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Biological pest control is not a silver bullet. We have a history littered with biological pest control disasters. These studies need to take into account effec

by gnufrra 11y ago

Biological pest control is not a silver bullet. We have a history littered with biological pest control disasters. These studies need to take into account effect on native biodiversity. For example Hawaii introduce mongoose to control rats as it turn out they will kill native birds more than the rats.

ggchappell 11y ago
Just a wee bit off-topic, but: The situation with the native species of Hawaii is actually much worse than most people are aware -- even people who live in Hawaii. I read somewhere[1] that, if you walk around a typical coastal town in Hawaii, and look at the lawns & gardens & parks, and watch the birds & whatnot, that you will generally not see any native species at all. The ones big enough to see are all confined to the interior. EDIT. And, by the way, the rats weren't native, either. Hawaii has exactly two native mammals: the Hawaiian Hoary Bat and the Hawaiian Monk Seal. [1] I think it was in Remains of a Rainbow, by D. Liittschwager & S. Middleton. https://amazon.com/dp/0792264126/ https://amazon.com/dp/0792264126/
- lutorm 11y ago
  It seems defining what "native" means on Hawaii is a bit sketchy. Clearly no animals were on the islands when they first were created, so everything is more or less "invasive". Speaking of ants that live in trees, the Big Island is being overrun by the Little Fire Ant, which has already spread across much of the rainy side. I'm sure it protects the trees from pests, too, but in this case that unfortunately also includes humans. They have a nasty bite, and are very hard to control, which is making farming in infested areas hell. http://littlefireants.com/ http://littlefireants.com/
  - ggchappell 11y ago
    Yes, here I am tossing around the word, and, to be honest, I cannot say exactly what it means. I suspect that a species would be counted as native Hawaiian if it was found on the island chain before the coming of humans.
  - guard-of-terra 11y ago
    It's "endemic" perhaps.
  - oh_sigh 11y ago
    They are native, because they existed in no other place than Hawaii. The species literally did not exist until Hawaii made it so. The first species to come to Hawaii were invasive.
    - MichaelGG 11y ago
      So if I introduce some animal to Hawaii, then wait until they speciate, then they're native? I suppose that works.
    - lutorm 11y ago
      Ok, that makes sense.
  - hyperbovine 11y ago
    > so everything is more or less "invasive". That's simply not true. I'm not so familiar with the fauna of Hawaii, but you can consider the moa which was happily ensconced in New Zealand for about 20 million years, and extinct within 200 years of the Polynesian settlement in the late 13th century. It's pretty clear to me in a situation like that what was native and who the invaders were, and I'd be surprised if the situation in Hawaii were very different.
    - frobozz 11y ago
      I suspect that the parent poster is talking about the geology of Hawaii. New Zealand was part of Gondwanaland, and became isolated by continental drift. Anything living there when the islands became separated from the rest of the supercontinent is native. Hawaii is a bunch of volcanoes that sprung out of the middle of the ocean. There were no land animals on the islands when they first became islands. Now, that's a slightly topsy-turvy definition of native, which (etymologically) should mean any species that came into existence on the island.
  - A1kmm 11y ago
    'Native' usually means one of two more precisely defined terms: * Indigenous - it got there without any human intervention. * Endemic - it is not found anywhere else. I imagine that many sea birds would be indigenous there at the very least.
ambicapter 11y ago
Seems like a world of difference between letting ants do their thing and importing mongooses to hawaii.
InclinedPlane 11y ago
It's not the tools it's the mindset. Thinking of ways to tip the balance and wipe out pests so that you can grow a highly vulnerable monoculture crop is a very fragile solution that is dynamically unstable. We should be thinking in terms of systems not silver bullets. Lots of farms do this and it's honestly not that hard, it just requires knowledge, process, and some diligence. But we've been defaulting toward auto-pilot agriculture for so long that it's a bit of a dramatic shift.
DennisP 11y ago
The farmers in this article are using native ants, which they collect from the wild.

by gnufrra 11y ago

ggchappell 11y ago

Just a wee bit off-topic, but: The situation with the native species of Hawaii is actually much worse than most people are aware -- even people who live in Hawaii. I read somewhere[1] that, if you walk around a typical coastal town in Hawaii, and look at the lawns & gardens & parks, and watch the birds & whatnot, that you will generally not see any native species at all. The ones big enough to see are all confined to the interior. EDIT. And, by the way, the rats weren't native, either. Hawaii has exactly two native mammals: the Hawaiian Hoary Bat and the Hawaiian Monk Seal. [1] I think it was in Remains of a Rainbow, by D. Liittschwager & S. Middleton. https://amazon.com/dp/0792264126/ https://amazon.com/dp/0792264126/

lutorm 11y ago
It seems defining what "native" means on Hawaii is a bit sketchy. Clearly no animals were on the islands when they first were created, so everything is more or less "invasive". Speaking of ants that live in trees, the Big Island is being overrun by the Little Fire Ant, which has already spread across much of the rainy side. I'm sure it protects the trees from pests, too, but in this case that unfortunately also includes humans. They have a nasty bite, and are very hard to control, which is making farming in infested areas hell. http://littlefireants.com/ http://littlefireants.com/
- ggchappell 11y ago
  Yes, here I am tossing around the word, and, to be honest, I cannot say exactly what it means. I suspect that a species would be counted as native Hawaiian if it was found on the island chain before the coming of humans.
- guard-of-terra 11y ago
  It's "endemic" perhaps.
- oh_sigh 11y ago
  They are native, because they existed in no other place than Hawaii. The species literally did not exist until Hawaii made it so. The first species to come to Hawaii were invasive.
  - MichaelGG 11y ago
    So if I introduce some animal to Hawaii, then wait until they speciate, then they're native? I suppose that works.
  - lutorm 11y ago
    Ok, that makes sense.
- hyperbovine 11y ago
  > so everything is more or less "invasive". That's simply not true. I'm not so familiar with the fauna of Hawaii, but you can consider the moa which was happily ensconced in New Zealand for about 20 million years, and extinct within 200 years of the Polynesian settlement in the late 13th century. It's pretty clear to me in a situation like that what was native and who the invaders were, and I'd be surprised if the situation in Hawaii were very different.
  - frobozz 11y ago
    I suspect that the parent poster is talking about the geology of Hawaii. New Zealand was part of Gondwanaland, and became isolated by continental drift. Anything living there when the islands became separated from the rest of the supercontinent is native. Hawaii is a bunch of volcanoes that sprung out of the middle of the ocean. There were no land animals on the islands when they first became islands. Now, that's a slightly topsy-turvy definition of native, which (etymologically) should mean any species that came into existence on the island.
- A1kmm 11y ago
  'Native' usually means one of two more precisely defined terms: * Indigenous - it got there without any human intervention. * Endemic - it is not found anywhere else. I imagine that many sea birds would be indigenous there at the very least.

ambicapter 11y ago

Seems like a world of difference between letting ants do their thing and importing mongooses to hawaii.

InclinedPlane 11y ago

It's not the tools it's the mindset. Thinking of ways to tip the balance and wipe out pests so that you can grow a highly vulnerable monoculture crop is a very fragile solution that is dynamically unstable. We should be thinking in terms of systems not silver bullets. Lots of farms do this and it's honestly not that hard, it just requires knowledge, process, and some diligence. But we've been defaulting toward auto-pilot agriculture for so long that it's a bit of a dramatic shift.

DennisP 11y ago

The farmers in this article are using native ants, which they collect from the wild.