08-30-2014, 12:39 PM
quote:You are incredibly uninformed about the history of biocontrol in Hawaii, let alone elsewhere in the world. A few poorly-executed ones, mostly from decades ago before any adequate regulations were in place (and in some cases done against the recommendations of actual scientists), are repeatedly trumpeted by know-nothings like Syd Singer. But in any given year, multiple biocontrol releases are usually made that you never hear about, and many of them are successful. Some of the more important ones:
Originally posted by pahoated
No, just NO. This idea has been tried for over 100 years and lead to nothing but disaster after disaster. In fact, it would be very difficult to find an example where this lunkhead idea has worked without unexpected consequences larger than the original problem.... Almost every single effort of introducing non-native lifeforms has completely failed.
Sugarcane planthopper - would have destroyed the Hawaiian sugar industry in its infancy without biocontrol. Pahala plantation's production went from 18,888 tons in 1903, to 1,620 tons in 1905, to 826 tons in 1906. Several parasites introduced in 1907 brought it under control, and several more in 1916 and 1920 almost completely eliminated it as a pest of concern.
Cottony cushion scale - almost destroyed the California citrus industry and would have done the same for citrus here, as well as our monkeypod trees which were so heavily infested that they were on the verge of being cut down. The Vedelia beetle was introduced in both places and brought the scale completely under control.
Wiliwili gall wasp parasite - without the quick discovery and release of this, our wiliwili would already be extinct.
Prickly pear caterpillar - cactus completely covered a huge area of pastures in the early 1900's, making them useless until this moth was brought in and controlled it.
Pamakani fruit fly - this one took some time to have a serious effect because it attacks the fruit instead of the mature plants, but the amount of Maui pamakani has declined a lot in the last 15 years.
various lantana-attacking insects - again these took some time to have an effect, and lantana is still fairly abundant, but together they've caused a significant decline.
None of these have had any bad side effects. And this is not even looking at the much less glamorous ones, like the five coccinellid beetles released to control spiraling whitefly, or the parasitic moths that control pineapple souring beetles and cabbage leaf miners and let you grow food in your backyard without pesticides.