Has insect detective Timothy Paine uncovered a case of biological sabotage? | Hacker News Reader

Has insect detective Timothy Paine uncovered a case of biological sabotage?

failuremag.com

43 pointsgruseom11 comments

https://web.archive.org/web/20120709151526/http://failuremag...

I appreciate that the headline on HN has been toned-down from the original. The word "bioterrorism" definitely doesn't apply to what may be going on here.

This may now apply now though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_Law_of_Headlines

That and misusing "begs the question" aren't the only things wrong with this article.

When I noticed the name of the publication - "Failure Magazine" - I laughed out loud.

Even the toned-down link text given here is somewhat unfair to the article, which is really about how we deal with an introduced plant (in this case the eucalyptus tree in California) that has both good and bad effects on the local biota. There is no clear The Right Thing to do here, and it's a fascinating issue to consider.

It's how we deal with a non-native plant, but the interesting bit is the strange introduction frequency and odd spatial pattern of insects that kill and injure that particular plant.

Site seems to be down. Readibility via google cache: http://www.readability.com/articles/vap3uudt

I'm not ashamed to admit that I could use a tl;dr version.

In the 150 years that eucalyptus have been in California, only quite recently have their native pests made it over from Australia. It's possible somebody is intentionally bringing eucalyptus harming pests over and there's some decent evidence pointing towards that.

Further, there's some debate whether eucalyptus in California is beneficial or an invasive weed and whether attempts to introduce the pests' predators are a good idea or not.

I was curious as to what the evidence for deliberate pest introduction was, so I skimmed the pertinent section of the article, and came away with this:

-- the infestation "jumped" from one part of CA to another

-- rumors of an individual bragging about having moved the borer

-- borers initially detected in S. CA (ports/airports would make N. CA more likely)

-- introductions of borers occurred in bunches with multi-year lulls

-- native ranges of borer species all include the same east coast AU state

-- the 2 invasive eucalyptus species are particularly suceptible to these borers

-- pests have appeared in CA first before spreading; 7 are found only in AU and CA

-- nursery trade does not import eucalyptus

-- 14/17 of AU pests introduced in CA since 1980 are eucalyptus-specific

-- only 2/16 eucalyptus pests arrived with their predators

-- no South America / Asia pests have invaded CA, only AU pests

Arguments against this theory:

-- borer is the only pest so far found that is fatal to the eucalyptus

-- pests could survive the 14-15 hour direct flight in a plane's cargo hold

> Further, there's some debate whether eucalyptus in California is beneficial or an invasive weed and whether attempts to introduce the pests' predators are a good idea or not.

Like pines, eucalypts drop toxic leaves, so all the other plants die. AFAIK, only Koalas can eat their leaves. The toxin is eucalyptus oil.

Another strategy eucalypts have for eliminating the competition is exacerbating bushfires. Eucalyptus oil is highly flammable; and unlike pines, eucalypts are fire resistant.

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