Exotic Species vs Invasive Species: Importing One Outsider to Battle Another

Invasive Species: Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs
Home: Asia
How They Invaded: Some scientists think the stink bugs arrived in the United States in shipping containers. Ships traveling up the Delaware River may have allowed them to take hold in mid-Atlantic states.
Foe: An egg-attacking parasitic wasp

The brown marmorated stink bug made headlines in recent summers after it successfully took hold in the northeastern United States. A native of Asia, this insect produces its namesake pungent odor when squashed and has no qualms feasting on Pennsylvanian produce. The stink bug has enemies in North America, such as ants, earwigs, and lacewings, but they haven't been able to control the pest's runaway population.

Beginning in 2005, Kim Hoelmer, a research entomologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit in Newark, Del., began hunting for more powerful stink-bug adversaries. Finding the right nemesis, though, is no easy task.

"We don't want to introduce predators that will attack many, many different things, including stink bugs," Hoelmer says. "We want species that will attack only stink bugs." After traveling throughout China, Japan and South Korea, Hoelmer found several species of parasitic wasps that cannot sting humans but naturally attack stink-bug eggs, destroying 50 to 80 percent of each batch of eggs they find.

Hoelmer's lab is now testing exactly how selective these parasites would be if released. In his quarantined containment lab, Hoelmer offers the wasps the chance to attack eggs from dozens of other North American insect species, including beneficial stink-bug varieties, to make sure the wasps will attack only the Asian invader. Testing these batches is not an easy task, Hoelmer says, as his team must have test parasites and fresh stink-bug eggs available year-round: "One of the biggest challenges is keeping everything growing. It's like trying to juggle 20 to 30 balls at the same time." If these tests continue as planned, Hoelmer expects that his office may be able to recommend parasite release as soon as the summer of 2013.

Hoelmer notes that his team has not heard any public opposition to releasing the wasp. "Apparently stink bugs have few friends," he jests. He notes that public opposition to other biological control projects is sometimes based on a relatively small number of widely publicized historical examples (see the cane toad on the following page). "Most of these ?bad examples' involve organisms with a broad host, prey or food range that would never be considered as suitable for introduction by biocontrol scientists or regulators," Hoelmer says.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/exotic-species-vs-invasive-species-importing-one-outsider-to-battle-another?src=rss

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