ve eaten it to about 5 feet high, maybe 6.”

Wilson said the goats cleared a hillside overgrown with Himalayan blackberry. The same hillside swallowed a riding mower. The goats “decimated it,” he said.

“They’re a phenomenal tool,” Wilson said.

-- Kevin

Yet another reason to dislike kudzu

Kudzu -- the vine that ate the South -- may be pumping significant levels of pollution into the air.

Univ. of Virginia researcher Manuel Lerdau and State Univ. of New York scientist Jonathan Hickman believe that kudzu is emitting sizable amounts of ground-level ozone, potentially increasing smog, aggravating respiratory ailments and quickening the pace of global climate change.

Kudzu produces 2 key ingredients of ozone. It emits from its leaves a volatile organic compound called isoprene into the air. And its roots convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonium, some of which can leak into the soil, where it is converted by bacteria into nitric oxide. In the presence of sunlight, isoprene and nitric oxide mix together to make ozone.

-- Kevin

(Image courtesy of Forest & Kim Starr, U.S. Geological Survey, Bugwood.org)

Kudzu creeps northward

Canadian scientists are on watch for kudzu. “The vine that ate the South” has moved into Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York, and may pose a threat to Canada, according to the Univ. of Toronto’s Ecology Dept.

Heather Coiner is in the 2nd of a 5-year study of kudzu funded by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. It’s probably just a matter of time, scientists say, before global warming allows the aggressive vine to survive in Canada.

“I’ve seen it in Albany, N.Y.,” Coiner told the Toronto Star. “The crown was very large, it was probably 10-15 years old.” The plant was destroyed, but the fact it had survived winters in upstate New York is a worry for invasive-plant researchers. So far, no kudzu sightings have been reported in Canada, Marilyn Taylor at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency told the newspaper.

-- Kelli

Web site offers tips to battle invasives

Center for Invasive Plant Management collaborated with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Nat’l. Wildlife Refuge System to design an online training course for volunteers interested in fighting invasive species. The invasive species Web site includes video, text and photos that provide background on the Refuge System and info about the science and management of invasive plants.

-- David