Invasive Japanese beetles are drawn to flowers and fruit. Washington officials are trying to eradicate them from the state.
Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty ImagesOn an early July day, Amber Betts spent the afternoon in the community rose garden in Grandview, Washington, where she lives. Several weeks earlier, invasive Japanese beetles had emerged in droves everywhere in Grandview, a town in central Washington’s Yakima Valley.
Japanese beetles are native to Japan. Japanese beetles were first found in the U.S. in 1916 near Riverton, New Jersey. They have since become established in almost every state east of the Mississippi River, as well as in some states and counties in the Western U.S. They lay their eggs in the soil in July and August. The eggs morph into lumpy white grubs that remain underground throughout the winter, quietly consuming the roots of grasses and other plants.
Officials first detected Japanese beetles in Grandview in 2020, in one of several dozen monitor traps scattered throughout the state. These rose-scented devices lure beetles into plastic bags from which they can’t escape, and they serve to both detect and dispatch the insects. In 2020, Betts said, state officials found three.
Washington state officials instituted a quarantine in Grandview in 2022. Now, there are hundreds of rose-scented traps in the city. Since the insects can hitch a ride on cars, trucks and, especially, in soil as eggs or grubs, residents cannot transport anything that might spread the beetles, such as lawn clippings or foliage. Farmers in the quarantine zone have to show that the traps in their fields don’t contain beetles, or else treat their crops with pesticides.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
Bee company workers said they’ve captured nearly a dozen invasive hornets newly spotted in USThe yellow-legged hornet is nicknamed the bee hawk for its method of hunting bees and other pollinators.
Lire la suite »
Flash drought, invasive grasses, winds, hurricane and climate change fuel Maui's devastating firesA dangerous mix of conditions appear to have combined to make the wildfires blazing a path of destruction in Hawaii particularly damaging, including flash drought, high winds, low humidity and dry vegetation.
Lire la suite »
Prequel® Prenatal Screen | Non-invasive prenatal screeningThe Myriad Prequel Prenatal Screen is a noninvasive genetic screen that determines if a pregnancy is at increased risk for chromosome conditions.
Lire la suite »
Scientists are dyeing the Connecticut River red to help fight an invasive plantAn invasive aquatic plant is taking over the Connecticut River, and scientists are putting red dye in the river to figure out a solution.
Lire la suite »
An invasive hornet that hunts honeybees is spotted in the U.S. for the first timeThe yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, is a close cousin of the northern giant hornet, or 'murder hornet.' Both of them are very adept in the wholesale destruction of honey bees.
Lire la suite »