Insect army crawling into battle (against hemlock woolly adelgid, Maine)

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=144230&ac=PHnws

YORK — Sometimes you have to fight bugs with bugs.

That was the theory that several forest entomologists were proceeding on, anyway, as they coaxed flea-size beetles from plastic vials on Tuesday and deposited them in the branches of hemlocks on the flank of Mount Agamenticus.

Great hopes are resting on the tiny black beetles, Laricobius nigrinus, which quickly disappeared among the green needles. The beetles' preferred diet is another insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid, which has spread into southern Maine over the last decade and has the potential to decimate the state's hemlock population. Tuesday's release of 900 beetles was experimental, but entomologists are hoping the bugs will reproduce and help keep the woolly adelgid from spreading.

Though results may not be visible for many years, forest managers anticipate that the beetles, which are native to the Pacific Northwest, will provide a natural line of defense against a predator that threatens a species of great economic and ecological value.

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[EV_Ares]

1. Interesting article jpak. Probably this is another case where we screwed

up the environmental chain somewhere along the line. I imagine the hemlock woolly adelgid had its natural predator destroyed or was brought in here from somewhere somewhere in the past when it shouldn't have been.

In other words man is not smarter than Mother Nature. Hope this works.

[The2ndWheel]

2. "where we screwed up the environmental chain somewhere along the line."

"Though results may not be visible for many years, forest managers anticipate that the beetles, which are native to the Pacific Northwest"

"Hope this works."

I don't even know where you get the hope from.

[EV_Ares]

3. I know but I am going to continue to try & not lose hope as hard as

it is not to do.

[appal_jack]

4. a friend of mine works on this quite a bit

He runs the website http://www.drmcbug.com/
and is a cool cat all-around, with a good head on his shoulders.

There is a PowerPoint at the link above describing his HWA work. I don't have time to review it now, but I believe that McBug is using the Laricobius beetle (referenced in jpak's original link) and two other predators who are active at other times of the year. By "bracketing" the Hemlock Woolies with predators on all sides/times, the Hemlock trees seem to have even more of a fighting chance.

-app

[XemaSab]

5. $5 says

this bug they're releasing is going to go on to cause more damage than the wooly whatsis.