Milo BurchamA deer mouse looking for larva.
Dean PearsonA gall fly larva in a cross section of a flower head.
Posted on 04/03/2006 8:16:19 PM PDT by neverdem
MISSOULA, Mont. — First came the knapweed. Then came the gall fly. And now the mice population is exploding — the mice that carry hantavirus. In a classic case of unintended ecological consequences, an attempt to control an unwanted plant has exacerbated a human health problem.
Spotted knapweed, a European plant, is a tough, spindly scourge that has spread across hills and mountainsides across the West. In Montana alone, one of the worst-hit states, it covers more than four million acres.
In the 1970's, biologists imported a native enemy of knapweed, the gall fly. The insect lays eggs inside the seed head, and the plant then forms a gall, or tumor, around the eggs. When the larva hatches, it eats the seeds.
Dean Pearson, who works at the Rocky Mountain Research Station of the United States Forest Service, said the fly had not halted the spread of knapweed. In a report in Ecology Letters, however, Dr. Pearson reports that the introduced fly has changed the ecosystem's dynamics.
The fly larvae provide an abundant food source for deer mice in the winter, above the snow. Instead of dying out, as is often the case in cold and snowy weather, the deer mice climb the stalk of the plant above the snow to the seed head. They can eat as many as 1,200 larvae a night, at a time when there is normally no other food.
Mice numbers have tripled because of this food supply, said Dr. Pearson, and with them hantavirus, a viral infection is spread by urine and droppings. It is rare, but can cause a pneumonialike disease that can be fatal to humans.
"It illustrates the complexity of how these things play out in the system," Dr. Pearson said. "These kinds of things are not being considered" when exotics...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Milo BurchamDean PearsonI would think the snake population would be on the increase as well then.
Who knew such cute little things as deer mice could be so deadly?
I don't know, neverdem ... it's like ... go back in time, step on a twig and break it, and I would never be bo
As the Times points out there are unintended consequences. Ecology is a science of complex systems. But they didn't go quite far enough in analysis - a burgeoning mouse population is met by an increase in natural predators - coyotes, wolves, bobcats, hawks, etc. If they're allowed. Some of these find the livestock that was the original motivation for eradicating knapweed right tasty. Welcome to the real wild world. We can affect it but I don't think we can really manage it, not this way, at least.
A lot of us in the Southwest know.
"I would think the snake population would be on the increase as well then."
Snakes are reptiles and hibernate during winter, usually in holes/caves below the frost line.
ESA has become make work for biologists. Time to cut it out.
This is the farmer sowing his corn,
That kept the cock that crowed in the morn,
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
--Ecological consequences.
Don't forget the Kutzu!
Well come Spring time the snakes will have a feast :)
Thanks for the follow-up!
In upstate NY, We have a problem with purple loosestrife taking over everywhere. They are think about releasing a beetle to take care of it. If they do, I hope mice don't find them tasty.
The only way to really get rid of this stuff is to bring back the chain gangs, have prisioners go around and yank this stuff out.
I was thinking of the King and the mouse
King has mouse
King gets cats to chase away mouse
King gets dogs to chase away cats
King gets Elephant to chase away dogs
King gets mouse to chase away elephant
Five will get you ten that the typical ACLU attorney could, inside 15 minutes, find a federal judge that would rule such a practice "unconstitutional".
the cheese stands alone,
the cheese stands alone,
Hi ho duh derrio,
the cheese stands alone.
Some little tachinid fly was released to control the gypsy moth caterpillar. Unfortunately the fly has two generations a year - luna moth, cecropias, also prey.
Mrs VS
A great story by Ray Bradbury. "A Sound of Thunder".
I hear they made a movie of it.
Although, from the trailers, it doesn't look a lot like Bradbury's original story...which was great.
Did I say that already?
One little goat, one little goat,
That my father bought for two zuzim.
One little goat, one little goat.
Then came a cat and ate the goat
That my father bought for two zuzim.
One little goat, one little goat.
Then came a dog and bit the cat,
That ate the goat
That my father bought for two zuzim.
One little goat, one little goat.
Then came a stick and beat the dog,
That bit the cat
That ate the goat
That my father bought for two zuzim.
One little goat, one little goat.
Then came a fire and burned the stick
That beat the dog
That bit the cat
That ate the goat
That my father bought for two zuzim.
One little goat, one little goat.
Then came the water and quenched the fire,
That burned the stick
That beat the dog
That bit the cat
That ate the goat
That my father bought for two zuzim.
One little goat, one little goat.
Then came an ox and drank the water,
That quenched the fire
That burned the stick
That beat the dog
That bit the cat
That ate the goat
That my father bought for two zuzim.
One little goat, one little goat.
Then came a shohet and slaughtered the ox,
That drank the water that quenched the fire
That burned the stick that beat the dog
That bit the cat that ate the goat
That my father bought for two zuzim.
One little goat, one little goat.
Then came the angel of death and killed the shohet,
That slaughtered the ox that drank the water
That quenched the fire that burned the stick
That beat the dog that bit the cat
That ate the goat
That my father bought for two zuzim.
One little goat, one little goat.
Then came the Holy One, blessed be He,
And slew the angel of death,
That killed the shohet that slaughtered the ox
That drank the water that quenched the fire
That burned the stick that beat the dog
That bit the cat that ate the goat
That my father bought for two zuzim.
One little goat, one little goat.
Deer mice can also contribute to the spread of Lyme Disease, IIRC.
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