Biocontrol Successes
There is a good article in the Boston Globe today summarizing the state’s work on the Purple Loosestrife Biocontrol Project. Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is one of the 141 plant species on the state’s Prohibited Plant List, and was categorized as invasive by the Massachusetts Invasive Plant Advisory Group.
Beth Suedmeyer of the Massachusetts Wetlands Restoration Program currently heads the biocontrol project, which has released over 300,000 Galerucella beetles to eat purple loosestrife since 2000. As with most biological controls, a Galerucella beetle attack does not immediately destroy purple loosestrife, rather, the beetles are a tool used to keep current populations of this invasive plant in check.
Suedmeyer is now training citizen scientists to raise and release the beetles, which have shown some evidence of beginning to breed and spread on their own. Visit the Purple Loosestrife Biocontrol Project for more information, including how you can raise beetles and what to do if you see a Galerucella beetle in the wild.
