niveus,<\/em> can remain dormant in gal\u00e1pagos soil for 10 years, possibly even longer. <\/p>\nauthorities have tried injecting herbicides into their trunks or even just ripping the plants out, yet the blackberry continues to spread. <\/p>\n
just as animals have predators, plants do too. there is a certain fungus called a rust fungus that preys on these blackberry bushes in their native habitat in china. j\u00e4ger believes releasing this blackberry fungus could finally check the blackberry invasion. <\/p>\n
she noted that although many people often think of the times when biological control has failed, there have been many successful implementations worldwide and even a previous success in the gal\u00e1pagos. <\/p>\n
in 2002, a species of ladybug was introduced in the gal\u00e1pagos to control the exploding population of a sucking insect that was destroying the mangrove forests. biological control could be the key to protecting gal\u00e1pagos from the continuous onslaught of invasives. <\/p>\n
j\u00e4ger is optimistic. <\/p>\n
\u201ci really, really hope we can get the funding to continue the work on the rust fungus for blackberry, there are examples in the world where this has worked on blackberry,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
among park guides like concari, and scientists like j\u00e4ger, there seems to be an air of excited anticipation as biological control agents are researched for both the invasive blackberry and parasitic fly. introducing a new species to deal with a previously introduced one is certainly the most innovative solution around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
next in our gal\u00e1pagos series, gw’s henry becker discusses invasive species eradication programs \u2014 both the successes and their pitfalls \u2014 and explores the controversial topic of biological control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9852,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4929],"tags":[506,884,4339,676,256],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-11778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biodiversity","tag-biodiversity","tag-environmental-science","tag-galapagos","tag-indigenous-science","tag-invasive-species"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
invasive species control in the gal\u00e1pagos: scientists propose fighting fire with fire - planet forward<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n