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Dave,
Katydids and crickets are similar but the song of this Katydid is unique and unmistakable. Not a single cricket comes close to making this call. It is generated from the male and the sound is only altered in frequency depending on Temperature and Relative humidity. It is unmistakable and the loudest of all insect calls in North America/Hawaii as well far exceeding the Coqui song by a long shot. Until one sits in your yard near your window and pipes up, you'll not know how begnign the coqui song is. Not even our speakers can generate the decible level of this Katydid call at the recorded frequency, it will overload your speaker diaphram if you crank it up. Here's the link to a great site that adresses the Conehead Katydid and crickets etc.
http://www.entnemdept.ufl.edu/walker/buz...amples.htm
Here's some more facts about them...
http://www.answers.com/topic/nihoa-conehead-katydid
"At about a yard away, its sound is in the 90 decibel range -- the level produced by a motorcycle." THIS IS ONE KATYDID!
http://www.news.ku.edu/2004/04N/MayNews/...icada.html
"On some nights, the frogs’ chorus in the park reaches 70 decibels – about as loud as a vacuum cleaner." This is a whole chorus of Coqui frogs, not just one, of which amounts to very little.
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/coqui/population.asp
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.
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The most current research doesn't support biocontrol. The plan was of doubtful of efficacy and of uncertain risk. There are better solutions and the council made the right decision in this case. As well, the guava is on the cusp of being a valuable resource here locally, as biochar manufacturing is closer to being a reality every day. It's an ideal material for such usage and some may be pleased to know that what is perceived as a weed is about to become a commodity. That will eradicate it in short order.
It's also important to know that many Hawaiian plants are hyper(as in really hyper)sensitive to roundup and other glycophospate compounds, to the point that it will be some time before one can plant in a sprayed area. That's counter productive, as unless one gets a ground cover on the sprayed area immediately, all one will achieve is a new crop of guava.
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I think you're mixing up two species here, and the loud one (neoconocephalus robustus) is, as far as I can tell, not present in Hawaii. Banza nihoa is in Hawaii but doesn't seem to be particularly loud, and it's a threatened species. Please tell me where I can hear these loud crickets in Puna!
There are also plenty of articles saying coquis produce over 100 decibels, eg
http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=105&fr=1&sts=&ver=print&prtflag=false
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"The most current research doesn't support biocontrol."
Which research is this? Please provide a link. Sidney Singer does not count.
Here's some research (15 years' worth) :
http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/ipif/s...l#anchor.2
Proposed Strawberry Guava Biocontrol Plan
In 2005--following 15 years of research in Hawaii and Brazil--researchers with the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry submitted a proposal to release a scale insect in Hawaii to control the growth and spread of strawberry guava.
The insect, a Brazilian scale (Tectococcus ovatus), was selected as a candidate after many years of research showed that it could safely and effectively control the invasive tree in Hawaii without posing a threat to other plant species. Studies demonstrated that the scale is adapted to feed only on strawberry guava, ultimately causing reduced growth and seed production.
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The guava so much of the pig cycle now, The only real way to beat the guava is to eliminate the pig.... kind of throwing out the baby with the bath water in the philosophy of the local pig hunters i bet
until we can bioengineer a specific targeted finite lifespan pest to get this stuff the best we will be able to do is with O'O' bars and chain saws Im afraid
The problem with Tectococcus ovatus is that its just not prolific enough. Even the supporting biologists talk in terms of "arresting the spread" "slowing the spread" not "biological control"
The pigs eat the fruit and disperse the seed, its part of the plant life cycle now
But it does make nice hot burning fire wood once dried
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The ruination of our forests is a high price to pay for neglect. There is sufficient guava here now to support any fledgling biochar potential. Making a nice hot fire or eating an occasional guava fruit are not basis for failing to take proactive action to slow down the advance of forest destruction. Simply poor excuses.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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PaulW...
I'm not confusing anything, just showing that Katydids are indeed documented in Hawaii.
The call of the robustus is unique to it, not common and they are all over the Island.
If you want to hear one, take a drive out and around Puna in early evening with your window rolled down and listed to the sounds just after sunset. If you don't hear one, you're probably tone deaf, they aren't hard to find.
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.
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I'm out and about in the early evening all the time in Puna and I can hear some faint cricket noises when I pass a patch that has no coquis. Again, exactly where should I go to hear these crickets? I'm not doubting what you say, I just want to hear it for myself.
--
Tectococcus ovatus is good enough for me, if it can slow the spread then at least manual eradication will/could eventually have some result. Removing the pigs would help even more but it's not necessary, with that bug around the trees should produce less fruit.
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Katydids are indeed here. Pretty good sized green ones. I don't see them too often but they do fly in.
Sorry, I've no links, as I can't find anything online. If I have the time to scan and diddle around with the paper at hand(and had confidence anyone would actually read it) I'd post it up. Don't worry. Wait about 3 months.
I really doubt anyone is advocating a policy of neglect, really. There may well be answers well informed and more practical than is commonly held. It may take more research to find them, but they may exist.
Biochar here in the US is far behind the page, especially behind Australia and China, who are leading the charge. It is indeed fledgling here, to our shame. There are several companies I'm aware of in the process of attempting to put plants of scale here, but it's a process, no doubt. The problem, unfortunately, self serving ideological issues here very entrenched in the American psyche prohibit a honest valuation of the potential of biochar. To understand the value of biochar you must understand 1) we face a future with a finite resources of petrochemical fertilizer and mined potash -- and 2) we face a future dominated by AGW. If you don't get that, well, it's just spray the hell out of what annoys you, I guess. Can't be bothered with the details. Biochar is a solution to both pressing problems, and a credible one. Perhaps the only credible one.
A biochar processing facility like they're building in China would process 100 tons a day. That's about 5 acres of guava a day per plant. That's biochar and 2-3 Megawatts of power in the grid besides.
Guava needs light to germinate. Cut it and cover it in a cover crop or black plastic. That's about it. The problem isn't guava, nor pigs in the great scheme of things--it's people that bust and clear land and neglect it. This is what spreads it. I've had no trouble at all eliminating guava on my property without sprays, simply applying good practice. You may be hard pressed to believe it, but I've used it up on my small homestead and actually go cut it and bring it home.
All in all I'm very hopeful that this technology will at some point very soon provide jobs, a better environment, and a better future here.
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