Monday, July 31, 2006

100 103 100 Worst Oregonian Invaders

The Oregon Department of Agriculture is reporting that the state has recently updated their list of 100 worst invaders. Three new species have been added to the list: rock snot (Didymosphenia geminata, misspelled as Didymosphenia geminate in the article), Amur goby (Rhinogobius brunneus) and granulate ambrosia beetle (Xylosandrus crassiusculus).

Perhaps more interesting is what got bumped off. The press release states that "Getting off the list is more difficult than getting on." but since they're keeping it fixed at 100 species, I'm not sure how that is true. Removed from the list are: Japanese oyster drill (Ceratostoma inornatum), noted as a "minor pest that can be controlled," and blueberry maggot (Rhagoletis mendax) and glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca coagulata), two species that were deemed to not be a problem in natural habitats. You can view the entire list of 100 baddies here, but unfortunately it has not yet been updated. Hopefully when it is, Oregon will let their website visitors keep track of the species that got removed.

Negative bonus points to every organization that puts out a press release before they've actually put out the product the press release is about.

1 comment:

y-intercept said...

"but since they're keeping it fixed at 100 species, I'm not sure how that is true."

You're a PhD in a modern academic community. Adding items without removing others makes perfect sense. You simply redefine "100" to fit your political objective.

Great blog!