A word about tent caterpillars

Forest Tent Caterpillars are unsightly but they are native and therefore have natural enemies here so the worst thing to do is to use insecticides (which would also kill their natural enemies directly or indirectly). While they can cause partial defoliation of some trees (cherries seem to be among their favorites) the trees are not permanently affected and indeed have evolved along with this mild defoliation pressure from these caterpillars. They really should be left alone. They have many natural enemies in the insect world. Caterpillars are frequently parasitized by various tiny braconid, ichneumonid, and chalcid wasps. Several predators and a few diseases also help to regulate their populations. This, in part, accounts for the fluctuating population levels from year to year. Birds and small mammals are known to eat them as well.

If you must get rid of them in your own yard: Remove the egg masses during winter to reduce the problem next spring. In the early spring, small tents can be removed and destroyed by hand. Larger tents may be pruned out and destroyed or removed by winding the nest upon the end of a stick.

For more information

Laurel wilt disease

Boy, we keep rolling out the good news here.

Laurel wilt disease is the newest problem that may soon reach our area. It is a rapidly spreading non-native fungus spread by the Asian ambrosia beetle that is killing sassafras, laurel, and spicebush (members of the laurel family) in the Southeast. The outlook is not encouraging. This would also be bad news for various swallowtail butterflies adapted to them. This is a very good example of why we need to regulate the provenance of plant material. Tree nurseries have spread many diseases in the past, and it seems, will continue to do so.

Asian Longhorn Beetle infestation

The Asian Longhorn Beetle has found its way to a natural area on Staten Island. ALB was first discovered in the US in street trees in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The insect is thought to have arrived here from woody packing materials from China. ALB has proved to be persistent and able to spread from infestations when eradication has not been completed.

Now it looks like half the trees on the island will need to be cut down and chipped (which is how USDA treats this infestation). It should be interesting to see what comes back - on the Brunswick shale dreg island that is Pralls. Let's just hope this is the first and last natural area where we find these beetles.

Update:
Video of ALB on Pralls Island from the Staten Island Advance.

Herbaria aid climate change research

Haven't we been telling you that herbarium sheets are the foundation of all that is good and pure in the world? What is an herbarium sheet, you say? See this (then click on "store").



An old photograph shows that on Memorial Day, 1868, the deciduous trees in Lowell Cemetery in Massachusetts had yet to leaf out. On Memorial Day, 2005, they stood in full verdure. Leafing or flowering dates each year depend on temperature, and global warming has been driving those events earlier in many places. Plants take part in many ecological interactions—with their pollinators, for instance—that are precisely timed. Changes in their seasonal development may therefore bring on broader ecological disruptions. Records of past plant development are scarce, though, so analyzing trends in timing has been difficult.




Now Abraham J. Miller-Rushing and Richard B. Primack, both ecologists at Boston University et al. have compared dated historical photographs, as well as dated herbarium specimens, of plants in flower in eastern Massachusetts, with recent observations of the same species. The plants now flower about eleven days earlier than they did a hundred years ago, when the region was 4.5 Fahrenheit degrees cooler. Their findings echo independent estimates from other data, confirming that old photographs and herbarium specimens are reliable sources for climate-change research. (American Journal of Botany, in press, 2006)

Pollination Station

Lots of news about pollinators.

First, the bad news...
Long-term population trends for some North American pollinators -- bees, birds, bats, and other animals and insects that spread pollen so plant fertilization can occur -- are "demonstrably downward," says a new report from the National Research Council. However, there is little or no population data for many pollinators, which prompted the committee that wrote the report to call for stepped-up efforts to monitor these creatures and improve understanding of their basic ecology. Read more

Now, the good news...
U.S. Postal Service announced the creation of Pollination stamps which will be released next summer to coincide with National Pollinator Week (June 24-30). The stamps consist of four images arranged in two alternate and interlocking patterns. The intricate design of these beautiful stamps emphasizes the ecological relationship between pollinators and plants and suggests the biodiversity necessary to ensure the viability of that relationship.

Depicted on the Pollination stamps are four wildflowers and four pollinators. Two Morrison’s bumble bees are paired with purple or chaparral nightshade (one of the bees is actively engaged in buzz pollination). A calliope hummingbird sips from a hummingbird trumpet blossom. A lesser long-nosed bat prepares to “dive” into a saguaro flower. And a Southern dogface butterfly visits prairie or common ironweed.

And some interesting news...

Researchers Find that Flower Choice Matters

Rebecca Flanagan has probably come as close as a human can to reading the mind of a bumblebee.

Flanagan is studying the behaviors of bees as they gather pollen -- which plant species the bees forage on, which flowers they probe
and in what order, and how many blooms they visit before moving on to another plant.

But why go to such lengths to map the flight of the bumblebee? The bees are pivotal players in determining which plant populations survive through successful reproduction. If scientists could better understand nature’s decision-making process, then they could use the information to increase crop yields and to boost conservation of native plant communities.


