Tuesday, 9 March 2010
By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News

A tiny Japanese insect that could help the fight against an aggressive superweed has been given the go-ahead for a trial release in England.

Since Japanese knotweed was introduced to the UK it has rapidly spread, and the plant currently costs over £150m a year to control and clear.

But scientists say a natural predator in the weed’s native home of Japan could also help to control it here.

The insect will initially be released in a handful of sites this spring.

This is the first time that biocontrol – the use of a “natural predator” to control a pest – has been used in the EU to fight a weed.

Wildlife Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said: “These tiny insects, which naturally prey on Japanese Knotweed, will help free local authorities and industry from the huge cost of treating and killing this devastating plant.”

Alien invaders

Japanese knotweed was introduced to the UK by the Victorians as an ornamental plant, but it soon escaped from gardens and started its rampant spread throughout the UK.

It grows incredibly quickly – more than one metre a month – and rapidly swamps any other vegetation in its path.

It is so hardy that it can burst through tarmac and concrete, causing costly hurt to pavements, roads and buildings.

But removal is hard and expensive; new estimates suggest it costs the UK economy £150m a year.

But, in Japan, the plant is common but does not rage out of control like it does in the UK, thanks to the natural predators that keep it in check.

Scientists at Cabi – a not-for-profit agricultural research organisation – used this as their starting point to track down a potential knotweed solution.

They looked at the superweed’s natural predators – nearly 200 species of plant-eating insects and about 40 species of fungi – with the aim of finding one with an appetite for Japanese knotweed and small else.

After testing their candidates on 90 different UK plant species, including plants closely related to Japanese knotweed such as bindweeds and vital crops and ornamental species, they learned a psyllid called Aphalara itadori was the best control agent.

The small insect feeds on the sap of the superweed, stunting its growth.

Dr Dick Shaw, the lead researcher on the project from Cabi, told BBC News: “Safety is our top priority. We are lucky that we do have an extremely specific agent – it just eats invasive knotweeds.”

Following peer review by the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment and a public consultation, the UK government has now given the go-ahead for release of Aphalara itadori, under licence, in England.

The Welsh Assembly is expected to announce its choice on the psyllid soon.

The insects will initially be released on a handful of sites.

These will be isolated and, in addition to as having the superweed present, will also have UK species that are closely related to Japanese knotweed planted there to check that the psyllid only targets the invasive species.

Dr Shaw said: “In the early stages, a contingency plot is in place so that should, in the unlikely event, any unintended consequences be detected, we will be able to do something about it.

“Insecticide and herbicide treatment will be on standby for rapid response.”

If this phase is successful, the insect will be released at further sites, where it will undergo an intensive monitoring programme over the next five years.

Dr Shaw said: “On the localised sites, I would expect to see hurt knotweed this season.

“But, biocontrol is a long-term strategy – it could take five to 10 years to have a real impact.”

The government believes that if the plot is successful it will reduce the costs to the building and engineering industries of clearing the plant.

But, some critics say that it is impossible to be certain that the Japanese insect will only target the superweed and could attack other species once in the wild.

See more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8555378.stm

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“My two friends and I chose to go hiking and camping in a dense wood near my friend Josh’s house,” reports Kenna. “As we were driving on an ancient dirt lane to get to the trail, we stopped at an ancient gas station. As Josh and Jason were fueling up, I wandered into the store part to grab some munchies. An elderly woman at the counter eyed me suspiciously and questioned where we were headed. I told her there was a trail back in the woods where there were supposedly ancient-looking pyramid-type buildings made out of stone. The ancient woman narrowed her eyes at me and shook her head and her next woods chilled me to the bone: ‘There’s no reason for anyone to go back there!’….” Maybe Kenna and her friends should have listened to the ancient crone because, well… read the rest of the tale.

More reasons to dread the woods:

• Dark Entity in the Woods
• Small Man in the Woods
• The Haunting at Harvey Woods

Wailing in the Woods originally appeared on About.com Paranormal Phenomena on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 20:06:43.

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Dropping off or picking up? And What/Whom?…

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More than wooly mammoths in Siberia, comrade!…

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Science editor Alan Boyle’s Weblog: Fresh imagery from Europe’s Mars Express orbiter focuses on the Martian moon Phobos, which has become a prime destination for space exploration.

Mars – Mars Express – Phobos – Technology – Solar System

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AN invisible star may be circling the Sun and causing deadly comets to bombard the Earth, scientists said yesterday.

The brown dwarf – up to five times the size of Jupiter – could be to blame for mass extinctions that occur here every 26 million years.

The star – nicknamed Nemesis by Nasa scientists – would be invisible as it only emits infrared light and is incredibly distant.

Nemesis is believed to orbit our solar system at 25,000 times the distance of the Earth to the Sun.

As it spins through the galaxy, its gravitational pull drags icy bodies out of the Oort Cloud – a vast sphere of rock and dust twice as far away as Nemesis.

These “snowballs” are thrown towards Earth as comets, causing devastation similar to the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Now Nasa boffins believe they will be able to find Nemesis using a new heat-seeking telescope that started scanning the skies in January.

The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer – expected to find a thousand brown dwarfs within 25 light years of the Sun – has already sent back a photo of a comet possibly dislodged from the Oort Cloud.

Scientists’ first clue to the existence of Nemesis was the bizarre orbit of a dwarf planet called Sedna.

Boffins believe its unusual, 12,000-year-long oval orbit could be clarified by a massive celestial body.

Mike Brown, who learned Sedna in 2003, said: “Sedna is a very odd object – it shouldn’t be there.

“The only way to get on an eccentric orbit is to have some giant body kick you – so what is out there?”

Professor John Matese, of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said most comets come from the same part of the Oort Cloud.

He added: “There is statistically significant evidence that this concentration of comets could be caused by a companion to the Sun.”

[via: thesun.co.uk]

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http://e-edition.metroherald.ie/2010/03/15/ – p9.

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Therealworldno.blogspot.com

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