Pay To Play Against The Rules

A man caught violating regulations that require boaters to allow their vehicles to be inspected by park staff was fined $2500 earlier this month. The rules are in place at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in order to prevent the introduction of zebra and quagga mussels into Lake Powell, a man-made reservoir located in between Utah and Arizona.

Subprime

It turns out that an unintended side effect of the subprime mortgage crisis currently engulfing America could be a rise in cases of West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne illnesses. Here's the logic: The number of people who can't pay their mortgages is on the rise, leading to a sharp increase in the number of foreclosed homes. The real estate market is flat, so those bank-owned properties are languishing, unsold, for long periods of time. Now, consider the case of Phoenix, Arizona, where the land is literally a desert and people have responded to this by creating their own tolerable microclimates, namely houses with swimming pools.

There are tens of thousands of swimming pools in Maricopa County, Arizona, which has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the entire country. Foreclosed houses with swimming pools become foreclosed houses with stagnant, algae-filled mosquito breeding grounds, and more mosquitoes means more mosquito-borne illnesses like West Nile Virus.

Still with me? Mosquitoes have become a real problem in Arizona, such that officials in Maricopa County have started a breeding program for mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), and as reported by Yahoo! News, have started offering them for release in order to control the mosquitoes. Mosquitofish are themselves considered an invasive species in several parts of the world, and while native to the southern USA and Mexico, are not native to Arizona, where their introduction is thought to have impacted several native fish species. Let's hope the fish stay in those swimming pools.

Thanks to George H. for sending in a link to this story.

KZ in AZ

Back in 2006, the ISW posted about the curious sighting of an infestation of kudzu vine (Pueraria montana var. lobata) out in Arizona. Ed Northam recently sent out an update to his Arizona Weed Notes listserver, and has kindly given me permission to reprint the note here, along with some excellent before and after photos:

In September 2006, Arizona’s first reported population of Kudzu [Pueraria montana (Lour.) Merr.] was discovered in Huachuca City, Cochise County.

During early October 2006, plant samples collected from that unusual, sprawling, densely leaved, woody vine, plus photos by Jeffrey Myers, AZ Dept. of Agriculture, was enough evidence for Dr. Ed Northam, Invasive Plants Program Manager, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Office, Maricopa County to conclude that Arizona had a population of Kudzu.

Dr. Kelly Steele (plant taxonomist, AZ State University Polytechnic) also confirmed the initial vegetative diagnosis. DNA sequence analysis of leaf samples from Huachuca City by Dr. Martin F. Wojciechowski, Associate Professor, ASU Tempe, School of Life Sciences, matched published Kudzu DNA sequences.

Kudzu attracts attention from Arizona plant scientists and land managers because this foreign vine has demonstrated its ability to dominate and smother both land and vegetation. Mature pine trees, roadsides, telephone poles landscape plantings in southeastern states have been buried under Kudzu’s invasive growth.

Because of Kudzu’s reputation as a biotic invader, AZ Dept. of Agriculture personnel initiated an eradication process when identification was completed. This control measure is based on a new herbicide from Dow AgroSciences called Milestone VM.

Vince Aguiar, Dow’s range and pasture vegetation specialist for Arizona provided weed management expertise for eradication treatments that began in November 2006.

Milestone was applied to the Huachuca City Kudzu at a rate of 7 oz. per acre. This application was repeated in March and June 2007. Visual estimates in August 2007 indicated >97 percent of Kudzu biomass died as a result of those three treatments (see photos provided by Arizona Dept. of Agriculture).

Even though the Kudzu infestation appears to be controlled, treatments are planned for 2008 to complete eradication and will continue until new shoots cease to emerge; then occasional monitoring is needed to insure none of the underground root reserves survive and clone new Kudzu plants.

Approximately 1/4 of Huachuca City Kudzu infestation -- Oct. 2006	Summer 2007 view showing excellent reduction of Kudzu infestation after treatment with 7 oz/acre of Milestone VM in Nov. 2006, March 2007 and June 2007.

Source: Northam, Ed. Arizona Kudzu: One Year Update. ARIZONA WEED NOTES. Dec. 11, 2007. Phoenix, AZ.

Sounds like they will have nipped this invasion in the bud after another couple of years of treatments and monitoring. Go AZ!

New And Notable

Recent arrivals in the US and beyond:

• The Suriname toad (Pipa pipa) was discovered in Puerto Rico.
• The Quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) continues to be sighted in Southern California. Also, a Dreissena sp. was discovered in Arizona - the first record for the genus in that state.
• The Oriental weatherfish (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) has been discovered in a small pond in New Jersey.
• India has a new species of fruit fly (Bactrocera invadens), the same one that has been spreading across Africa.
• Pink meadowsweet (Spiraea alba 'rosea') has naturalized in Belgium (via the ALIENS-L listserver)

Radio Days

Two interesting audio clips this week:

• The Great Lakes Radio Consortium has a clip about the effects of the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) on the nursery industry in the Great Lakes region (hint: it's not good). Also check out their report from last week about the fact that budget cuts are impacting the ability to control the ash borer at the federal and state level.
• NPR reported about efforts to control invasive plants in Arizona, and how these efforts are fueled (ha ha) by the increased threat of wildfires. [posted to ALIENS-L]