For more information on pollinators: www.pollinator.org.

NY Sues over Invasive Pests

Asian longhorned beetles (Anoplophora glabripennis)

The states of New York, California, Connecticut and Illinois are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for failing to impose effective controls against destructive insects that enter the country in shipping pallets and other wooden packaging.

Invasive insect pests - - such as the Asian long-horned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis), emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis), and pine shoot beetle (Tomicus piniperda) - enter the country in wooden pallets and other packaging made from raw wood. These pests have caused significant damage to trees in New York City, Long Island, Chicago and other communities. Thousands of trees have been destroyed in an effort to prevent the spread of these pests, which have few local predators or diseases to kill them. If these destructive insects spread from U.S. ports of entry into the nation's forests, they could further damage the timber, tree nursery, fruit orchard, maple syrup, and tourism industries.

Read more on the lawsuit

More information on the Asian long-horned beetle, emerald ash borer, and pine shoot beetle

Organic farms 'best for wildlife'

Organic farms are better for wildlife than those run conventionally, according to a study covering 180 farms from Cornwall to Cumbria.

The organic farms were found to contain 85% more plant species, 33% more bats, 17% more spiders and 5% more birds.

Read article from BBC news

Ultra-violet Flowers

This website is a wonderful introduction to the world according to insects. It is easy for us humans to forget that flowers look as they do not to draw satified sighs from gardeners but to attract potential pollinators - critical to their survival. And what we see is not the whole story.

Here is Pacific silverweed (Potentilla anserina) to humans:










And here is what insects see:

Chasing Beetles in NYC on NPR

"The treetops of Central Park in New York City are being used by Western smoke jumpers. The folks whose regular job is to parachute into wildfires are propelling themselves into maples and elms in an attempt to stop the killer Asian longhorned beetle"...so reads the copy on the story of ALB in Central Park. Great coverage, but such drama...Federal firefighters from the west climbing trees...too bad they can't see their way clear to talking more about 1) how people every day contribute to exotic invasives destroying our natural areas and 2) what they can do about it.

Anyway, here's the story

Pines Threatened by Exotic Wasp Found Upstate

Cornell University reports that one of its entomologists discovered a single specimen of Sirex noctilio Fabricius, an Old World woodwasp, raises red flags across the nation because the invasive insect species has devastated up to 80 percent of pine trees in areas of New Zealand, Australia, South America and South Africa. If established in the United States, it would threaten pines coast-to-coast, particularly in the pine-dense states in the Southeast. One target would be loblolly pines in Georgia.

Finding one bug in a trap is no small matter. Where there's one, there's likely to be more, says E. Richard Hoebeke, a Cornell senior extension associate in entomology. "Whenever you find an insect in a trap, it probably is established."

Learn more about S. noctilio

An Denegrating Homage

...to the insects, not the humans. Cornell University just reported that two of its former entomologists recently had the job of naming 65 new species of slime-mold beetles. Three are new to science & so were named...for members of the U.S. administration. These lucky bugs are in the genus Agathidium - they are A. bushi Miller and Wheeler, A. cheneyi Miller and Wheeler and A. rumsfeldi Miller and Wheeler.

Wildflowers of Pelham Bay Park


wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia), a NYC native spring ephemeral

Today was a great day to be in Pelham Bay Park. Spring ephemerals were everywhere! I counted 7 patches/populations of wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia) (see above), lots of trout lily (Erythronium americanum) and the ubiquitous common blue violet (Viola sororia). Also observed something very interesting - insect visitors to native and exotic flowers. One of the largest patches of cut-leaf toothwort (Cardamine laciniata) had loads of insect visitors. It looked like a Liliputian JFK, with syrphid flies, cabbage whites, beetles (one of which may have been a click beetle), predatory wasps, solitary bees - amazing. Then, a few feet away, began a biological desert - acres and acres of periwinkle (Vinca minor). Walking through this exotic invasive (a fav of homeowners), I saw only 2 bumblebees and one wasp. That's it! Food for thought.

cut-leaf toothwort (another a NYC native spring ephemeral) with beetle visitor (look carefully)
Other plants seen - white bark of gray birch (Betula populifolia), far too much of day lily (Hemerocallis fulva) the popular exotic invasive that is smothering our lovely spring ephemerals, emerging leaves of white oak (Quercus alba) tinged with red, a cabbage white (exotic butterfly) laying eggs on garlic mustard (exotic, invasive plant), the beautiful spring azure (butterfly), a just emerging jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), the showy leaves of alum root (Heuchera americana) - finally, a native plant that is popular in the garden.

daylily invading (invaded really) forest understory

The most exciting find of the day was ramps (Allium tricoccum)...a native spring ephemeral and a new listing for our records!

ramps (Allium tricoccum) leaves - flowers emerge after leaves die back (another NYC native spring ephemeral)